Etiologies of Deaf-Blindness

New Orleans Sign Language Services, LLC presents…

Etiologies of Deaf-Blindness

Lynette Linker

Understanding the type of hearing/ vision loss one has will aid workshop participants in improving communication/interpreting services for Deaf-Blind individuals. Role-playing and hands-on activities will be the highlights of this training.Participants will spell and use the correct signs for different types of deaf-blindness, identify and describe the causes of deaf-blindness, and explain their impact on communication and interpreting.

October 11, 2014

10am -- 4pm

5324 Canal Blvd, NOLA, 70124

(Enter the side door, downstairs, facing Hawthorne Place)

LRID Members -- $20 Non- LRID Members -- $25 ITP Students -- $15 (Pay at the door)

Lynette Linker is a native of New Orleans who was born deaf from rubella. She attended private and public schools without a sign language interpreter until she was fifteen years old. Then she transferred to the Louisiana School for the Deaf where she learned ASL. As a student there, she came across several classmates and schoolmates who had Usher’s Syndrome, some of whom became life-long friends. They helped to plant the seed for her future career in the Deaf-Blind field.While attending Gallaudet University, she received training as a Deaf interpreter and Support Service Provider (SSP) and worked part-time with Student Special Services providing interpreting and SSP services to Deaf-Blind students on campus. She also put textbooks, notes, and other materials into braille. She attended the AADB Convention twice as an SSP where she came into contact with a variety of communication methods used by Deaf-Blind individuals across the U.S. and other countries.After graduating from Gallaudet, she worked as a Deaf-Blind Evaluator/Teacher at the Lighthouse for the Blind in Seattle, WA and attended the Seabeck Retreat for the Deaf-Blind near Seattle as an SSP. When she later returned to the New Orleans area, she worked at Resources for Independent Living, first as a Deaf-Blind Specialist and then as Deaf-Blind Program Manager, coordinating a variety of services to Deaf-Blind consumers throughout southeastern Louisiana. In this capacity, she provided many workshops on how to interpret for Deaf-Blind consumers, trained Support Service Providers, and directed an event called, “It’s a Deaf-Blind World!” It was modeled after the popular event called, “It’s a Deaf, Deaf World!”Later she obtained her Master’s degree in Deaf Education/Deaf Studies and spent about ten years teaching both Deaf and Deaf-Blind students in the South and volunteering as an interpreter and/or SSP at Deaf-Blind events. Around 2008, she was diagnosed with open-angle glaucoma which was caught in time before any real damage occurred. The eye pressure continues to be managed with prescription eye drops and regular visits with the ophthalmologist. She again returned to Louisiana two years ago and is now working part-time tutoring English and American Sign Language. Over the past year, she noticed her vision getting worse and was told that stronger eye glasses would not help. After seeing three different ophthalmologists to pinpoint the cause, she finally got the answer two months ago from the fourth one - a rare progressive genetic eye disease called macular dystrophy or retinal dystrophy. It is not to be confused with macular degeneration although they are similar. Now that her own vision is being affected, she feels that her many years of socializing and working with Deaf-Blind individuals have come full circle… It is now her turn to begin preparations for the day when she may need the services of interpreters for the Deaf-Blind and/or SSPs.

This workshop is sponsored by Louisiana Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, a chapter of the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf

.5 CEUs will be provided

For more info contact Barbara Lovas – bblovas1@yahoo.com http://www.neworleanssignlanguageservices.com