Signatures Repeal RID's Spanish policy Petition : [ powered by iPetitions.com ]

#	First Name	Last Name	State	Country	Comments
1	Suzanne	Garcia-Lightbourn	CA	US
2	Tony	Barraza	MD	US
3	Folami	Ford	MD	US
4	Emilia	Lorenti	FL	US	I sent my letter to Angela Jones
5	Melanie	Girshick	NY	US	RID is proud of the fact that their members provide communication access on a daily basis. By not providing Spanish Interpreters we are actually creating a language barrier. I went to the PR RID Conference and going to a tri-lingual conference was an amazing experience and one that should be happening more often.
6	Rafael	Trevino	FL	US
7	Melanie	Peach	FL	US
8	Jean	Plant	GA	US	Please provide Spanish interpreting services for any (even one) of our members who attend the RID conference who need this service. If not, then perhaps Puerto Rico should not be permitted to be a chapter of RID. This seems hypocritical to not provide services to our own members.
9	Nancy	Hayes	AL	US	I wholeheartedly agree with this petition. It is wrong for us to discriminate against our spanish speaking members. As we do with deaf consumers, if one person needs an interpreter to participate, then we must provide that service. If you need to cut back, eliminate either the transliterators or caption service. That seems redundant to me.
10	Lewis	Merkin
11	vince	powell	FL	US	If we discontinue Spanish interpretation we are only going backwards and not forward in our changing times. Please include spanish as our third language for the San Antonio conference.
12	Kimberly	Díez
13	Liz	Wolter	NY	US
14	Stephanie	Feyne	NY	US
15	AnnE	Leahy
16	George	Garcia	NY	US	As a long standing member of RID and a Trilingual interpreter at the last two congerences, I think this is a big step backwards for RID. Inclusion should be its mindset, for all...whether it's one memeber or one hundred.
17	BOBBIE	McGEE	WA	US	AS A CERTIFIED MEMBER OF RID FOR NEIGH UNTO 26 YEARS I SUPPORT THIS PETITION AND DEMAND THAT IF ONE PERSON REQUESTS SPANISH LANGUAGE INTERPRETATION THAT THE SERVICE BE PROVIDED.
18	Janice	Cagan-Teuber	MA	US	Having been on the Interpreting Teams for the past several conferences, I have seen the quality of the conferences enhanced by the inclusion of Interpreters working between English, ASL, Spanish, and Puerto Rican Sign Language. Janice
19	Keri	Johnson	MA	US
20	Ricardo	Lopez	MD	US
21	martha	clark
22	Branton	Stewart	NY	US
23	Persis	Bristol-Dodson	GA	US	RID should represent access to ALL it's members! It is a cowardly act to shirk the responsibility.
24	Elizabeth	Parish	TX	US	As a Texan, I am aware of the many needs for trilingual interpreters in our state that often go overlooked or are devalued... it is my understanding that many families move to the United States, specifically Texas, New Mexico, and California, from Mexico when having Deaf family members, seeking better opportunity and education. As an interpreter who is a second language user of ASL and not a native member of the Deaf community, the past 8 years that I have been involved with Deaf people and their language and culture, one of the key things I have learned is to embrace and respect those who use a language and follow a culture that is not necessarily that of the majority. To not provide Spanish interpretation, even if there is only ONE person in attendance needing such an interpreter, suggests that RID does not value the need that is ever-increasing (or maybe a need that has long been around, but long overlooked) for trilingual interpreters who use Spanish... in not providing Spanish/trilingual interpreters, the scarcity of trilingual interpreters is perpetuated because those who would utilize their services are basically not provided access to the conference, so it will appear as though such interpreters are not needed... How often have we as ASL/English interpreters fought along with the Deaf community to make the majority culture in this nation understand the need for equal access to information??! (even for just ONE person)... Though the field of Spanish or trilingual interpreting may not be an area of expertise for RID, we as an organization should take this opportunity to be a leader in terms of embracing the diversity of our membership as well as to promote equal information access where others fail to do so and to recognize the common struggles of those in the United States and elsewhere whose language is in the minority, just as ASL is. I am certain there are specialist organizations in Texas with which RID could partner to provide skilled Spanish-language interpreters...
25	Joshua	Pennise	VA	US
26	Dana	Lachter
27	Jorge	Solis	TX	US	This will be my first RID conference that I will attend.
28	ananela	chirinos	FL
29	Dimitri	Azadi
30	Theresa	Bugler
31	Beverly	Rubesh	NE	US	Please repeal the decision made in regards to having 25 Spanish requests in order to provide services. at the national conferences. I feel it is important to provide access and to continue the progress tha† has been made.
32	Ruby	Mercury		PR
33	David	Turner	GA	US	I think it's the wrong thing to do to deny someone access based on some ridiculously arbitrary number.
34	Claude	Shirts	CA	US	I am appalled that RID would only provide interpreter services if there were 25 people in attendance. There are several reasons for me feeling this way, but just one is Puerto Rico RID is an affilliate chapter of RID.... Not everyone in Puerto Rico is fluent in spoken English, and if there are people interested in becoming interpreters, or who are starting out in their training, expecting them to use the ASL interpreters is absurd. I know I would not have been able to easily follow procedings by watching the ASL interpreters when I went to my first National Convention in San Diego in 1985. If "only" 2 or 3 Deaf people were going to any large conference would not we expect they provide ASL interpreter services ? I do believe the conference could cut down costs by requesting that the participants let them know ahead of time which workshops etc they were planning to attend. This seems reasonable, But if even one attendie shows up from Puerto Rico how can we deny them access ? ~~Claude Shirts, CI & CT, IC/TC
35	richard	brumberg	GA	US
36	andres	campos	CA	US	this is simply an access issue. It seems like RID is citing the same tired excuses that we hear so often about why a company or organization doesnt want to pay for sign language interpreters. It is hypocrisy at it's worst.
37	Shelley	Lawrence	CA	US	While, at this point, the number of tri-lingual interpreters is small, professional development is imperative. Let's not be biased and develop some expertise.
38	Bonny	Aranda	TX	US	I hope our voicing our opinion will not adversly affect us. But I'll tell you I recently wqas faced with a tri-lingual interpreting problem and the advice I got from state and national levels was to quit. It was very sad that there is no support you'd think with all the progress made the minds would be open sad to see that as long as the oppression is not directed at a bi-lingual interpreter they just don't care, all their talk about accessability and equal access, they don't even realize that some of thee best interpreters in this business are the tri-lingual interpreters... have they stopped to think that maybe that's because...some of us have been interpreting all our lives the 'issues' are the same we advocate and educate because we've been there done that... felt the pain of neglect, isolation, separate but equal. (hah!) I am incredibly diapointed in TCHDD (DARS), and RID and the local entitiies that honestly don't care about the clients or the interpreters that don't live in the large cities who don't have access to qualified skilled, tri-lingual interpreters. I hope that the closed mindedness of the unexperienced (in tri-lingual issues)conferance coordinator will be blessed by God with an open mind and move ahead instead of regressing to the popular vote...take the road less traveled, expand your learning experiences and if you can't handle it let an experienced tri-lingual interpreter coordinator guide you, or lead you.
39	Kaye	Brock	TX	US	I believe all deaf no matter what thier heritage have a right to attend a confernce and to have interpreters of thier own langauge provided for them regardless of how many of that paticular heritage show up.
40	Xavier	Caylor	CA	US	ASL is our common denominator.
41	Kirsten	Klinghammer	CA	US	We are only sensitive to the needs of the American Deaf and English speakers? And in San Antonio? If there are NO requests for Spanish language interpreters, don't provide them. If there are ANY, please serve these attendees. I don't think interpreters should be provided for every language possibility as a matter of course, but as there is an RID chapter in Puerto Rico, equal access should at least be provided to all attendees speaking Spanish. And I'm all for developing a trilingual ASL/English/Spanish Certification test too; that's a separate issue, but one which is difficult to address at RID if Spanish monolinguals can't participate in the discussion.
42	Nancy	Angermaier
43	Thomas	Lawrie	GA	US
44	Susan	Gonzalez			Disregarding the self-decided official language statement,if Deaf conference attendess have the full right to access to the conference in its entireity, then Spanish speaking conference attendess deserve the same right. Just because I'm Deaf doesn't mean I am any more special than my Spanish speaking colleagues nor are they less deserving of the professional training/education. Denying full access to those who work with Deaf Spanish clients, signing and/or speaking, means you deny said clients qualified and professional interpreting services. That is tantamount to the oppression hearing non-signers have inflicted on the Deaf community. Only your actions inflict it on the Spanish Deaf community. Furthermore, as a member of RID, I never agreed to the official language of the conference statement nor was I ever given the option to vote on it.
45	Julie	Rems-Smario	CA	US	Requiring to have a minimum number of Spanish speaking registrants before RID plainly spells one word: OPPRESSIVE
46	Melissa	Whalen	MI	US
47	Wanda Ivelisse	Dominguez-Burki	GA	US	I am an interpreter working toward my RID certification. I am also hispanic that agrees with this petition. It's true that we are not involved as we should. I am hard of hearing and my native language is Spanish. I feel that we the growing hispanic community RID can reach out and provide services to the other minority group that has being left behind for very long.
48	david	rose	CA	US	I agree that RID repeal the current decision as its unfair. RID shiould be promoting the development of Deaf Interpreters' Training and Qualification Testing as should bear in mind with the Spanish speaking people who want to or are working as Spanish/ASL etc. Thanks
49	Joni	Caraway	FL
50	Steve	Babb	FL	US	Cost should not be an issue. If the major complaint is an undue burden on the planning committee, create a position for diversty needs.