Miss-Delectable
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State's advocate for the deaf loses her job: Times Argus Online
When Carrie Foster of Cambridge, one of the more than 300 state employees slated to be laid off over the next few weeks, came to the Statehouse to explain her predicament to lawmakers this week, she had to do more than rearrange her schedule.
Foster had to find a sign language interpreter so she could communicate with legislators.
Foster has – or had until recently – the job of making sure that deaf or hard-of-hearing Vermonters like herself who need services from the Agency of Human Resources can get them.
"It took many years for the deaf community to get this kind of a position" inside the agency, Foster said through a sign language interpreter. "If this position is eliminated, who will go to bat for them?"
When state revenue declined over the last year the state began making cuts in spending. Earlier this year the administration decided 320 state workers would need to be laid off, unless an agreement can be reached with the union to reduce that number through other concessions.
So far, more than 112 employees have been notified they have lost their jobs, including Foster.
That position, created about four years ago, was the most recent in one section of the agency, said Joan Senecal, commissioner of the Department of Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living.
"This is very difficult. These are good people and they are hard-working people," said Senecal, who runs the division of the Agency of Human Services where Foster worked.
Several others in the agency who work with deaf Vermonters through the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation will pick up the job of helping deaf and hard-of-hearing residents, Senecal added.
"People will still be able to rely on that," she said.
But Foster said that her position is unique in that it was designed to train state workers and help the hard-of-hearing with getting access to the Agency of Human Services.
Foster, who is 42, said she is not as worried about what she will do as what deaf and hard-of-hearing Vermonters will do when they need help from parts of the agency like the Department of Health or the Department of Children and Families. Her job for four years has been to train workers in the agency to be able to meet those needs and to help those who need help navigating the agency.
And one of her jobs is to coordinate sign language interpreters for deaf Vermonters who need the services paid for by the state of Vermont as required by federal law. But when she came to the Statehouse, state payment of an interpreter was not an option because she was testifying as a member of the Vermont State Employees Association, the state workers' union, Foster explained.
"It was very frustrating," she said.
Ultimately the union helped her hire an interpreter, Foster said.
When Carrie Foster of Cambridge, one of the more than 300 state employees slated to be laid off over the next few weeks, came to the Statehouse to explain her predicament to lawmakers this week, she had to do more than rearrange her schedule.
Foster had to find a sign language interpreter so she could communicate with legislators.
Foster has – or had until recently – the job of making sure that deaf or hard-of-hearing Vermonters like herself who need services from the Agency of Human Resources can get them.
"It took many years for the deaf community to get this kind of a position" inside the agency, Foster said through a sign language interpreter. "If this position is eliminated, who will go to bat for them?"
When state revenue declined over the last year the state began making cuts in spending. Earlier this year the administration decided 320 state workers would need to be laid off, unless an agreement can be reached with the union to reduce that number through other concessions.
So far, more than 112 employees have been notified they have lost their jobs, including Foster.
That position, created about four years ago, was the most recent in one section of the agency, said Joan Senecal, commissioner of the Department of Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living.
"This is very difficult. These are good people and they are hard-working people," said Senecal, who runs the division of the Agency of Human Services where Foster worked.
Several others in the agency who work with deaf Vermonters through the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation will pick up the job of helping deaf and hard-of-hearing residents, Senecal added.
"People will still be able to rely on that," she said.
But Foster said that her position is unique in that it was designed to train state workers and help the hard-of-hearing with getting access to the Agency of Human Services.
Foster, who is 42, said she is not as worried about what she will do as what deaf and hard-of-hearing Vermonters will do when they need help from parts of the agency like the Department of Health or the Department of Children and Families. Her job for four years has been to train workers in the agency to be able to meet those needs and to help those who need help navigating the agency.
And one of her jobs is to coordinate sign language interpreters for deaf Vermonters who need the services paid for by the state of Vermont as required by federal law. But when she came to the Statehouse, state payment of an interpreter was not an option because she was testifying as a member of the Vermont State Employees Association, the state workers' union, Foster explained.
"It was very frustrating," she said.
Ultimately the union helped her hire an interpreter, Foster said.
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