WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?? January 22, 2008
Posted by handsgiventofly in Announcements.Tags: ASL, Deaf, Education
trackback
Freida Morrison shares the updates about DODHH. We are not giving up!
Note: DODHH – Division On Deaf And Hard Of Hearing
Update on 5/23/2008: The comment section is now closed. Thank you. ~handsgiventofly
Comments
Sorry comments are closed for this entry
May I ask you what DODHH stands for and spell out?? You mean Chris Hunter used to work as DODHH??? if I am right. Thanks,
i did not find job place for me hard
Precious message! We stand up and speak for ourselves. Let’s roll up our sleeves.
Subsribe to MDC is a great start.
*sighs* I live few states away but always call Michigan my sweet home away from home.
Cheer on!
LS
It’s also the MDA responsibility to follow up on this. Where is Diana McKittrick?
By the way, I’m happy to help out, but I’m only able to do so through VP or email
Keep me posted!
Great message!! Easy to read! Thank you. DODHH stands for Division on Deafness and Hard-of-Hearing.
Get active….get involved.
Stay active….stay involved!
Pamela- DODHH – Kid answered that question. Yes, Chris Hunter was the director and retired in April 2007.
Dorothy – you may check Communication Access Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (CAC) – Voc. Dept. They could help you to find a job.
ASLprof and Kid – thanks for your support!
Deaf Pundit – yes, Diana McKittrick, MDA president attended some community meetings. I will discuss it with the MDA Board Members on Saturday, Feb 2nd.
PLEASE SPREAD THE WORDS WITH YOUR FAMILY/FRIENDS.
Hi Freida! I’m curious if DODHH is interested in hiring Deaf people to work at DODHH since Chris Hunter is retired now? And, where th emeeting would be held to get more info about DODHH updates. Thanks!
Hi Freida, I forgot to add: Does DODHH has its own website so we all could get information about it? We all really need DODHH to help our Deaf community. We totally support your concerns. Thank you for letting us know what’s up with DODHH. Thanks again.
Great vlog. We, indeed, need to work together as ‘one voice’ and ‘one community’ the Deaf/hh, for our future. The issues you brought up as signed and who should represent the community at best? Someone very qualified, who understands the Deaf Community/Culture and our core needs, is the best person.
It is important to keep communication lines open like this vlog so we all are aware what is needed in our community and how we can contribute to show a united front: together. Thanks, Freida!
Jackie R., I hope we can announce for the next meeting after Feb. 2nd.
DODHH website – http://www.michigan.gov/DLEG then type “DODHH” on search. It will lead to the DODHH website.
It is best to subscribe this website so you will be able to receive the updated news.
Many people asked me who own this website…THIS website belongs to you all of Michigan Deaf Community members. BUT it runs by four people. I am the contact person.
I got an invitation to the State of the State by Senator John Gleeson in Lansing. I will share my experience in vlog next week.
Keep in touch!!
BAD NEWS FOR OUR DEAF COMMUNITY!!
Sorenson still does not respect us, the Deaf community members. Did you know that they plan to have a new office in Rochester Hills. We now have three offices in Michigan (Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor and now Rochester Hills!! Read this new Sorenson office here in Rochester Hills. http://greatlakesitreport.com/Article.asp?id=552254&spid
They do not care about our concerns Do not be surprised when we could not have the live interpreters for our future appointments!!! Do NOT blame the agency!!! BLAME ON THE SORENSON PEOPLE!!
One office in Lower Michigan is enough!! Go to other states that don’t have the Sorenson office!
How can we prevent them as they never listen us? I believe they just laugh at us because they still receive the profits from our vrs calls. It is our time to show them we are serious about it. HOW??? BOYCOTT to use their Sorenson VRS. We have plenty of other vrs service. (CACVRS, HOVRS, CSDVRS, and more…..
Can you do it?
I’m with you all the way, Freida. Hopefully with the Viable Vpad coming out soon, I will be able to replace my VP with that.
Hi there–I keep reading complaints about Sorenson VRS taking all the good interpreters in Michigan, but what about CAC? They also have 3 VRS centers in Michigan–Flint, Auburn Hills and Muskegon.
I think the concern about losing community interpreters is kind of an overreaction. The interpreters that want to work for VRS are already currently doing that.
There are many interpreters who prefer to work for community interpreting or in the schools and don’t want to work VRS. Bloomfield Hills Schools for example has an outstanding group of interpreters working there who are all QA or Nationally certified and are passing the EIPA with flying colors. Because of the Sorenson office and the CAC office opening in Southeast Michigan, the interpreters in BHills finally got the pay increases and benefits improved that they have deserved but been ignored on for so long. The schools were afraid to lose them so they finally paid them better. So, thanks to the VRS centers the pay and benefits got better for BH interpreters. They have now not seen the turnover of interpreters they had in years past.
As an interpreter who worked for the schools, then went full time as a freelance interpreter and now works for VRS, I have to say that it is one thing for Deaf people to complain but do you realize that freelance interpreters in Southeast Michigan do not get offered any health insurance benefits, don’t have taxes taken out (so have to pay outrageous self employment tax) or retirement money paid into social security, don’t get offered a 401k or any workshops/RID membership dues, etc. paid for??? They also have no guarantee of hours and are subject to the whim of whoever hands out the freelance assignments. So one week you might get offered 40 hours and the next only 10.
Interpreters have families to support and bills to pay too. This is a profession, not us doing charity work. So, anyway, I hope you can see this from an interpreter’s perspective as well.
It isn’t an overreaction. I agree things need to improve for the interpreters, but when you are taking the interpreters out of the schools, hospitals, and so on, it is an issue.
Unfortunately, it’ll have to come down to a lawsuit eventually for people to realize that. Right now there’s nothing we can do but document the severe shortage and prove it is Sorenson and VRS providers’ fault. Why here in Michigan? It’s absurd.
Again, it comes down to interpreters needing to make a living wage, with health insurance benefits for their families…freelancing in Michigan doesn’t provide insurance, benefits, steady hours, taxes taken out, etc. What about that? Is that Sorenson’s or any other VRS company’s fault? Other states manage to have full time positions with benefits for their community interpreters but not here in Southeast Michigan–it is not an option.
Most of the interpreters who work for VRS work part time there and either part or full time in the schools and community.
There has always been an interpreter shortage, long before VRS.
Maybe the Deaf should stop using VRS and go back to using TTY’s and then there wouldn’t be any big, bad VRS companies taking away all the interpreters? Come on! But, VRS is a great service for the deaf and there are deaf complaining because they have to wait for their calls to be answered, so apparently there is a shortage of VRS interpreters too.
Let’s regulate that all interpreters have to have QA, RID, EIPA, but let’s not pay them enough to pay for the tests or the dues to keep up the memberships and CEUs.
Why Michigan? Why not? There are skilled interpreters here in need of steady work!
I’ve heard the same song and dance from Sorenson themselves. I don’t buy it. The fact is, Sorenson and the other VRS centers have EXACERBATED the shortage. There is no way a honest person can deny that.
Michigan does not need more than one call center. There are many states who have ZERO. GET OUT OF HERE!
So, you are saying I am not an honest person because I disagree with you?
You are ignoring any salient points that I have brought up in my posts. The fact that the vast majority of the interpreters only work at Sorenson or any other call centers part time and the fact that interpreters need steady work and benefits. The fact that pay and working conditions for interpreters have improved in the schools because of the competition from the VRS centers. The fact that freelance interpreting isn’t steady work, doesn’t offer benefits, take out taxes, and you are not nearly compensated for the gas money you have to spend or the wear and tear on your car. What about that?
Which state doesn’t have a call center or 3? Ohio has 5 just with Sorenson, for example.
Do you use VRS? Perhaps you are just as guilty of exacerbating the shortage then?
No, it’s easier just to bash the VRS companies than to really analyze the problem of the shortage of interpreters and what interpreters are offered for their services.
I have nothing against the interpreters. I just got tired of the Sorenson’s treat to the Deaf community. For your information, I used to work at Bloomfield Hills Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program. I knew the whole story. I don’t want to make any arguments.
Yes, I have the Sorenson but seldom call Sorenson VRS. We used other VRS service, especially CACVRS because it is in our home state.
I lost the respect for Sorenson because they rarely hire the deaf people for the administrative level and with full benefits. We, the Deaf community often heard the complaints from the VP installers.
Freida
In order to reduce the shortage of qualified interpreters, we need to look for ways to increase the number of qualified interpreters to meet most of our communication access needs whether it is in the community, schools or through VRS. As I was reading the blogs on this issue a few ideas came to mind:
We should promote sign language interpreting as a viable career to high school students. Encourage more schools to provide ASL classes for language credit which will help speed up the process of training interpreters.
I would like to see more opportunity for deaf community members to be able to mentor and provide natural interaction opportunities to those students. It would be nice to see the deaf community mentors be paid for their efforts.
MIRID is a state organization for interpreters under the umbrella of RID just like MDA is a state affiliated organization under NAD. How many of the interpretes are members of MIRID? How many of us deaf individuals are involved in MDA? When it comes to making effective change- most policy makers tend to look at the number of individuals in the organization to see if they have any political impact.
We need to work together towards a common goal- increasing the number of qualified interpreters(including CDI) to meet the communication needs of the people in Michigan.
Training qualified deaf individuals to become Certified Deaf Interpreters (CDI) will help to ensure communication access is effective for the deaf consumer. Many states utilize CDI’s in courts and other situations- we do not. It is time that we look into that aspect of service.
I agree with Freida about hiring deaf individuals to work in administrative positions that can influence policy is important. Without deaf community, many of these services (agencies, VRS, VRI) would not be able to survive.
While I understand the challenge agencies have in busy trying to fill interpreting requests, I believe they should assume some of the responsibility of helping train intepreters. They could offer more mentoring opportunities/programs for individuals who are struggling to improve their skills and those who are in ITP programs.
Lets all work together and find ways to increase the number of qualified interpreters (including CDI) for Michigan. If interested, MDA can create a task force or committee to work on this issue. If you are interested in making a difference, join this committee with us.
As a hearing interpreter it is a hard decision to make. A right vs right decision. Interpreters have the right to make a fair living wage, and Deaf have the right to the best services available and this company has the right to make as much profit as possible to pass on to their shareholders.
Sorenson is like Wal-Mart. They provide a lot of opportunities but not opportunities that are the best for everyone. And just because I stop shopping at Wal-Mart does not mean Wal-Mart will go away.
I agree with Diana that we need to focus our energies on growing nationally certified interpreters who have Deaf-heart. I agree with Frieda that Sorenson can’t take, take, take and not give back. They give free VP’s and do a few workshops here and there but the interpreters who really want to improve to give the best services for VRS and in the community are left on their own.
I think we are starting to see interpreters come back to the community and school work after the honeymoon of VRS wears off. I hope this will even things out in the next year or two and I think you might find a better group of interpreters serving the Deaf than you started with.
It’s comments like these that make me wonder why I bother being an interpreter since there’s so much disgust toward us. We apparently cannot please anybody. I’m tired of Deaf saying we’re taking advantage of them. The doctor does not take advantage of me when I use his services because I need them. Stores do not take advantage of me because I need to buy clothes or groceries. We provide services that are needed. We are compensated. That’s how the world works. I have no problem with Deaf people saying they hate VRS. Fine. Don’t use it. But don’t complain about lack of interpreters in the community while you’re using your videophone and then complaining because you had to wait a minute for a VRS interpreter to answer your call. There aren’t enough of us to meet the demand as it is, whethwhether it’s community OR VRS. We wouldn’t be working in VRS if people like you weren’t adding to the demand for us. We work our butts off, it’d be nice to be appreciated once in a while. I’d really like to know why sorenson is the only vrs company that gives grants and gives back to deaf community, yet nobody goes after the other companies that make MORE per minute than sorenson does (we process the most and get thel owest rate per minute reimbursemenet from FCC) yet they give NOTHING back
First of all, I would like to say, “If you are not part of the solution you are part of the problem.” We need to take the time we are spending to write all of these blogs and put it to good use and brainstorm how to make things better.
I also want to say this isn’t a perfect world and no company is perfect. We need to look at the glass half full instead of half empty. Meaning look for the positive not dwell or create the negative.
Sorenson recognizes the shortage of interpreters and is trying to create a solution by sponsoring classes at ITP programs. Mentoring young interpreters. And they are serving on an NAD committtee to start the education of sign language in elementary schools. They also give away equipment for free and the calls are 800 numbers. Besides this, sorenson was the only company that decided to pay the cost of providing 911 service to the deaf community when the FCC said they wouldn’t pay for it and the other VRS companies still wanted to debate it. Sorenson saw the need and did it.
Like I said, no company or person is perfect but they are trying to do what they can. Sorenson and VRS is a new baby and there are many chnages to come. Maybe the installers pay will increase. I know of several Deaf person who are in administration position in sorenson. Some directors of Call centers, some operations coordinators and one is even a Vice President of Community Relations.
Again, we need to be part of the solution not part of the problem. Stop complaining and get involved. The shortage like Diane said is there no matter what. It has been there for 30 plus years. It probably will continue for awhile more.
Think happy thoughts
Oh, I’m part of the solution. I’ve switched over to Viable Vision, and my Sorenson VP is in the trashcan.
Tsk tsk, A Deaf Pundit. Isn’t America great? You have the ability to choose. Shame on you for tossing equipment that doesn’t belong to you. You should’ve changed your provider and returned your equipment to its rightful owner. There are Deaf people on waiting lists for videophones; most of whom don’t take VRS for granted.
I doubt people would’ve liked a VP-100 that was permanently out of focus.
I am sure that Sorenson would have gladly repaired the VP-100–they do have awesome technology and Deaf tech support people who are great at what they do.
How is that part of the solution to use Viable? They hire interpreters too, and there is talk of them opening a Michigan office in the Novi area:)
I’ve never had a positive experience with Sorenson’s tech support. It’s just not worth the hassle for me. And the meeting with Laura Jones turned me off even further.
And you know, I’m not the only one who’s disgusted with Sorenson. There’s a Facebook group called Boycott Sorenson. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=19016882779&ref=nf
Perhaps if enough of us boycott Sorenson, they and other VRS companies will learn to listen to their consumers.