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U of L hopes to lessen critical need for interpreters for deaf | courier-journal.com | The Courier-Journal
As a child of deaf parents, Cory Clark knows how hard it can be for those who can’t hear to communicate with the hearing world.
Whether with doctors, businesses or government agencies, “My mother really has a hard time finding interpreters.…The times she requests one, she maybe will get one 65 to 70 percent of the time. A lot of places don’t know how to get interpreters, or how to request an interpreter,” said Clark, who is from Louisville and is studying at Eastern Kentucky University’s Department of American Sign Language and Interpreter Education.
At issue — in Kentucky and across the nation — is a shortage of nationally certified interpreters, and the limited number of people being trained to go into the field. That problem is expected to worsen in 2012, when all candidates for national certification must hold a bachelor’s degree.
An estimated 77,000 Kentuckians depend primarily on American Sign Language to communicate — but the state currently has only 182 certified interpreters; it should have 310, according to the state’s Commission the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.
The University of Louisville now hopes to help fill some of that interpreter void with the development of an American Sign Language/Interpreter Education Program, which it hopes to launch in fall 2010.
Currently, only 34 public and private interpreter baccalaureate degree programs are offered across the United States, according to the National Consortium of Interpreter Education Centers. Until now, Kentucky’s only program has been the one at EKU.. From 1998 to this past spring, U of L housed a satellite interpreter program operated by EKU. But the Richmond-based school announced in 2007 it would have to phase out the program, after a Southern Association of Colleges and Schools’ review found it lacked faculty oversight.
A resulting outcry from students and advocates for the deaf community persuaded U of L to pursue its own interpreter program.
“One of the things that certainly happened is we listened to the people who said that this was a really important program for the university to offer as part of our metropolitan mission,” said U of L Provost Shirley Willihganz, adding that there also is a clear need for the program.
The decision came as welcome news to Virginia Moore, executive director of the state’s Commission on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.
“I think it’s essential. It is absolutely essential,” Moore said. “We are in a bit of a crisis now because there are just not enough interpreters.”
State and federal laws — including the American with Disabilities Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act — require that people who are deaf or hard of hearing be provided with interpreters. Commission officials say they receive calls daily from doctors, lawyers, schools, employment services, hospitals and others seeking interpreters or information on how to find then.
In some regions of the state, Moore said, interpreters are few and far between and individuals who are deaf are forced to rely on people who may know some signs, but are not actually interpreters. In other cases, they must communicate in less desirable ways that do not allow them to get all the information they need, such as lip reading or having someone write down what is being said.
“Communication is a basic human right. Everyone is entitled to express their needs, give and receive information, form relationships with others and participate in every facet of life,” Moore said. “Without effective communication, there is a silent hole within each of us.”
Preliminary estimates put the cost of the U of L program at $300,000 annually, with most of that going toward expanding faculty and upgrading computer/language lab technology. Officials already believe as many as 25 students may be interested in pursuing an interpreter degree.
University officials expect the program will be largely self sustaining, with its budget coming primarily from tuition.
“Our enrollment in sign language classes over the years has always been high,” said J. Blaine Hudson, dean of the university’s College of Arts and Sciences. About 130 students were enrolled in American Sign Language classes offered by U of L this fall, but during the time the EKU program was on campus, those numbers often were double and triple that, officials said.
EKU's program
In addition to U of L’s plans, EKU officials say they would like to expand their interpreter program, increasing the number of students they accept every two years to as many as 30, from its current maximum of 22. Doing so, however, would require more money to hire additional faculty, as well as enhanced computer laboratory space.
“We would love to expand the interpreter training program at Eastern Kentucky University when funding becomes available,” said College of Education Dean Bill Phillips. “There is a shortage of professionals in the field and a dearth of resources to expand programs in higher education.”
EKU’s program will graduate 20 students with bachelor of science degrees in May, and an additional 300 students are enrolled in American Sign Language classes, according to Department Chair Laurence Hayes. EKU also offers a minor in American Sign Language, and operates a Center on Deafness and Hearing Loss, and an outreach in-service training program. Since its establishment in 1989, the Interpreter Training Program has graduated more than 200 students.
Graduates of EKU’s interpreter program are in high demand. More than 90 percent have jobs when they graduate in such setting as education, government, business, and the legal, medical and mental health professions. Certified interpreters make about $40 an hour during the day; that rate increases at night, and also can include transportation costs, Hayes said.
“This is one of the things we are very proud of, that we have a good placement rate,” Hayes said. “People are able to get a job at the other end.”
Moore said, “An interpreter doesn’t get laid off. There is no work shortage for interpreters. You always have work. There is no interpreter out there that can’t find work right now.”
Cory Clark — who will head to South Carolina in January to complete the program’s semester-long internship — said he hopes to earn his master’s degree in higher education administration and settle in his home state of Kentucky.
“I want to do something where I can impact people’s lives, and I want to give something back to my state,” said Clark, 23, a graduate of Waggener High School.
As a child of deaf parents, Cory Clark knows how hard it can be for those who can’t hear to communicate with the hearing world.
Whether with doctors, businesses or government agencies, “My mother really has a hard time finding interpreters.…The times she requests one, she maybe will get one 65 to 70 percent of the time. A lot of places don’t know how to get interpreters, or how to request an interpreter,” said Clark, who is from Louisville and is studying at Eastern Kentucky University’s Department of American Sign Language and Interpreter Education.
At issue — in Kentucky and across the nation — is a shortage of nationally certified interpreters, and the limited number of people being trained to go into the field. That problem is expected to worsen in 2012, when all candidates for national certification must hold a bachelor’s degree.
An estimated 77,000 Kentuckians depend primarily on American Sign Language to communicate — but the state currently has only 182 certified interpreters; it should have 310, according to the state’s Commission the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.
The University of Louisville now hopes to help fill some of that interpreter void with the development of an American Sign Language/Interpreter Education Program, which it hopes to launch in fall 2010.
Currently, only 34 public and private interpreter baccalaureate degree programs are offered across the United States, according to the National Consortium of Interpreter Education Centers. Until now, Kentucky’s only program has been the one at EKU.. From 1998 to this past spring, U of L housed a satellite interpreter program operated by EKU. But the Richmond-based school announced in 2007 it would have to phase out the program, after a Southern Association of Colleges and Schools’ review found it lacked faculty oversight.
A resulting outcry from students and advocates for the deaf community persuaded U of L to pursue its own interpreter program.
“One of the things that certainly happened is we listened to the people who said that this was a really important program for the university to offer as part of our metropolitan mission,” said U of L Provost Shirley Willihganz, adding that there also is a clear need for the program.
The decision came as welcome news to Virginia Moore, executive director of the state’s Commission on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.
“I think it’s essential. It is absolutely essential,” Moore said. “We are in a bit of a crisis now because there are just not enough interpreters.”
State and federal laws — including the American with Disabilities Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act — require that people who are deaf or hard of hearing be provided with interpreters. Commission officials say they receive calls daily from doctors, lawyers, schools, employment services, hospitals and others seeking interpreters or information on how to find then.
In some regions of the state, Moore said, interpreters are few and far between and individuals who are deaf are forced to rely on people who may know some signs, but are not actually interpreters. In other cases, they must communicate in less desirable ways that do not allow them to get all the information they need, such as lip reading or having someone write down what is being said.
“Communication is a basic human right. Everyone is entitled to express their needs, give and receive information, form relationships with others and participate in every facet of life,” Moore said. “Without effective communication, there is a silent hole within each of us.”
Preliminary estimates put the cost of the U of L program at $300,000 annually, with most of that going toward expanding faculty and upgrading computer/language lab technology. Officials already believe as many as 25 students may be interested in pursuing an interpreter degree.
University officials expect the program will be largely self sustaining, with its budget coming primarily from tuition.
“Our enrollment in sign language classes over the years has always been high,” said J. Blaine Hudson, dean of the university’s College of Arts and Sciences. About 130 students were enrolled in American Sign Language classes offered by U of L this fall, but during the time the EKU program was on campus, those numbers often were double and triple that, officials said.
EKU's program
In addition to U of L’s plans, EKU officials say they would like to expand their interpreter program, increasing the number of students they accept every two years to as many as 30, from its current maximum of 22. Doing so, however, would require more money to hire additional faculty, as well as enhanced computer laboratory space.
“We would love to expand the interpreter training program at Eastern Kentucky University when funding becomes available,” said College of Education Dean Bill Phillips. “There is a shortage of professionals in the field and a dearth of resources to expand programs in higher education.”
EKU’s program will graduate 20 students with bachelor of science degrees in May, and an additional 300 students are enrolled in American Sign Language classes, according to Department Chair Laurence Hayes. EKU also offers a minor in American Sign Language, and operates a Center on Deafness and Hearing Loss, and an outreach in-service training program. Since its establishment in 1989, the Interpreter Training Program has graduated more than 200 students.
Graduates of EKU’s interpreter program are in high demand. More than 90 percent have jobs when they graduate in such setting as education, government, business, and the legal, medical and mental health professions. Certified interpreters make about $40 an hour during the day; that rate increases at night, and also can include transportation costs, Hayes said.
“This is one of the things we are very proud of, that we have a good placement rate,” Hayes said. “People are able to get a job at the other end.”
Moore said, “An interpreter doesn’t get laid off. There is no work shortage for interpreters. You always have work. There is no interpreter out there that can’t find work right now.”
Cory Clark — who will head to South Carolina in January to complete the program’s semester-long internship — said he hopes to earn his master’s degree in higher education administration and settle in his home state of Kentucky.
“I want to do something where I can impact people’s lives, and I want to give something back to my state,” said Clark, 23, a graduate of Waggener High School.