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Hickory Daily Record | College has history of offering services to the deaf
Lenoir-Rhyne College has long been known for its service to deaf and hearing-impaired students. In fact, for 30 years, the college has offered what many other colleges have not: deaf and hard-of-hearing support services.
The college evolved from offering a program to train deaf and hard-of-hearing teachers to offering additional services to students with similar situations on campus, said Shawn Frank, director of the program.
Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Support Services is comprised of Frank and assistant director Trula Baker, as well as three other full-time employees, a part-time employee and a technology specialist, who runs the equipment for captioning and display. Every staff member has state or national credentials as sign language interpreters.
The staff takes notes, assists with housing requests and academic advising for students, has a sign troop, offers HANDS (Hearing And Deaf Signers) and an on-site captioning studio, does live captioning for some events and interprets at some events.
Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Support Services also has portable assisted-listening devices which amplify sound. Students can check these out for a semester, as well as portable doorbell lights and fire alarm lights that can be put in dorm rooms to alert students to possible danger.
Three deaf students started the program in 1977. They worked with students primarily in the classroom to facilitate communication, Baker said. Through the years, based on the number of deaf students Lenoir-Rhyne has had and their needs, Deaf and Hard-of -Hearing Support Services began offering more services. The most students the program has served at once was 28 in the mid-1990s. Currently, 14 deaf and hard-of-hearing students on campus utilize the program, Baker said.
Baker and Frank said they work to make the program’s services known throughout campus by holding open house twice a year. Sometimes the admissions office will let them know of a student who needs their services.
“Usually, if a student’s in high school, they know to ask for our services,” Frank said. “But sometimes we don’t know if a student needs help and they don’t know to ask for it. That leaves us scrambling at the last minute.”
However, services are always provided to students who need them.
The women have seen changes since the program began. The most noticeable change is that students who are deaf or hard-of-hearing are branching out more, Baker said.
“Initially, 90 percent of those students were in deaf and hard-of-hearing majors. Now, they’re majoring in biology, art and fashion, business, psychology, athletics. We still have some in deaf education, but nowhere near the numbers we did,” she said. “There’s no way to try to combine services like we did, so there’s now one interpreter per student, because they’re each in different classes.”
Another change? The technology. Students communicate through Instant Messenger, text messaging and, for deaf and hard-of-hearing students, Sidekicks.
“Sidekicks are to them what cell phones are to everyone else,” Frank said.
Sidekicks are similar to Blackberries, in that students can type out messages to each other and the devices are carried around like a pager, she said.
Also popular with deaf and hard-of-hearing students are Sorenson phones, which are in several buildings on campus. Users type the phone number to dial, use something similar to a Web cam and sign back and forth to each other, Baker said.
Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Support Services has come a long way over the past 30 years, and Baker and Frank have plenty planned for this year, including the Miss Deaf North Carolina Pageant on Jan. 12 at Lenoir-Rhyne College and an alternative Spring Break trip to Rio Bravo, Mexico, where students will help build a school for the deaf.
Frank and Baker think the next 30 years will be just as promising.
Lenoir-Rhyne College has long been known for its service to deaf and hearing-impaired students. In fact, for 30 years, the college has offered what many other colleges have not: deaf and hard-of-hearing support services.
The college evolved from offering a program to train deaf and hard-of-hearing teachers to offering additional services to students with similar situations on campus, said Shawn Frank, director of the program.
Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Support Services is comprised of Frank and assistant director Trula Baker, as well as three other full-time employees, a part-time employee and a technology specialist, who runs the equipment for captioning and display. Every staff member has state or national credentials as sign language interpreters.
The staff takes notes, assists with housing requests and academic advising for students, has a sign troop, offers HANDS (Hearing And Deaf Signers) and an on-site captioning studio, does live captioning for some events and interprets at some events.
Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Support Services also has portable assisted-listening devices which amplify sound. Students can check these out for a semester, as well as portable doorbell lights and fire alarm lights that can be put in dorm rooms to alert students to possible danger.
Three deaf students started the program in 1977. They worked with students primarily in the classroom to facilitate communication, Baker said. Through the years, based on the number of deaf students Lenoir-Rhyne has had and their needs, Deaf and Hard-of -Hearing Support Services began offering more services. The most students the program has served at once was 28 in the mid-1990s. Currently, 14 deaf and hard-of-hearing students on campus utilize the program, Baker said.
Baker and Frank said they work to make the program’s services known throughout campus by holding open house twice a year. Sometimes the admissions office will let them know of a student who needs their services.
“Usually, if a student’s in high school, they know to ask for our services,” Frank said. “But sometimes we don’t know if a student needs help and they don’t know to ask for it. That leaves us scrambling at the last minute.”
However, services are always provided to students who need them.
The women have seen changes since the program began. The most noticeable change is that students who are deaf or hard-of-hearing are branching out more, Baker said.
“Initially, 90 percent of those students were in deaf and hard-of-hearing majors. Now, they’re majoring in biology, art and fashion, business, psychology, athletics. We still have some in deaf education, but nowhere near the numbers we did,” she said. “There’s no way to try to combine services like we did, so there’s now one interpreter per student, because they’re each in different classes.”
Another change? The technology. Students communicate through Instant Messenger, text messaging and, for deaf and hard-of-hearing students, Sidekicks.
“Sidekicks are to them what cell phones are to everyone else,” Frank said.
Sidekicks are similar to Blackberries, in that students can type out messages to each other and the devices are carried around like a pager, she said.
Also popular with deaf and hard-of-hearing students are Sorenson phones, which are in several buildings on campus. Users type the phone number to dial, use something similar to a Web cam and sign back and forth to each other, Baker said.
Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Support Services has come a long way over the past 30 years, and Baker and Frank have plenty planned for this year, including the Miss Deaf North Carolina Pageant on Jan. 12 at Lenoir-Rhyne College and an alternative Spring Break trip to Rio Bravo, Mexico, where students will help build a school for the deaf.
Frank and Baker think the next 30 years will be just as promising.
