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SignOnSanDiego.com > News > Metro -- Deaf students learn ways of computers
A new computer-skills class at Imperial Beach Adult School gives deaf and hard-of-hearing students a rare opportunity to learn the latest expertise they need to help them land good jobs.
The free class is being taught in American Sign Language, allowing hearing-impaired students to attend without sign-language interpreters, whose services are costly and sometimes in short supply.
School officials believe the class is the only one of its kind being offered in San Diego County. Advocates for the deaf said such classes are needed to help the hearing-impaired overcome obstacles they could face in the classroom or the workplace.
“It's a very important class. Very rarely is a class taught in sign language,” said Pam Espalin, a client advocate with Deaf Community Services, a Hillcrest-based social-services agency for people with hearing impairments. “They're being empowered to become more self-sufficient.”
School Principal Thomas Teagle said he was approached with the idea several months ago by Mary Alvarado, who teaches sign-language classes there. Alvarado, who is also credentialed to teach computer-skills classes, had been asked by students and members of the deaf community to launch such a program.
The new class started in late January and has about a dozen regular students, a mix of deaf and hearing-impaired adults, along with students who have normal hearing but may have deaf family members.
The students are taught computer basics, such as navigating the Internet and how to use e-mail, and the finer points of the latest editions of Microsoft programs such as Word, Excel, Access and Outlook. The goal is to prepare students to become certified in the Microsoft programs, which will help them in the job market, Alvarado said.
“It's just giving them the computer skills they need to be effective in different types of jobs,” she said. “(To) get them to a place where they're making decent money, not just minimum-wage jobs.”
The students enter the class with a range of skills, from those who are familiar with computers to those who “don't even know how to turn a computer on,” Alvarado said.
She said providing such skills to the deaf and hard-of-hearing is critical, because the unemployment rate in the deaf community runs as high as 80 percent. Deaf people have a hard time landing jobs, and the jobs they do get are often low-paying, without much promise of advancement.
Mina Pallagi of Imperial Beach, who has been deaf since birth, said she has had limited success in the job market.
“I always seem to get the job, but I always seem to lose them because I can't hear,” Pallagi said.
She said she has worked in fast-food restaurants, but either had to quit or was dismissed because of the difficulty she has communicating with co-workers and customers. She said her hearing impairment also poses a safety risk in the workplace.
Pallagi, who is taking Alvarado's sign-language and computer classes, said she hopes the skills will help her in school and, eventually, to get a job as a teacher's aide. She wants to work with deaf children, teaching them sign language, so they don't have to suffer the isolation she has had.
“I don't want anyone to feel left out. I've been through that, and it's too hard,” said Pallagi, who has limited hearing and can carry on a conversation with the help of hearing aids.
Her condition is progressive, and she expects eventually to lose all of her hearing.
Naira Barraza of Chula Vista, speaking in sign language with Alvarado as interpreter, said she grew up in Tijuana and attended a special school for deaf children for one year.
Other than that, she had no formal education until she started taking Alvarado's computer and American Sign Language classes.
Barraza's goal is to communicate better with her 8-year-old son's teachers, so she can assist him with his studies. She also wants to attend college and get a job in an office.
Alvarado, who has lived in San Diego for three years, was prompted to learn sign language and become an advocate for deaf people's rights when her son was born deaf.
“I tell my son there's nothing wrong with being deaf, but the world isn't set up for deaf people,” she said, adding that it's why she wants to see more classes offered in sign language and to help deaf people get the technology skills they need to compete in the job market.
Espalin, of Deaf Community Services, said there are about 350,000 people in San Diego County with some degree of hearing loss and about 33,000 whose hearing impairment is considered moderate or profound.
While Espalin was unable to confirm the unemployment rate among deaf people in San Diego, she said a high percentage of the deaf in San Diego are on supplemental income, such as Social Security or disability.
Espalin said one problem facing deaf people is that 90 percent are born to hearing parents, who face a bewildering variety of options in how to raise them. Some teach their deaf children sign language at an early age, or provide them with hearing implants or aids, and teach them language skills in English. Other children simply fall through the cracks, she said.
“We've seen 40-and 50-year-olds who don't know their ABCs and 1-2-3s,” which can make it difficult for deaf people to enter the job market, she said.
Espalin said that's why classes such as the one offered by Alvarado are so important. “It's absolutely phenomenal for the deaf community,” she said.
Teagle, the adult school principal, said the computer-skills class is free and open to any San Diego County resident. Students can join or leave the class at any time.
The initial response has been good, and Teagle said he hopes attendance will increase to 20 or 25 students. With continued interest, the class probably will be taught over the summer and in the fall semester, he added.
“It's really based on student attendance and how strong that is,” Teagle said. “I'm very optimistic this class will become very popular.”
A new computer-skills class at Imperial Beach Adult School gives deaf and hard-of-hearing students a rare opportunity to learn the latest expertise they need to help them land good jobs.
The free class is being taught in American Sign Language, allowing hearing-impaired students to attend without sign-language interpreters, whose services are costly and sometimes in short supply.
School officials believe the class is the only one of its kind being offered in San Diego County. Advocates for the deaf said such classes are needed to help the hearing-impaired overcome obstacles they could face in the classroom or the workplace.
“It's a very important class. Very rarely is a class taught in sign language,” said Pam Espalin, a client advocate with Deaf Community Services, a Hillcrest-based social-services agency for people with hearing impairments. “They're being empowered to become more self-sufficient.”
School Principal Thomas Teagle said he was approached with the idea several months ago by Mary Alvarado, who teaches sign-language classes there. Alvarado, who is also credentialed to teach computer-skills classes, had been asked by students and members of the deaf community to launch such a program.
The new class started in late January and has about a dozen regular students, a mix of deaf and hearing-impaired adults, along with students who have normal hearing but may have deaf family members.
The students are taught computer basics, such as navigating the Internet and how to use e-mail, and the finer points of the latest editions of Microsoft programs such as Word, Excel, Access and Outlook. The goal is to prepare students to become certified in the Microsoft programs, which will help them in the job market, Alvarado said.
“It's just giving them the computer skills they need to be effective in different types of jobs,” she said. “(To) get them to a place where they're making decent money, not just minimum-wage jobs.”
The students enter the class with a range of skills, from those who are familiar with computers to those who “don't even know how to turn a computer on,” Alvarado said.
She said providing such skills to the deaf and hard-of-hearing is critical, because the unemployment rate in the deaf community runs as high as 80 percent. Deaf people have a hard time landing jobs, and the jobs they do get are often low-paying, without much promise of advancement.
Mina Pallagi of Imperial Beach, who has been deaf since birth, said she has had limited success in the job market.
“I always seem to get the job, but I always seem to lose them because I can't hear,” Pallagi said.
She said she has worked in fast-food restaurants, but either had to quit or was dismissed because of the difficulty she has communicating with co-workers and customers. She said her hearing impairment also poses a safety risk in the workplace.
Pallagi, who is taking Alvarado's sign-language and computer classes, said she hopes the skills will help her in school and, eventually, to get a job as a teacher's aide. She wants to work with deaf children, teaching them sign language, so they don't have to suffer the isolation she has had.
“I don't want anyone to feel left out. I've been through that, and it's too hard,” said Pallagi, who has limited hearing and can carry on a conversation with the help of hearing aids.
Her condition is progressive, and she expects eventually to lose all of her hearing.
Naira Barraza of Chula Vista, speaking in sign language with Alvarado as interpreter, said she grew up in Tijuana and attended a special school for deaf children for one year.
Other than that, she had no formal education until she started taking Alvarado's computer and American Sign Language classes.
Barraza's goal is to communicate better with her 8-year-old son's teachers, so she can assist him with his studies. She also wants to attend college and get a job in an office.
Alvarado, who has lived in San Diego for three years, was prompted to learn sign language and become an advocate for deaf people's rights when her son was born deaf.
“I tell my son there's nothing wrong with being deaf, but the world isn't set up for deaf people,” she said, adding that it's why she wants to see more classes offered in sign language and to help deaf people get the technology skills they need to compete in the job market.
Espalin, of Deaf Community Services, said there are about 350,000 people in San Diego County with some degree of hearing loss and about 33,000 whose hearing impairment is considered moderate or profound.
While Espalin was unable to confirm the unemployment rate among deaf people in San Diego, she said a high percentage of the deaf in San Diego are on supplemental income, such as Social Security or disability.
Espalin said one problem facing deaf people is that 90 percent are born to hearing parents, who face a bewildering variety of options in how to raise them. Some teach their deaf children sign language at an early age, or provide them with hearing implants or aids, and teach them language skills in English. Other children simply fall through the cracks, she said.
“We've seen 40-and 50-year-olds who don't know their ABCs and 1-2-3s,” which can make it difficult for deaf people to enter the job market, she said.
Espalin said that's why classes such as the one offered by Alvarado are so important. “It's absolutely phenomenal for the deaf community,” she said.
Teagle, the adult school principal, said the computer-skills class is free and open to any San Diego County resident. Students can join or leave the class at any time.
The initial response has been good, and Teagle said he hopes attendance will increase to 20 or 25 students. With continued interest, the class probably will be taught over the summer and in the fall semester, he added.
“It's really based on student attendance and how strong that is,” Teagle said. “I'm very optimistic this class will become very popular.”