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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...
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:
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:
How do I participate?If you already have an account with us, just login! You will see Module 1: The Protactile Movement appear on your dashboard under "My Content" when you next login to the site.
New to DBI Moodle? Registration is FREE and includes access to not only this module but all archived and future public training content on the DBI Moodle site.
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:
Check out our Online Learning page to learn more about these modules and other online training content. All of us at DBI want to thank you for participating in a successful launch of our DBI Moodle site and our first asynchronous webinar. We had over 1,200 people sign up for a DBI Moodle account, and already more than 400 people have participated in our webinar! We have received great feedback and are excited to continue to work with you all.
Many of you have had questions and we want to answer those. And, if you haven't registered, you still can! Click the button below to read the rest of our newsletter and learn more: Do you want to learn more about DBI and our upcoming training opportunities? Now’s your chance!  Join our co-directors CM Hall and Heather Holmes for DBI’s first webinar! This webinar is an introduction and opportunity to learn about the work and progress that the DeafBlind Interpreting National Training & Resource Center has made since beginning research into effective practice in DeafBlind interpreter education. Through in-depth surveys, focus groups and interviews, DBI has identified key findings as well as core competencies and domains that any interpreter working with DeafBlind individuals should be aware of. This hour-long webinar will introduce you to the co-directors and core team members on the grant as well as introduce the emerging research into protactile ASL as linguistically distinct from Visual ASL. A pre- and post-assessment and evaluation will be required of those seeking CEUs. At the conclusion of this webinar, participants should be able to identify the domains and competencies related to DeafBlind interpreting work and determine how it is different from visual ASL interpreting. This webinar is open to all and is available for CEUs. Being awarded CEUs is contingent on completion of a pre- and post-assessment. Registration is FREE and includes access to all future public training content on the DBI Moodle site. Webinar: DBI Moving Forward: From Research to Practice Available on demand starting Monday, February 19th Not sure if you can participate right away? You should still register! We will keep the recorded content available to all registrants for 90 days.
Having trouble getting started? Need an alternate format sign-up form? Contact us at dbi@wou.edu or 503-888-7172 (voice/text/FaceTime) *Please note: In order to receive CEU’s, you will be required to complete pre- and post-tests and a minimum of 75% of content. 0.125 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. Video description:
CM (a female with shoulder length brown hair, wears a long sleeved black shirt) looks into the camera and signs. Video transcript: Hello! I am CM Hall. I'm the co-director for the DeafBlind Interpreting National Training and Resource Center (DBI) grant. Our goal is to train more interpreters who know and understand ProTactile American Sign Langauge (PTASL). We recognize that many DeafBlind people use PTASL, and we want to make sure interpreters are familiar with that language. This includes an understanding of how best to meet both cultural and linguistic needs. Part of our initiative is to raise awareness and understanding around the use of PTASL as a language, and the reasons people choose to use it. We need your help to get the word out. We would like to collect short videos addressing why you choose to use PTASL. There are specific items we would like you to address in your video. First, tell us your name. Second, tell us if you are Deaf, DeafBlind, hard of hearing, hearing, or sighted. Third, where do you live? Fourth, if you have a job, tell us more about where you work and what you do. Fifth, and we would like you to really open up and share on this one, tell us why you choose to use PTASL and what benefits you gain from its use. Why have you embraced this language and how have you taken it and made it your own? Last, please add the hashtag, #WhyISignPTASL to your video. That's all there is to it! Keep in mind, we want to keep these videos brief, because our goal is to share them on YouTube and Facebook, because our goal is to share them on YouTube and Facebook, to raise awareness, increase recognition, and to promote understanding of ProTactile ASL. If you are interested in helping us, and are willing to share a video, please email that video to hallcm@wou.edu when you have completed it. Thank you so much in advance! Touch you later! (Video transcript and description also available for download as an accessible Word document) #WhyISignPTASL I first volunteered at a weekend DeafBlind camp on the side of Mt. Hood near Sandy, Oregon in the fall of 1992. I remember having perhaps my first and only panic attack on the way up driving past snow. I was starting to freak out, thinking “I’ve only been studying sign language for a year! How am I going to guide or interpret with DeafBlind people in the snow?!” My friends calmed me down, and I made it through the weekend. All the DeafBlind people lived. I remember one moment during the weekend when I was matched with a DeafBlind senior citizen who was wearing overalls. They were announcing the winners of the costume contest and the person I was interpreting for won for Best Overall (people thought it meant, Best Overalls.” A more seasoned interpreter saw that I wasn’t getting the message across and asked if I needed help and he intervened. I was grateful because the goal of that man getting the message that he won was getting across more swiftly than I could have. After that weekend, I wasn’t sure volunteering in the DeafBlind community was right for me, but my friends and I returned the next spring to the weekend camp on the Oregon Coast. I think that was the camp that cemented my volunteerism as a passion for me. I had a lot of fun with other volunteers and met some pretty interesting and dynamic DeafBlind people too. I saw the magic that transpires when this community comes together and I was hooked. From there, I sought out an interpreting internship with more opportunity to be in the DeafBlind community in the Bay Area. I continued to volunteer at the Oregon camps through the mid 1990’s until money ran out and the camps couldn’t operate any longer. I had heard about Seabeck, the DeafBlind Retreat that had been operating for decades (now almost 40 years) in the Olympic peninsula of Washington State. The week-long retreat accommodated 80 DeafBlind folks and 150 volunteers. I first went in 1998. I was excited to see many of the same DeafBlind individuals and volunteers who had come down by bus for the Oregon DeafBlind camps. I started working for the Western Region Interpreter Education Center grant at Western Oregon University in 2007. I heard about service-learning as an opportunity for students to apply their studies through meaningful community service with instruction and reflection and thought about how Western was well-positioned to collaborate with the DeafBlind community, a community always in search of qualified, ASL-fluent interpreters and sighted guides. I began to reach out to the Seattle DeafBlind community leaders and initiate a relationship. I’d been away from active volunteering in the community for a decade and there were new faces and I wanted to work to create a project with students to train them. Soon after our relationship was underway, Seattle Central Community College’s interpreter program was disbanded and building that relationship was even more valuable especially as many Western students hail from Washington. In the 12 years since I first taught Western students about DeafBlind interpreting and guiding, 135 students have gone to volunteer at Seabeck. These students have been hearing, Deaf or hard of hearing. Many students have found their spiritual home and community at Seabeck and return year after year to volunteer now on their own, as they have built their own relationships with DeafBlind community members and other volunteers. Western has also built a strong relationship with the active volunteer organization, WSDBC, the Washington State DeafBlind Citizens. This group has quarterly meetings and works with us to provide volunteers so that their members can actively plan and engage in their community. I’m proud of the way we work to show up. Aware of our privilege and power and working to affirm each DeafBlind individual’s dignity, worth and right to access and information through touch. This partnership is a journey we are on with WSDBC, the DeafBlind Service Center, and The Lighthouse for the Blind which plans the Seabeck Retreat, and we strive to honor the DeafBlind community’s experience first in. We see how much value and learning is gained and because of this relationship, we are better able to prepare our graduates to go on and work with other DeafBlind individuals and pursue their passions with this community. I continue to be amazed at how opportunities have opened up for interpreters to work with DeafBlind individuals, traveling for conferences, cruises, workshops, and the like. Witnessing students who are no longer students in most cases using ProTactile ASL and being open to how to grow and learn more is a wonderful affirmation that the relationship we continue to build and work on is worthwhile. -CM Hall CM HALLCM Hall, Ed.M., NIC Advanced, EIPA K-12, is the DBI Project Manager. CM has volunteered in the DeafBlind community since 1992 and created an academic service-learning project for ASL-fluent students to engage with the DeafBlind community, partnering with the Washington State DeafBlind Citizens organization and the annual Seabeck DeafBlind Retreat.  Thinking about holding our first big grant meeting for the DeafBlind Interpreting National Training & Resource Center over three days in Seattle with a majority of the meeting participants being DeafBlind community leaders and key stakeholders was exciting. Simultaneously, I imagined potential challenges could arise, but having been a part of this community for over two decades, I knew it would also present intangible –and literally tangible—rewards that regularly remind me why I got into studying interpreting and Deaf/DeafBlind Culture. Sure, it was a lot of advance work to coordinate all the travel, lodging, meeting location details, SSP and interpreter logistics. Yet once everyone comes together and there is ProTactile ASL as far as you can touch, it makes all those pesky details melt. It’s what we aspire to create in this grant: a PTASL-accessible environment for everyone. It was an education for all involved—learning about our grant goals and activities over the five years, and learning how to give in-the-moment information and feedback that affirms our inclusive environment and an autonomous one for all. It was a long three-days, but the immersive environment was a great refresher for those more experienced in PTASL and opened up a whole new world and created a lot of “aha!” moments for those who were touching it for the first time. I can’t wait to see how many more folks, DeafBlind, hearing/sighted, hard of hearing, are all more PTASL-savvy at the end of this grant. I hope we feel a little closer to one another and validate the DeafBlind community’s language in the process. Touch you later, ~CM CM HALLCM Hall, Ed.M., NIC Advanced, EIPA K-12, is the DBI Project Manager. CM has volunteered in the DeafBlind community since 1992 and created an academic service-learning project for ASL-fluent students to engage with the DeafBlind community, partnering with the Washington State DeafBlind Citizens organization and the annual Seabeck DeafBlind Retreat.  A few weeks ago we had our first meeting with our Core Team in Seattle, Washington, and it was my first foray into DeafBlind culture. The meeting included 4 DBI staff (all hearing/sighted), 4 individuals who are DeafBlind, and one hearing/sighted VR counselor with a DeafBlind caseload (an RCDB). Of the four DeafBlind individuals, two were the developers of ProTactile (and contractors on the project), one was a VR Counselor, and one teaches in an interpreter training program educating students about working with individuals who are DeafBlind. There were also six interpreters working with three of the DeafBlind individuals (three hearing and three deaf). The meeting was conducted in ASL. Hearing/sighted norms had no place here. First, spending the time to get to know who was there and to get to know each other was important. In this situation, we all lined up in two rows facing each other. We each chatted a few minutes with the person across from us, and then switched partners. It was a very intentional way of leveling the playing field. It wasn’t just the hearing/sighted people who knew who was there and who could get a feel for the different personalities in the room. Once we had all talked with each other, we were ready to join the circle; no rows of chairs and tables for this group. For one thing, people aren’t likely to be taking a lot of notes on computers if they are relying on some type of tactile sign language. And there are often lighting challenges for people with low vision. Going from room lighting to looking at the computer lighting may be very tiring for their eyes, which are already taxed in a 3.5 day meeting. Thus, having a designated notetaker (a talented team member who could watch the language and take notes at the same time) was important for everyone, but not so with tables. Tables also get in the way. DeafBlind culture is a culture of touch. When you are sitting next to someone, you always stay in physical contact, whether through your leg or foot up against theirs, or having your hand on their thigh. This is so they know you are still there, and it allows them to know if you are agreeing or disagreeing with a speaker (for example, by patting their leg) without interrupting the interpretation. (If you are talking, they will also have a hand on your thigh indicating they are following you). The interpreters all needed to be able to see who was signing so that they could interpret in PTASL, and tables definitely get in the way of the flexibility that is needed. As someone who currently knows very little about the features of PTASL, it was fascinating to me to watch and try and figure out what was being done differently and why. For example, I noticed that when a speaker is setting up a sequence (e.g., 1st, 2nd, 3rd), she indicated the sequence on the other person’s fingers, not her own. I saw this happen several times before I figured out that indicating it on your own hand is a sighted way of doing it. Touch is the DeafBlind way. As time goes on, we’ll have more contributors to the blog explaining other features of PTASL and their experiences. We are excited and honored to be a part of this growing movement and looking forward to seeing the impact it will have on the autonomy of DeafBlind individuals everywhere. CHERYL DAVISCheryl Davis is the DBI Project Director. Her role is administrative and evaluative, ensuring the project activities are completed on schedule and within budget, and adhere to the values and mission of the project.  At 8:45 on a Tuesday morning, I walked up the ramp at the Seattle DeafBlind Center ready to meet the colleagues who would help spearhead the national DeafBlind Interpreting project over the next 5 years. Many of us stood in the hallway waiting for the room to be unlocked and had an opportunity to get to know one another. A hand on my shoulder, a tap on my arm, and other indications that we entered a tactile space left me excited and ready to be part of this team. I thought I had some idea of what to expect, but by 9:01 when we walked into the meeting space, I realized I was entering a whole new world and was witnessing history in the making. ProTactile American Sign Language (PTASL) is a promising practice that is changing the way DeafBlind people interface with one another and the community around them. Fueled by the desire for autonomy, DeafBlind leaders are rising up to provide training and resources to other DeafBlind individuals with the goal of changing their community. Now, as part of this federally funded grant project, DeafBlind leaders will train interpreters on the use of PTASL with DeafBlind consumers. Over the course of the next 5 years, a total of 30 DeafBlind mentors, 60 novice interpreters, 45 experienced interpreters, and 10 DeafBlind ProTactile Educators will receive extensive training on the use of PTASL. The goal of this grant is to increase the quality and quantity of interpreters who provide PTASL interpretation to DeafBlind individuals, and to increase autonomy and the use of PTASL in the DeafBlind community. Curious about what comes next? Check back often to learn more about the ways DeafBlind leaders are shaping the face of the DeafBlind community and the field of interpreting one training at a time! Heather HolmesHeather is the DBI Resource Manager. Her responsibilities include development of online materials and courses, management of a national online resource repository, and provision of technical assistance to stakeholders across the country. |
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