We have made our URL changes permanent. The DBI website will continue to be located at dbinterpreting.com. You can also login to DBI Moodle at moodle.dbinterpreting.com.

We are pleased to share that DBI Moodle is back online! DBI Moodle's address has also been temporarily changed to dbinterpreting.wou.edu. Please rest assured that your DBI Moodle account and all of your progress in our online modules is unaffected by this change.
​
Thank you all for your patience and understanding during a challenging time.

A HUGE thank you to everyone who uses our website and online services. We appreciate your patience as we attempt to resolve some challenging technology issues.

Until we are able to resolve this situation, our website has been temporarily moved to a new URL, www.dbinterpreting.com. Many of our online services are still offline as we navigate this situation. We will post updates here and on our Facebook page. We will also notify everyone as soon as we are able to return our site to our home at www.dbinterpreting.org.

Please rest assured that both the Center and your user data are safe; our difficulties resulted from the untimely combination of the loss of one of our colleagues followed by vendor closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

For our inaugural #PTStomps post, we are delighted to share a protactile poem (video and description available below) as well as a companion poem in English from the incomparable John Lee Clark, an author, an instructor, and a mentor trainer with DBI.

DBI Moodle will be offline for scheduled maintenance on Wednesday, January 15, 2020.

This online module, DeafBlind Interpreting in VR Settings, is an introductory overview to working with DeafBlind individuals in Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) settings. The module addresses the purpose of VR services, the VR experience, the importance of understanding VR-specific vocabulary, ethical issues that may arise in VR settings, and resources for interpreters and other professionals who work with DeafBlind individuals.

Learning Objectives:

• Gain a basic understanding of the Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) process.
• Identify key components of the rehabilitation process, such as employment-related services and timelines.
• Develop an understanding of important VR-related vocabulary.
• Identify roles and responsibilities of interpreters who work in the Vocational Rehabilitation setting, specifically those working with clients who are DeafBlind.
• Gain a deeper awareness of ethical considerations when working in VR-related settings with a client who is DeafBlind
• Identify resources to further studies about interpreting in VR settings

The DBI Moodle website will be offline for maintenance for several hours on December 4th, 2018, starting at 7am PST. Service is expected to return to normal the following day.

Thank you for your patience as we improve our site!

We are happy to announce the launch of a new online learning module today! Module 2, The Seven Principles of PTASL, is now available on-demand via DBI Moodle. If you have an account with us, the module will appear on your Dashboard when you next login. If you are new to DBI Moodle, one-time registration is FREE. Sign up today!

About DBI Module 2: The Seven Principles of PTASL
This online module outlines core principles of protactile communication. It also provides some background about how these principles were developed and how they are intended to be used as an educational resource. Videos and text descriptions are provided to illustrate proper application of the principles. This module is meant to pair with the recently published document, ProTactile Principles.
According to Jelica Nuccio and aj granda, "Protactile philosophy has grown out of the realization that DeafBlind people’s intuitions about tactile communication are stronger than the intuitions sighted people have. This realization has changed the way we communicate with each other, the way we work with interpreters, and more generally, the way we live. We call this way of life and the principles and practices that shape it, 'protactile.' Protactile ASL has been growing slowly in our community and as that has happened, we have developed a framework for sharing that knowledge." This framework has come out of a decade of experience Nuccio and granda have had as teachers and their cultural understanding of the evolution of the protactile movement. This content is meant to provide a basic foundation for future modules that will explore more about the linguistic evolution of this emerging language. 

NOTE: To learn protactile ASL, you have to actively participate in a protactile community and seek out DeafBlind, protactile teachers; there is no substitute for community immersion and hands-on experience. However, we hope that this module will help you explore and share the protactile world.

Module #2 Learning Objectives: Participants will be able to...

• Compare and contrast three linguistic and cultural value differences between protactile ASL and visual ASL
•  List the seven principles of protactile ASL
•  Apply three of the principles of protactile ASL 
• Define a "PT Zone"
• Compare and contrast the differences in ASL and PTASL role shifts, point-to-point, and emphasis and emotion.
• Demonstrate an example of five out of seven of the principles.

Who is this for? Interpreters, VR Professionals, Interpreter Educators         
What is a module? A 60-minute online workshop
Where? Online, via free DBI Moodle account
When? Anytime*** (see info about CEUs below)
How much? Free!

This module is open to all and is available for CEUs. In order to receive CEU’s, you will be required to complete pre- and post-tests. 0.1 CEUs in the category of Professional Studies will be offered by the Regional Resource Center on Deafness at Western Oregon University, an approved RID CMP and ACET sponsor.
​
***CEUs: CEUs will be submitted to RID quarterly. Please hold any questions about CEUs until after the end of the quarter. The quarters DBI follows are January-March, April-June, July-September, October-December. All CEUs for the first quarter (October 1-December 31) will be posted the first week of January, 2019. If requested, a certificate of completion will be sent after CEUs have been posted.

The goals for the DBI Module Series are: 

• to increase the knowledge base, skills and training opportunities for working sign language interpreters 
• to meet the cultural and linguistic needs of the DeafBlind community
• to provide current content related to DeafBlind interpreting for interpreters and interpreter educators
• to increase the pool of qualified interpreters and VR professionals working with DeafBlind consumers

We are pleased to announce the launch of the DBI Module Series! This online, on-demand, asynchronous module series focuses on DeafBlind interpreting and the culture and linguistics of protactile ASL. Module 1 is now available to the public on DBI Moodle, our virtual classroom space.

About DBI Module 1: The Protactile Movement
This online module provides a cultural understanding of the evolution of the protactile movement. Jelica Nuccio and aj granda share the four fundamental components of protactile: history, philosophy, attitude, and language. This video narrative combines anecdotal stories and personal experiences that highlight the importance of a DeafBlind person’s autonomy, especially in relation to working with interpreters. This content is meant to provide a basic foundation for future modules that will explore more about the linguistic evolution of this emerging language. 

Module #1 Learning Objectives:

• Participants will be able to compare and contrast 3 linguistic and cultural values between protactile ASL and visual ASL. 
• Participants will be able to list 3 differences between visual ASL and protactile ASL.
• Participants will be able to describe the 4 components of the protactile movement.
• Participants will be able to identify concrete examples of disability language vs. cultural language.

Who is this for? Interpreters, VR Professionals, Interpreter Educators         
What is a module? A 60-minute online workshop
Where? Online, via free DBI Moodle account
When? Anytime*** (see info about CEUs below)
How much? Free!

This module is open to all and is available for CEUs. In order to receive CEU’s, you will be required to complete pre- and post-tests. 0.1 CEUs in the category of Professional Studies will be offered by the Regional Resource Center on Deafness at Western Oregon University, an approved RID CMP and ACET sponsor.
​
***CEUs: CEUs will be submitted to RID quarterly. Please hold any questions about CEUs until after the end of the quarter. The quarters DBI follows are January-March, April-June, July-September, October-December. All CEUs for the first quarter (October 1-December 31) will be posted the first week of January, 2019. If requested, a certificate of completion will be sent after CEUs have been posted.

The goals for the DBI Module Series are: 

• to increase the knowledge base, skills and training opportunities for working sign language interpreters 
• to meet the cultural and linguistic needs of the DeafBlind community
• to provide current content related to DeafBlind interpreting for interpreters and interpreter educators
• to increase the pool of qualified interpreters and VR professionals working with DeafBlind consumers

Check out our Online Learning page to learn more about these modules and other online training content.

Video description:
Dr. Francis Casale (male with gray and white hair and a white mustache, wearing a light colored, long sleeve, collared shirt and dark sleeveless vest) sits in front of a wooden wall and signs into the camera.

Video transcript:
Hello, my name is Dr. Francis Casale.  I'm from Covina, California where I work as a pastor for Deaf, DeafBlind, and hearing congregants.  I'm interested in learning more about PTASL because it has helped me immensely. It offers a greater depth of information and can convey a more cohesive picture of the environmental context so I can better orient myself.  Using PTASL, I have access to much more information about my environment and the world around me.  As a blind person, I had felt socially isolated and alone in a crowd before being introduced to PT.  With PT, I'm connected and interact more naturally just like anyone else might.  Learning PT has been incredibly inspiring for me and I'm sincerely grateful for PTASL, which bridges the language of the Deaf and DeafBlind communities.  It is simply beautiful.

(Video transcript and description also available for download as an accessible Word document)

#WhyISignPTASL