Miss-Delectable
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montgomeryadvertiser.com :: Clerk, county reach out to hearing impaired
Imagine trying to communicate with someone and not being able to.
That's the world many hearing-impaired people in the tri-county area live in and the one an Autauga County driver's license clerk decided to change.
Amanda Johnson noticed that some residents seeking a driver's license could not hear the directions she gave them. It was then that she decided to take a course from a certified American Sign Language interpreter.
"I thought it was something I should look into," Johnson said. "It's so impersonal to sit there and write something back and forth."
The idea to bridge the gap between the hearing and the hearing-impaired communities first came to Johnson at her church, where Sandra Kay Eubanks is an interpreter. She approached Eubanks about learning sign language and began taking classes soon afterward.
Johnson said she already has used her new skills.
"I had one customer that asked -- well, he signed to me -- how did I know how to sign," she said. "I told him I had a friend who was teaching me. He said he was happy. He brought someone in to interpret, but he didn't need that person."
Impressed by Johnson's initiative, Autauga County Probate Judge Alfred Booth decided to pay for her classes and added a text telephone, or TTY line, for the hearing impaired in the probate office. The Montgomery County Courthouse also has a text telephone line.
The TTY machine works like an e-mail instant messaging system. A call comes in, and an audible recording notifies the person receiving the call that the caller is using a text telephone.
The person receiving the call then places the telephone on their TTY machine, and the two type messages back and forth.
"There's definitely a lack of people who are able to communicate with (the hearing impaired)," said Eubanks, who has worked as an interpreter for 29 years and is Johnson's teacher.
"I only know of a few churches here that have interpreters," she said. "The Janice Capilouto Center for the Deaf (in Montgomery) is the only place where Prattville can get interpreters from and they're in short supply for Montgomery, so it's hard."
The Janice Capilouto Center for the Deaf spent more than 3,500 hours in 2006 interpreting for hearing-impaired people in Autauga, Elmore and Montgomery counties, said Denise Murray, the center's executive director.
Interpreters are important for obvious reason, but most importantly, "to be able to explain everyday tasks to a deaf person in their language," Eubanks said. The Autauga County Probate Office is the only probate office in the tri-county area to employ a full-time interpreter.
"That is the best service you can provide," she said. "Even though you can write back and forth ... (sign language) is meeting them where they are."
Imagine trying to communicate with someone and not being able to.
That's the world many hearing-impaired people in the tri-county area live in and the one an Autauga County driver's license clerk decided to change.
Amanda Johnson noticed that some residents seeking a driver's license could not hear the directions she gave them. It was then that she decided to take a course from a certified American Sign Language interpreter.
"I thought it was something I should look into," Johnson said. "It's so impersonal to sit there and write something back and forth."
The idea to bridge the gap between the hearing and the hearing-impaired communities first came to Johnson at her church, where Sandra Kay Eubanks is an interpreter. She approached Eubanks about learning sign language and began taking classes soon afterward.
Johnson said she already has used her new skills.
"I had one customer that asked -- well, he signed to me -- how did I know how to sign," she said. "I told him I had a friend who was teaching me. He said he was happy. He brought someone in to interpret, but he didn't need that person."
Impressed by Johnson's initiative, Autauga County Probate Judge Alfred Booth decided to pay for her classes and added a text telephone, or TTY line, for the hearing impaired in the probate office. The Montgomery County Courthouse also has a text telephone line.
The TTY machine works like an e-mail instant messaging system. A call comes in, and an audible recording notifies the person receiving the call that the caller is using a text telephone.
The person receiving the call then places the telephone on their TTY machine, and the two type messages back and forth.
"There's definitely a lack of people who are able to communicate with (the hearing impaired)," said Eubanks, who has worked as an interpreter for 29 years and is Johnson's teacher.
"I only know of a few churches here that have interpreters," she said. "The Janice Capilouto Center for the Deaf (in Montgomery) is the only place where Prattville can get interpreters from and they're in short supply for Montgomery, so it's hard."
The Janice Capilouto Center for the Deaf spent more than 3,500 hours in 2006 interpreting for hearing-impaired people in Autauga, Elmore and Montgomery counties, said Denise Murray, the center's executive director.
Interpreters are important for obvious reason, but most importantly, "to be able to explain everyday tasks to a deaf person in their language," Eubanks said. The Autauga County Probate Office is the only probate office in the tri-county area to employ a full-time interpreter.
"That is the best service you can provide," she said. "Even though you can write back and forth ... (sign language) is meeting them where they are."