Interpreting for Deaf/Blind Consumers
Workshop Description:
This course will provide an overview of how some blindness occurs and in which communitites DeafBlindness is seen. Protactile methods have been developed recently and are commonly used with DeafBlind/Low-Vision/Close-Vision clients. Participants will have a strong basis of introductory materials at the completion to utilize within their interpreting work.
Educational Objectives:
After this workshop, participants will be able to:
- Explain how some DeafBlindness occurs
- Articulate the basic premises of Protactile methods which are commonly used among the Deaf Blind population
- Demonstrate basic Protactile methods
Presenter Bio:
Jamie was born and raise in Salt Lake City, Utah and elected to take ASL in high school as her foreign language course. After having a certified interpreter as a teacher, she applied for the Interpreter Training Program at Salt Lake Community College where she received her Associate of Arts degree. She certified in Utah just before completion and transferred to Utah Valley University to peruse a Bachelors degree in Deaf Studies. While taking courses she started interpreting in VRS and post-secondary education. She moved to Alabama and worked there and in Florida. She moved back to Salt Lake City to advance certification through diverse work opportunities in her home network and passed the NIC through RID. Jamie applied for a Masters program at Gallaudet University’s in Deaf Studies: Language and Human Rights shortly after. When she was accepted she moved to DC and started working as an interpreter doing Freelance work with Access Interpreting and doing Independent Contract work with the local DeafBlind population. It was there that she learned about tactile interpreting and the ProTactile method. Her study abroad in Norway through Gallaudet increased her work experience when she was accepted as an intern for the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) she learned International Sign. Her travels and studied took her across Scandinavia, through Europe, and to Northern Africa. After graduation from Gallaudet and receiving her degree, she moved back home and was hired to teach full-time at her alma mater, UVU, in the Deaf Studies department as a Lecturer in the interpreting emphasis courses. She incorporates her knowledge if International Sign, DeafBlind Interpreting, and work experience using ASL/Spoken English amongst many different interpreting communities into her classroom and by teaching workshops.