Interpreters provide equal access

By Casey Cavalier
Staff Writer

NLC's disabled students find many resources at Disability Services Office

Freshman Adrian Lopez is one of nine deaf North Lake students who benefit from state-certified interpreters. The interpreters make it possible for hearing impaired students to “hear” and communicate with their teachers and classmates because they use American Sign Language.

Interpreters are provided at no cost to students by the Disability Services Office. Such accommodation is required by the Americans with Disabilities Act. Compliance with the ADA is a legal obligation. However, DSO staff members seem to put their emphasis on creating a level playing field by providing resources for disabled students.

“I had interpreters in elementary school and through middle school,” said Lopez.

He didn’t have interpreters in high school when he attended the Jean Massieu Academy in Arlington, a charter school for deaf and hard-of-hearing students.

Lopez is getting re-accustomed to interpreters, and his working relationship with DSO interpreter Dwain Thomas seems to be amiable. The two greet each other in Lopez’s math class and quickly launch into signed conversation as Lopez plunks his backpack onto the desk and his classmates settle behind computers in the math lab.

Thomas is one of five state-certified interpreters at North Lake. After a brief stint at Richland College, Thomas joined the DSO staff at the start of spring semester, reporting to Adrienne Kearney, interpreter coordinator.

“I’ve known how to sign as far back as I can remember. But, I decided to pursue it as a career two years ago,” said Thomas.

Thomas’ parents are deaf, so he learned to sign at an early age. While many interpreters study for years, Thomas was able to certify much faster.

According to Lopez’s math instructor, Alison Winn, algebra is a topic that presents pacing challenges when it comes to signing.

“I talk slower. Especially when I am talking and showing them something at the same time,” said Winn, adding, “you have to take a lot of pauses.”

In lecture-based classes, ASL is a straightforward process. But Kearney and staff are more than willing to accept a challenge when providing access to deaf students in all types of classes.

An example is John Moseley’s Film Appreciation course. To accommodate two deaf students in his class, Moseley and Kearney worked together to design a viewing method that uses closed captions, rather than the less descriptive subtitles included on many DVDs.

Traditionally in a film studies class, students watch classic films in a dim screening room with a luminous picture and booming sound.

“We set up a TV screen with a separate DVD player,” said Moseley, “and we line it up so that they can either look at the big screen or at the monitor. The movie is captioned on the monitor but not on the big screen.”

Foreign films, already subtitled, are screened with the whole class reading the dialogue.

Lopez and Thomas may soon have more people at North Lake with whom to sign. Kearney is working to develop an ASL course to be offered by North Lake’s Continuing Education division.

When asked if having an interpreter around cramps his style, Lopez said, “It doesn’t bother me at all. He’s a pretty cool guy.”