Euclid agency assists the deaf in many ways
Sunday, May 31, 2009

By Janet Podolak
JPodolak@News-Herald.com

Heather Kendel has been fascinated with American Sign Language since
she was first exposed to it at age 10.

The lifelong Euclid resident learned of its existence from an ASL
interpreter in her Naumann Avenue neighborhood. After learning the ASL
alphabet, Kendel discovered that it's a complete, complex language
that employs signs made with the hands but also uses other movements,
including facial expressions and body postures.

Most people don't realize that ASL doesn't simply spell out names for
things in English, she said.

"American Sign Language is the third-most-used language in this
country," she said.

She studied ASL and at an early age embarked on what has become a
lifelong commitment toward becoming an advocate for the 50,000
Northeast Ohioans who are deaf and hard-of-hearing. As she began to
immerse herself into the culture of those who are without hearing, she
began to become aware of many human rights issues.

"When you go for medical treatment, the doctor's office should not
have to use a family member to communicate with you," she said.

During the years since then, she's learned about many deaf people who
have had horrible things happen to them just because they could not
hear and communicate.

"One man had the wrong leg amputated when he was in the hospital," she
said. "In another case, a 12-year-old girl who knew sign language had
to tell her father he had cancer."

Kendel hasn't been able to confirm it, but there's a story about a
deaf man who was arrested and had his hands handcuffed behind his
back.

"He was struggling to sign and ended up hurt because he couldn't
understand or answer the questions he was being asked," she said.

Kendel recently opened an office for ASL Advocates at 494 E. 200th St.
in Euclid. The agency's objective is to facilitate effective and
respectful communications between the deaf, deaf-blind, and
hard-of-hearing with the hearing community.

"It's so great to have a young woman like Heather with such a passion
for a cause," said Ellen Spriestersbach of Parma, whose son, Austin,
12, is profoundly deaf and also has low vision.

"Heather has helped me get answers to so many questions I've had,"
Spriestersbach said.

Spriestersbach herself now serves the agency as something of a "mom
mentor" for other parents of deaf children.

"Ninety percent of deaf children are born to hearing parents, but
still only three percent of those parents know sign language," she
said.

Austin attends Ohio School for the Deaf in Columbus where he is
surrounded by people who communicate in American Sign Language.

"Even the janitor signs," she said. "It's one of the prerequisites for
employment there."

Recent years have brought much technology to the worlds of people who
are deaf and hard-of-hearing, so part of her goal is to help the
hearing world understand what can be done.

She is in the process of bringing Euclid City Council meetings to
those who cannot hear them.

"When I spoke to Council, they were fabulous," Kendel said.

"They sent someone to our office to see the video relay system that
can be hooked up at City Hall so that individuals at home can watch
the feed through the system and see the interpreter interpret what's
going on."

It's like a conference call, she said. Deaf people call in to a
number, and an interpreter pops up on the TV screen to tell what's
happening in real time.

Interpreters at the new agency have helped deaf people make vacation
plans, apply for jobs, negotiate home sales, work with the health care
system and vote.

"In the last election we went to the polls with a man who had never
voted before. We explained in ASL how to work the voting machine and
told him if there was something on the ballot he didn't understand we
would explain it to him," she recalled.

The interpreters turned their backs as the man voted.

Text messaging is a boon for the deaf and heard of hearing, she said.

"Although hearing people sometimes are puzzled at a deaf person with a
cell phone," she said.

Older people who are not computer savvy and others without high speed
internet still must rely on the TTY system in which the deaf person
uses a keyboard to communicate with a hearing person who relays the
message by voice and types in the response.

Kendel also is on a one-woman campaign to raise the sensitivity level
of hearing people toward those who cannot hear.

The stated goals of ASL Advocates include promoting independence,
tolerance and human rights for all.

"Believe it or not, some people still describe the deaf as deaf and
dumb, or deaf-mute," she said. "In reality, most deaf people have
vocal chords but choose not to speak."

It is embarrassing to them because they often can't successfully
duplicate sounds they've never heard, she said. In schools for the
deaf, children learn to speak by feeling teachers' vocal chords and
watching closely to learn lip reading.

"Sensitivity training should be mandatory," Kendel said. "It's not
that hearing people don't care.

"They are ignorant in that they have never had to deal with people who
are deaf or muddle through life without hearing," she said.

Interpreters like Kendel can be a lifeline for deaf people, but they
must adhere to a conduct code.

"When I interpret, I do not speak of what happened, not even to other
family members," she said. "As an interpreter I cannot interject my
personal opinion."

Those ethics have led to some sticky situations, she said.

"I was in court with a deaf individual and could see he was being
taken advantage of," she said. "I signed to him that he could speak up
for himself and I would interpret for him."

In public schools, an interpreter is assigned to a deaf child to help
pave the way for learning.

"But American Sign Language has a different sentence structure, so
it's sometimes hard to understand how to write a paper in English,"
she said.

For instance, a tone of voice signals a question in the spoken
language, while in American Sign Language a question is communicated
by raising the eyebrows and widening the eyes.

"In ASL, you are building concepts with your hands," Kendel said.

The English sentence "Do you want to go to the movies?" would be
"Go-to movies you want?" in ASL.

Different countries also have their own sign language versions, and
English Sign Language, although it would be somewhat familiar, would
not be immediately understood by a person fluent in American Sign
Language. Thus there are French, Spanish and even Chinese sign
language versions.

Like other languages, ASL evolves with regional differences.
Ethnicity, age and gender are just a few of the factors that affect
ASL usage and contribute to its variety.

Kendel is heartened at the number of people she's met who want to
learn American Sign Language, and regular classes, taught by deaf
members of the community, are part of her agency's offerings.

"People ask how long it takes to learn," she said. "There's no one
answer. It's a process, and it takes time."

Details

ASL Advocates

494 E. 200th St.

Euclid

Walk-in hours: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Thursday, by
appointment at other times

Details: 216-862-2978

Videophone: 216-370-7713; 866-845-2120

Text message: 216-240-2704

E-mail: asladvocates@live.com