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Campus interpreters work, learn in silence - News
The American Sign Language/interpreter training department provides interpreting services to about 30 deaf students at this college..
This college is recognized nationally for having one of the best programs for the deaf and the best in Texas, said Jo Hilton, interpreter service manager, Feb. 27.
Half of the interpreters for the deaf who work in San Antonio are graduates of the ASL department at this college, and 10 percent of working interpreters in Texas graduated from this college, Hilton said. Hilton said these figures came from the Board for the Evaluation of Interpreters.
Of the seven faculty members in the department, three are deaf.
Deaf students do not have to register with the disability support services office here.
Instead, they sign up with deaf and hard of hearing services, a program offered by the interpreter-training department.
The department takes into account the students' language skills and matches them up with an interpreter.
Since the Americans with Disability Act came into effect, the college has to provide deaf students with interpreters in all of their classes and at every event on campus, Hilton said.
Sophomore Edson Gonzalez, an international deaf student studying graphic design and 3-D animation, said through interpreter and support specialist Alana Grunspan, that when he came to this college in spring 2005, there were no such programs to help deaf students in Mexico.
Edson is provided with two interpreters, who switch every 20 minutes, for each of his classes.
Interpreters do not take notes for deaf students. They simply provide signing.
The department employs two full-time and 16 part-time interpreters. In addition, students in the program can start practicing interpreting through internships in the last semester of the program.Grunspan said she is getting another education being an interpreter for deaf students. She is learning all the subjects the students are.
Interpreter Rachel Wheeler said her work as an interpreter is not the typical 9-to-5 job because it takes her to a variety of places and she meets new people. Professor Darin Dobson, who is deaf, said through Grunspan, that more people need to be informed that American Sign Language is considered a foreign language.
"It's a facilitation through two languages," he said. Upon mastering sign language, hearing students also learn of the deaf culture.
"Deaf people don't consider themselves handicapped," ASL freshman Anna Marie Sanchez said. "They have their own community and are very protective of their language."
The ASL/interpreting training program consists of 72 hours to complete an associate in applied science. All interpreters must pass a state test through the Board for Evaluation of Interpreters.
The American Sign Language/interpreter training department provides interpreting services to about 30 deaf students at this college..
This college is recognized nationally for having one of the best programs for the deaf and the best in Texas, said Jo Hilton, interpreter service manager, Feb. 27.
Half of the interpreters for the deaf who work in San Antonio are graduates of the ASL department at this college, and 10 percent of working interpreters in Texas graduated from this college, Hilton said. Hilton said these figures came from the Board for the Evaluation of Interpreters.
Of the seven faculty members in the department, three are deaf.
Deaf students do not have to register with the disability support services office here.
Instead, they sign up with deaf and hard of hearing services, a program offered by the interpreter-training department.
The department takes into account the students' language skills and matches them up with an interpreter.
Since the Americans with Disability Act came into effect, the college has to provide deaf students with interpreters in all of their classes and at every event on campus, Hilton said.
Sophomore Edson Gonzalez, an international deaf student studying graphic design and 3-D animation, said through interpreter and support specialist Alana Grunspan, that when he came to this college in spring 2005, there were no such programs to help deaf students in Mexico.
Edson is provided with two interpreters, who switch every 20 minutes, for each of his classes.
Interpreters do not take notes for deaf students. They simply provide signing.
The department employs two full-time and 16 part-time interpreters. In addition, students in the program can start practicing interpreting through internships in the last semester of the program.Grunspan said she is getting another education being an interpreter for deaf students. She is learning all the subjects the students are.
Interpreter Rachel Wheeler said her work as an interpreter is not the typical 9-to-5 job because it takes her to a variety of places and she meets new people. Professor Darin Dobson, who is deaf, said through Grunspan, that more people need to be informed that American Sign Language is considered a foreign language.
"It's a facilitation through two languages," he said. Upon mastering sign language, hearing students also learn of the deaf culture.
"Deaf people don't consider themselves handicapped," ASL freshman Anna Marie Sanchez said. "They have their own community and are very protective of their language."
The ASL/interpreting training program consists of 72 hours to complete an associate in applied science. All interpreters must pass a state test through the Board for Evaluation of Interpreters.