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News
Proposed Bill Threatens
Commission Closure
Governor
M. Jodi Rell
recently submitted HB 6375 Section 2 (e) #6 which calls
for the termination of CDHI by July 1, 2014.
If you
are opposed to this action, please copy/paste the below
in an email with "Vote
NO to Governor's HB 6375 Sect. 2 (e) #6"
in the subject line, include your contact information at
the end of the last paragraph and also add your name to
the bottom of the email and send it to the GAE committee
members listed beneath the email.
As a
Sign Language interpreter
working in
Connecticut,
I strongly encourage you to vote
NO
to the Governor's HB 6375 Section 2 (e) #6, which states
that the Commission on the Deaf and Hearing Impaired (CDHI) is
to be terminated July 1, 2014. Listed below are a few
bulleted reasons why I believe CDHI should not be
terminated:
-
CDHI enables the
State of
Connecticut to be in compliance with
federally mandated laws such as the
Americans with Disabilities Act,
(ADA),
Individuals with Disabilities
in
Education Act, (IDEA) and No
Child
Left Behind (NCLB) to name just
a few.
-
Closing CDHI will
cause more of a financial burden for state agencies
(DCF, DDS, DMHAS, DOC, etc.) to comply with
federally mandated laws (ADA, PL 94-147,
Section 504, etc.) as CDHIʼs
competitors charge substantially more than the
current rates at CDHI.
-
Closing CDHI will
no longer provide the State of Connecticut with a
governing agency to oversee the
statutory law
(CGS Section 46a-33a) requiring all interpreters to
be registered in the State and working with proper
certification.
-
Closing CDHI will
directly affect and negatively impact the quality of
life for all persons who are Deaf and Hearing
Impaired, as well as the community at large, due to
the limited access to services such as interpreting,
counseling, and advocacy.
Thank you
for taking the time to read this email during this busy
time. If you need further information or specifics
regarding this e-mail, please feel free to contact me at
___________.
Your name
here.... ______________________________
*********************************************************************************
Here
are the email addresses of each member of the GAE
committee:
S14 - Slossberg, Gayle S. Co-Chair D
Slossberg@senatedems.ct.gov
036 - Spallone,
James Field Co-Chair D James.Spallone@cga.ct.gov
S12 - Meyer, Edward Vice Chair D Meyer@senatedems.ct.gov
030 - Aresimowicz, Joe Vice Chair D Joe.Aresimowicz@cga.ct.gov
S24 - McLachlan, Michael A. Ranking Member R
Michael.McLachlan@cga.ct.gov
125 - Hetherington, John W. Ranking Member R
John.Hetherington@housegop.ct.gov
132 - Drew, Thomas J. Member D Thomas.Drew@cga.ct.gov
018 - Fleischmann, Andrew M. Member D Andrew.Fleischmann@cga.ct.gov
149 - Floren, Livvy R. Member R Livvy.Floren@housegop.ct.gov
129 - Grogins, Auden Member D Auden.Grogins@cga.ct.gov
131 - Labriola, David K. Member R David.Labriola@housegop.ct.gov
099 - Lawlor, Michael P. Member D mlawlor99@juno.com
145 - Miller, Patricia B. Member D Patricia.Miller@cga.ct.gov
024 - O'Brien, Tim Member D
tim@timobrien.org
143 - Reeves, Margaret Member D Peggy.Reeves@cga.ct.gov
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RID Launches New Government
Affairs Program
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November 17, 2009 –
Alexandria, VA – The Registry of
Interpreters for the Deaf (RID) is pleased to
announce the establishment of a new Government
Affairs Program to advocate on behalf of
professional sign language interpreters at both the
state and federal levels. The program will be a
part of the RID Communications Department managed by
Tina Schultz, Director of Communications, supported
by Sarah Fieldhouse, Communications Manager, and
Lindsey Walter, Communications Specialist. RID Past
President, Janet L. Bailey, CSC, NIC Master, SC:PA,
will serve as RID’s Government Affairs
Representative.
“Janet is an ideal
candidate for the interpreter advocate as she has
been in the profession for over 30 years, she served
in a leadership capacity for RID, understands the
issues impacting interpreters on a daily basis and
has a perspective that is fully encompassing of the
profession,” stated Clay Nettles, RID Executive
Director.
“The field of
interpreting has gone through significant changes in
recent years,” said Janet Bailey. “I am excited to
work with RID and its members to identify and
prioritize current needs. We want to ensure that
RID is included in all discussions that lead to laws
and regulations that impact an interpreter’s work.”
The program will include working
within the organization and membership to set goals
and objectives while strengthening outside
relationships with professional organizations,
consumer groups, industry partners and government
agencies.
Communication will be a key
component and will consist of regular articles in
RID’s quarterly news magazine, VIEWS, and RID’s
monthly newsletter, e-NEWS, as well as personal
appearances and town hall meetings at RID regional
and state meetings. |
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Region I Conference
| Region I will be
holding a conference in Albany, NY
on August 13-15, 2010. We will
be gathering at the Albany Marriott on 189 Wolf Road for
a weekend of learning, professional development and fun.
RID Region I
Representative Rebekah Barkowitz announced on June 9th
that Trudy Gilbert, CI and CT, and Kelly Decker, NIC
Advanced, have been appointed as co-chairs for the
conference. Please be sure to read their
conference introduction letter,
which is located on the
Region I Web page.
We hope you will
consider attending, presenting, interpreting and/or
joining a committee to help make this region conference
the best it can be.
More information will
be available soon. Be sure to check the
Region I page
on
the RID Web site for updates. |
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A new film entitled I Sign and I Live is
currently in production, and the directors are seeking actors, crew
members, and financial support. For more information on how you
can participate, click on this link:
www.isignilive.wordpress.com
Region I News - click
here for information on joining a Yahoo
group that provides information from the Strategic Challenges and Bylaws
Review Task Force and gathers input from you.
CRID Fall 2009
Newsletter - click
here to download
RID Region I Fall, 2009 Newsletter
- click here to download
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The draft,
proposed, RID K-12
Standard
Practice Paper
is now available for member comment and can be found on the
RID website at:
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RID Test Site at Northwestern Connecticut
Community College Re-Opened
Test Site Coordinator Paul Atkinson announced on May
1st, 2009 that enough new local test administrators have been recruited
to allow the re-opening of the site for NIC Interview and Performance
Test appointments. More test administrators are still needed, and Atkinson urges any CRID member who
would like to help staff the site in Winsted to contact him as soon
as possible. For more information on how to
become an LTA, follow this link.
Paul Atkinson can be reached at
PAtkinson@nwcc.commnet.edu
or 860-738-6388.
New Resource from the National Task Force on
Deaf-Blind Interpreting
The National Task Force on Deaf-Blind Interpreting (NTFDBI) in
conjunction with DB-LINK at the National Consortium on Deaf-Blindness is
pleased to announce the completion of a new resource - an Annotated
Bibliography on Deaf-Blind Interpreting. This document is intended for
interpreters, interpreter educators and deaf-blind people who are
looking for books, articles and videos about deaf-blind interpreting,
communication, advocacy and rights, culture and community, Support
Service Providers (SSPs) and more. The bibliography is available on the
web at http://www.nationaldb.org/ISSelectedTopics.php?topicCatID=767.
This site also has a downloadable PDF version of the document in both
regular and large print and a plain text document. If you have any
resources that are not included in this listing, please send the article
or information to NTFDBI@gmail.com.
The NTFDBI, which began via a motion passed at the 2005 RID national
convention, is a national collaboration among the American
Association of the Deaf-Blind (AADB), Registry of Interpreters for
the Deaf (RID) and National Consortium of Interpreter Education
Centers (NCIEC) (lead agencies), with representation from the Conference
of Interpreter Trainers (CIT), the National Alliance of Black
Interpreters (NAOBI), the National Family Association of the
Deaf-Blind and from several state-level agencies and community members.
The mission of the NTFDBI is to establish a standard of effective
practice to ensure the quality and availability of interpreters for
deaf-blind people.
Other recent work by the NTFDBI includes a compilation of resources for
people wanting to learn more and become more involved in the
community and in deaf-blind interpreting entitled Deaf-Blind
Interpreting: Many Paths on the Road (RID VIEWS, February, 2008).
Upcoming activities include a needs assessment of interpreter
educators and program administrators regarding deaf-blind
interpreter
education (coming in the fall) and a workshop to be presented at the CIT
conference in Puerto Rico in October 2008 on strategies to include
deaf-blind interpreting materials in currently established interpreter
education curricula.
For questions or more information, please contact NTFDBI@gmail.com.
The NTFDBI is made possible with funding support from the NCIEC which
is funded through the Dept. of Education, Rehabilitation Services
Administration.
This article was submitted byRandy Klumph (klumphr@wou.edu)
The National Consortium on Deaf-Blindness
The Teaching Research Institute
345 N Monmouth Ave
Monmouth, OR 97361
Emergency
medical interpreting services
for
nights and weekends will continue past August, 2009!
A collaborative effort by
members of the Deaf community, the Office of Protection and
Advocacy (OPA), the Connecticut Hospital Association (CHA),
Family Services- Woodfield (FSW),
the Connecticut Commission on the Deaf and Hearing Impaired
(CDHI), and the Connecticut Chapter of the Registry of
Interpreters for the Deaf (CRID) has succeeded in
re-establishing the hospital emergency interpreting service
program. Deaf Citizens can now feel comforted. Sign
Language Interpreters will be dispatched
to hospital emergencies whenever possible on nights,
weekends and during holidays, “24/7”.
How it will work:
It will work pretty much
like it has in the past!
A Deaf
patient in a hospital “Emergency Room”………….
[The hospital may try
“video relay interpreting (vri)”
for information collection (forms and paperwork) and early
preparation, or “ triage”, until
an interpreter arrives.]
Protocol I:
The hospital will call
“211” (or CDHI and CDHI will refer to “211”).
“211” will check the FSW
list.
“211” will call and
dispatch the available FSW “on-call” interpreter to the
Hospital.
Protocol II:
If no FSW interpreter is
available,
“211” will tell the
hospital to call (860-231-7623) , the CDHI emergency
interpreting telephone number.
The hospital will call the
CDHI emergency number. The CDHI answering service will
contact CDHI Coordinators. CDHI
Coordinators will call the hospital for details. The
Coordinators will try to locate an available interpreter and
dispatch the interpreter to the hospital.
Protocol III:
If no CDHI interpreter is
available,
CDHI coordinators will
encourage the hospital to write a brief note to the patient
stating: “No FSW interpreter, No
CDHI interpreter available now. Still
trying. Time don’t know.”
The hospital should then
call private hospital resources for interpreter( s).
[If still no interpreters,
start over with Protocol I and then Protocol
II ].
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Dr. Brenda Nicodemus, a researcher at San Diego State
University, is conducting a survey of ASL/English interpreters to gather
data for a study on language direction, interpreting that occurs from
one's L1 (primary or native language) to L2 (one's second language) and
vice versa. To find out more about participating in this survey,
click here: <more>
CRID wishes to express special appreciation to the following
individuals for their generous financial contributions:
Thank you!!!
New
Region I Representative
Region I has a new Representative! Rebekah Barkowitz.
More information about Rebekah's background and
current activities will posted soon.
CRID Position on EIPA
On January 28, 2006, the CRID Board of
Directors held a forum to discuss the possible
Educational Interpreter Performance Assessment (EIPA)
and RID partnership with the intent to solicit feedback from
our members in order to create a position paper. Below
is the final statement submitted to RID by CRID President
Tammy Boutin.
"CRID supports the concept of
the
Educational Interpreter Performance Assessment (EIPA).
Albeit a much needed and comprehensive assessment tool,
working interpreters in the state of Connecticut must
operate within the parameters of the state law, Connecticut
General Statues: Section 46a - 33a, which states that a
person providing interpreting services in the state of
Connecticut must be registered with the Commission on the
Deaf and Hearing Impaired and hold (1) a Comprehensive
Skills Certificate from the National Registry of
Interpreters for the Deaf, (2) a Certificate of
Interpretation or a Certificate of Transliteration from the
National Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, (3) a Level
Four Certification from the National Association of the
Deaf, (4) a Reverse Skills Certificate or is a Certified
Deaf Interpreter under the National Registry of Interpreters
for the Deaf."
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