Improved Disability Access in Florida Courts
April 24, 2008
The Disability Independence Group is very pleased to distribute this article on the recent rule change to improve access to the courts for persons with disabilities, including lawyers in practice.
Matthew Dietz did an outstanding job of leading this initiative. Thank you also to the Equal Opportunity and the Law Section of the Florida Bar and its Lawyers with Disabilities Committee, and the Members of the Disability Independence Group who worked tirelessly on this project.
Rule would provide better court access to the disabled
Danielle Strickman
Project Director
The Disability Independence Group
Home Office: 305-267-3488/ 305-267-3969 fax
Kickoff Fundraiser for Mike Horner Campaign
February 28, 2007
Florida House District 79
Wednesday Feb 28, 2007 in Kissimmee
Faculty Position Opening at UNF
February 22, 2007
I wanted to share this announcement with you regarding a faculty position we have open at UNF. It is for an ASL/English Interpreting Faculty member. We have a wonderful department for someone out there to join! Download Information Here
Please share with anyone whom you feel would be interested. Send it out near and far!
Thanks,
Len Roberson, Ph.D.; CI and CT
ASL Video Relay Career Opportunity in Florida
October 25, 2006
Hands On Video Relay Services (HOVRS) is seeking candidates to be responsible for educating and training customers within their respective regions.
A HOVRS Representative will educate and train customers on how to set up and use HOVRS features, options and various services. Tasks will also include; researching upcoming marketing events, participating in community events such as school or social gatherings. While at such events, the HOVRS Representative will provide attendees with information about HOVRS and our services. They will also be responsible for collecting data and information from these local events to be used within the marketing and outreach departments at HOVRS. Additionally, the HOVRS Representative will assist the marketing team in setting up booths at trade shows, schools and various events. The Representative may also be responsible for assisting Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing customers in setting up video products in their home; such as web cams, D-Link, i-Sight, and box top receivers. Training these new customers on how to place a video relay call through HOVRS will also be conducted by the HOVRS Representative.
Introduction to the Structure of ASL
December 12, 2005
New Course: Introduction to the Structure of ASL
Flagler College, St. Augustine, FL
LIN 661.EXT1/PST 361.EXT1 A survey of the major features of the linguistic structure and social uses of American Sign Language. The course will cover four major topics:
Phonology - The study of the raw materials of signs. An examination of the structure of the physical signals of ASL, the customary patterns for combining them, and the influence of signs on one another in connected discourse;
Morphology - building and storing words. The study of the basic meaningful units of ASL, including discussions of word creation, compounding, borrowing, affixing, and numeral incorporation. A discussion of the use of space in ASL, including an examination of verbs with subject and object agreement and of spatial-locative verbs;
Syntax - building sentences and longer structures. An examination of the word order of ASL sentences, non-manual syntactic signals, and discourse structures;
Sociolinguistic Applications - a discussion of language variation and language contact in the Deaf community.
PREREQUISITES:
A copy of your transcript must accompany your application to enroll in this class for graduate credit. If you are taking this course for PST credits, there is no prerequisite.
INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Susan Mather
RID CMP CEUs: 1.5, Professional Studies, Introductory
DATES/TIMES: March 24 & 25, 2005
Friday, 3:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Saturday, 8:00 am - 5:00 pm
LOCATION:
Flagler College
Proctor Library, Room 215
44 Sevilla Street (corner of Sevilla and Valencia)
St. Augustine, FL 32085
FEES:
LIN 661 Tuition: $340
Processing Fee: $20
Materials Fee: $ 10
Total: $ 370
PST 361 Tuition: $240
Processing Fee: $20
Materials Fee: $ 10
Total: $ 270
All fees must be sent with your application form.
REFUND POLICY:
Before the registration deadline: Tuition is refundable upon written request; however, a $50.00 administrative fee will be retained. Written requests must be received by the registration deadline or refund will be processed as noted below:
After the registration deadline: Partial tuition is refundable upon written request (processing fee and material fee, where applicable, is not refundable). Schedule is as follows:
Withdrawals after 2/24/06 - 50% tuition refundable
Withdrawals by 3/03/06 - 25% tuition refundable
Withdrawals after 3/03/06 - no refund of tuition
It is IMPERATIVE that your written request for refund is in the office of the GURC at Flagler College by the deadline.
REGISTRATION DEADLINE:
February 24, 2006 - applications will continue to be accepted after this date as long as space is available. Please note that the refund policy deadlines remain in effect. The course is contingent on sufficient enrollment. You will receive a confirmation letter after 2/24/06. We recommend that you do not make travel arrangements before the course is confirmed.
For further information on this course:
Contact the Gallaudet University Regional Center at Flagler College:
(904) 829-2424 (TTY), (904) 819-6216 (v), (904) 819-6433 (fax)
Email: grcflagler@aol.com.
PST credit: Courses with the prefix PST (Professional Studies and Training) are continuing education credits offered for professionals who may not desire academic credits. These credits are not applicable toward a Gallaudet degree. PST credits may be transferable to your home institution; it is your responsibility to check with your home institution should you desire to transfer credits.
NOTE: Tuition and fees are subject to change without advance notice.
Children's Hearing Help Fund
July 16, 2005
From FAD E-zine:
New Donation Box on Driver's License Renewal.
On May 24th Governor Bush signed a new option into law for low income children to have access to better hearing.
On May 24th Governor Bush signed a new option into law for low income children to have access to better hearing. A significant barrier to successful intervention outcomes has become very apparent since the implementation of the enactment of Florida's Universal Newborn Hearing Screening Law, Statute 383.815. Following diagnosis, it is not unusual for some infants to experience delays of 6 months or more prior to hearing evaluation and hearing aid fitting due to a variety of issues primarily related to funding and/or parental uncertainty of how to proceed. The new law authorized the Department of Motor Vehicles to include a $1 donation check-off box on every driver's license renewal form that allows funds to be collected to aid families who don't have the means to pay for hearing aids for children who have been found to have hearing loss.
The Children's Hearing Help Fund (CHHF) will be used to provide assistance for qualifying families with minor children, from newborns to eighteen years of age for services such as hearing evaluations, loaner hearing devices, permanent hearing devices or the ongoing maintenance and replacement of the devices if necessary until the child reaches eighteen years of age. Hearing loss is the most common birth defect with three out of every 1000 newborns being found to have a permanent hearing problem that causes them to be at high risk for developing communication delays unless early help is provided to their families. Florida can expect approximately 600 new children to be confirmed as hearing impaired annually. Approximately 37% of families have insurance and/or financial resources however insurance rarely covers even a portion of hearing aids and most families with young children cannot readily afford to pay for hearing aids, each of which can cost as much as a refrigerator ($1000-$3000) and may need to be replaced every 3 years. Approximately 43% of children will have Medicaid coverage that could be applied to meet the cost of permanent amplification devices and an additional 20% are found to be from financially needy families that have no resources available. Therefore many families are faced with trying to purchase expensive hearing aids, typically 5-6 times before the child becomes an adult.
Charitable funding sources for families to turn to for assistance with purchasing amplification for children have historically been very limited. Early intervention and quality education is necessary to prevent developmental delays in language and learning. The Children's Hearing Help Fund will exist in order to provide the necessary funding to enable children from financially needy families to obtain amplification for their children (loaner or permanent) within 30 days of recommendation for hearing aid fitting, when no other funding options are available.
The Children's Hearing Help Fund is administered by the Sertoma Speech & Hearing Foundation of Florida, Inc. For more information contact: Craig McCart, Executive Director.
1-866-999-2443 or visit Website - www.childrenshearinghelpfund.org http://www.childrenshearinghelpfund.org For more information about the HEARING AID LOAN BANK FOR INFANTS AND TODDLERS please refer to the attached flyer:
Hearing Aid Loan Bank for Babies!.doc
* Nationally, three out of every 1000 newborns have a hearing loss. It is the most common birth defect.
* Even mild hearing loss or hearing loss in only one ear, if undetected, has substantial detrimental consequences. Research shows that children with hearing loss in one ear are 10 times as likely to be held back at least one grade level compared to matched group of children with normal hearing.
* Research notes that children identified with hearing loss at birth are, by the time they enter school, one to two years developmentally ahead of their hearing impaired peers who were not diagnosed until after they were six months old.
* Before universal newborn hearing screening the average age at which children were diagnosed with hearing loss was 2.5 years. Very important speech-language development occurs significantly earlier and these children frequently required intensive special instruction throughout all their school years.
* Through identification of hearing loss in the first 3 months and by working with the parents and caregivers to communicate effectively with their child thereby preventing delays in language, cognitive and social development these early identified children have the opportunity to develop on par with unimpaired peers. Without amplification and early intervention services by 6 months of age, lifelong delays in communication and learning may be expected.
* By the time a child with hearing loss graduates from high school, more than $400,000 per child can be saved in special education costs if the child is identified early and given appropriate educational, medical, and audiological services.
* Only by continuing consistent use of appropriate and well functioning amplification, can children with hearing loss continue to have the opportunity to access teacher instruction in classrooms using their remaining hearing. When the hearing aids of a school-age child need to be replaced or repaired, every day that the child is unable to hear optimally can be like a day they are absent from school!
Information and statistics courtesy of the National Center for Hearing Assessment and Management - Utah State University (NCHAM) or the National Institute on Deafness and Communicative Disorders (NIDCD). --
Important Attention to all DEAF who live in FLORIDA
October 28, 2004
Attention To all Deaf Floridians.. Do you live in Ocoee or
Orlando??? Did you have a hard time with Health Central Hospital
in Ocoee, Florida?? Did they refuse to provide you an
interpreter? If they refused please contact me immediately or
if you know anyone deaf who had a hard time with Health Central
Hospital in Ocoee on Colonial Drive, please contact me
immediately. My name is Jennylee Connors and I am in filing
lawsuit against that hospital and already have a Lawyer. We are
trying to get a group of deaf together to file suit against
the hospital for refusing an interpreter and ignoring *ADA LAWS* Please contact me at Aquabeach6@aol.com as soon as possible so
we can get together and file suit against the hospital. I'll need full name, address, and story about what happened at that hospital and date of when it happened.
Thank you,
Jennylee Connors
Free Hurricane Information Services
September 15, 2004
cwagner@fadcentral.org writes:
The Florida Association of the Deaf (FAD) is coordinating, with the Governor’ s Americans with Disabilities Act Working Group (ADAWG) staff, in the implementation of emergency alert notifications regarding the Hurricane to anyone with a pager or text messaging on cell phones, in case of power outages in our communities. This is an alternative to receiving information when there is no access to radio and television. This service is optional to anyone who wishes to receive updated information from the State Emergency Operations Center. The ADAWG staff will update once daily and provide the list to the EOC everyday at 5 p.m.
You may sign up by sending an email to mailto:emergencylist@fadcentral.org and type in your email address for your pager and cell phone (text messaging). You do not need to provide your name or contact information.
We are working closely with the State to ensure that pertinent information goes out to the Deaf, Hard of Hearing and Late Deafened community. Beth Switzer and the Florida Channel are working very hard to provide captioning of the EOC press briefings. We appreciate their commitment.
Please do share this email with your communities so we can reach out to as many people as possible.
Thank you.
Chris
Christopher D. Wagner, President
Florida Association of the Deaf, Inc.
P.O. Box 15556
Spring Hill, Florida 34604
Hands are Their Voice
January 08, 2004
ASL Services Inc. provides interpreters who employ sign language for people in theme parks,maternity wards, courtrooms and other places.
By April Miller | published by The Orlando Sentinel Jan 8th, 2004
On a chilly morning at SeaWorld Orlando, Brenda Cotto, 33, took off her jacket. Standing in the Splash Zone during The Shamu Adventure, Cotto needed to remove her jacket even though she knew she might get wet.
As the killer-whale show began, Cotto stood in the stands facing the crowd as her hands danced in front of her chest, distinctly forming letters and words to the people who were watching her. Her eyebrows scrunched and raised, all depending on the tone of the show's speaker. Cotto spoke silently in a language known as American Sign Language (ASL), which is a visual-gestural language that relies on hand shapes and facial expressions for communication in the deaf and hard-of-hearing community.
On this day, Cotto was a sign-language interpreter for a few deaf SeaWorld guests. Her hands would be her voice during the shows she would interpret. As a professional interpreter, she considers herself a bridge between deaf and hearing people.
"To interpret is to find the cultural equivalent of what is said, not simply a word-for-word translation," said Tara Mollinedo, a certified interpreter and general-resource manager for ASL Services Inc.
As an interpreter, Cotto may vocalize what someone who is deaf signs or she may use sign language to communicate what someone is saying to the deaf person. Interpreters such as Cotto prefer to be called interpreters, not signers.
"Signers use sign language to communicate their own thoughts, usually to family and friends," said Angela Roth, founder and chief executive officer of ASL Services. "Interpreters take someone else's thoughts."
Cotto works for the Orlando/Kissimmee-based interpreting agency ASL Services Inc., which has contracts with a few of Orlando's major theme parks such as SeaWorld. The company recently received an exclusive contract with Florida Hospital, which will make it the sole provider of translation and interpretation for its seven major hospitals and 15 other facilities.
Businesses are required to provide accommodations for the deaf because of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
The act requires businesses such as theme parks and doctors' offices to provide qualified interpreters or other effective methods to make aurally delivered materials available to those with a hearing disability.
ASL Services provides interpreters to businesses or to individuals for weddings, funerals and parties.
ASL Services has its roots in another company called Creative Interpreting Resources, which began in 1992 when Roth wanted more from an interpreting agency.
She had been a certified freelance interpreter since the 1980s but wanted better pay for interpreters and for them to be taken seriously, said Vannessa Mistelske, ASL Services' operations manager.
Roth said she started Creative Interpreting with just a table, a phone and a typewriter. The company's name changed about a year later because it continued to receive calls for all types of interpreting, and she wanted the company to focus more on ASL.
ASL Services now has 11 staff employees, which includes eight staff interpreters and three noninterpreters. ASL Services also has a list of freelancers.
Cotto and other staff interpreters accept additional jobs. She even worked 20 hours in one day while she was interpreting a baby's delivery but says those hours are rare.
"Let me work," she said. "But, I'll need to rest my eyes, arms and brain because you're mainly only standing or sitting in a chair and can go mentally crazy."
Mistelske added that another interpreter can take over after a long shift.
"They need to have breaks or work in teams because in addition to the mental processing of interpreting, physical well-being can be affected, such as developing carpal tunnel [syndrome]," Mistelske said.
Cotto has been interpreting for about 11 years and doesn't have any deaf family members. She didn't even plan on becoming an interpreter. She said she "saw the need and was inspired."
She dropped out of her nursing program and enrolled in an interpreting program in Kissimmee that would last two years.
Cotto began accepting interpreting jobs in the medical field because she had a nursing background. Although she has interpreted in a few different settings, her favorite is the maternity ward. She has interpreted for 14 babies' deliveries and hopes to do more.
"With a woman having a baby, you can be a support to them, but you are not supposed to be emotionally involved," Cotto said. "You describe the process and what you are doing. Some deaf know and some don't. Right away you try to figure their level of education."
In addition, Cotto said, she also determines what type of sign language the deaf or hard-of-hearing person uses because there are several variations.
Cotto can communicate in four languages: English, ASL, Spanish and Spanish Sign Language, all of which can be very helpful, she said.
The variety of assignments for ASL Services' interpreters is the pride of the company. Interpreter coordinator Gabrielle Joseph said interpreters can be at the delivery of a baby one day and in a courtroom the next. The company also provides services in legal and theatrical settings.
Each interpreter works toward state certification from the Florida Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf and then possibly national certification from the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf.
The state test consists of a written and performance screening.
Mistelske said interpreters can make from $10 to $40 an hour, with legal interpreters making the most, but the average is about $14 to $35 per hour.
Cotto said she does not do the job for the money, but rather for the people she meets in the deaf community. She said some interpreters just interpret, but "others go beyond because of the passion we have in us."
On this day at SeaWorld, Cotto walked around in between the shows she would interpret.
The weather was still chilly and the wind was blowing as she walked, wearing a jacket.
She happened to pass some of the deaf guests from the killer-whale show, so they chatted a bit before they asked her to interpret their lunch order at a restaurant.
It would be at least another half-hour before the next show, so she sat on a bench and placed her backpack beside her.
"I speak their language," she said. "I translate the entire environment so they understand what's happening around them. People don't realize the deaf aren't slow; they just process things differently."
This article is reprinted from the Orlando Sentinel. The article does not necessarily represent the views of American Sign Services, Inc. nor are we responsible for the accuracy of the content.