Where's Next?

Happy January, folks!

We trust everyone had a fun and festive holiday season and are in full swing with the new year. May we welcome 2025 with renewed energy and steadfast resilience in service to our community. With only one week into the new Presidential administration there have already been some big changes made at the federal level in regards to diversity, equality, inclusivity, and accessibility (DEIA). One such change being that the White House has since removed all information and pages on their website regarding Accessibility. This paints a worrisome picture for what our Deaf community can expect when it comes to availability of interpreters and federal ADA protections in the workplace.

Now more than ever it is crucial we galvanize our community in support of each other and that, as a company, we maintain our capacity for interpreter availability. Not only does New Mexico struggle to retain our biggest and brightest in any industry, but the field of interpreting also experiences a great amount of attrition (making the UNM ITP all the more valuable). In an effort to grow our network of working professionals RGC Access has been conducting broader outreach with interpreter training programs to promote our internship and draw in some up-and-coming talent in the field. We trialed our first out of state ITP student intern from Goshen College, Indiana in 2023. This past fall our Intern Coordinator, Rebecca DeSantis, visited her alma mater and represented RGC Access at the National Technical Institute for Deaf at the ASLIE Career Fair. NTID is home to one of the largest interpreting programs, as well as one of the largest Deaf student populations outside of Gallaudet University. We are hopeful that our recent visit to Rochester, NY will bring some new interest into our internship program and to New Mexico!

ID: a large room with rows of tables, each covered with banners from their prospective agencies. a signing person chats to onlooking professional/student attendee while others mill in the background.

RGC Access is committed in our mission to serve our community, with efforts happening near and far! With new blood comes new representations of identity, new language styles, and an influx of fresh perspective. Ultimately it is diversity and shared community that make this world a beautiful place; something we New Mexicans already know and cherish. So, the question is, where should we visit next?

Keeping Us Whole: An Arlyn Anderson Recap

People who work closely with folks who have experienced trauma and oppression are often changed by the of these experiences, often leading to symptoms of burnout and sometimes even their exit from the field. At the close of the summer RGC Access partnered with the New Mexico School for the Deaf to bring Compassion Fatigue expert, Arlyn Anderson, to New Mexico to help us better understand this topic

Aryln created a welcoming and safe environment for interpreters to process how the work changes us forever. The day consisted of a larger conversation around identifying the pain points for the mind and heart, as well as several activities to create shared space for one another. Compassion fatigue, vicarious trauma, value systems, and resilience were all discussed; topics of which are no easy thing to unpack. The group activities highlighted shared experiences interpreters have with their colleagues and realize the systems of support within our own community. Despite the weightiness of the topic participants showed great willingness to be vulnerable— ultimately helping create new connections among the group, while galvanizing existing ones.

We cannot thank Arlyn enough for the care and calming guidance she showed to our community of interpreters! Folks walked away with several new strategies to lean on when the work gets hard and, hopefully, felt just a little bit more whole.

A Lesson in Haptics

On September 28 & 29 RGC Access, Vancro. and Zia DeafBlind Club of NM hosted Rene and Joan Pellerin to give an introduction on the topic of Haptics.

With last year’s opening of PAH! Highland Plaza apartment complex, we have seen more and more DeafBlind individuals choose to make Albuquerque their new home. This growth has highlighted the larger need for area service providers to broaden their skill sets in the way of ProTactile and Haptics. Whereas ProTac is a robust language of DeafBlind users, Haptics is a simpler standardized system designed to convey visual, social, and environmental information through touch signals on the Deaf consumer’s body.

In this two day series interpreters, SSPs, and other service providers were first taught the foundational components of Haptics and how to employ them. On day two these folks were accompanied by members of our DeafBlind community to work on applying this knowledge in real time!

Rene and Joan crafted the two days with such rich, tangible knowledge that left a lasting buzz in all who attended. Hats off to our community of co-conspirators working to provide equitable access to our DeafBlind population!

Bringing the 585 to the 505!

For three days in early August RGCA partnered with APS to host a group of interpreters from NTID for workshops in STEM interpreting!

In a recent initiative of The National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) in Rochester, NY, the university created the NTID Regional STEM Center (NRSC), with a mission to boost STEM literacy in Deaf and Hard of Hearing youth. Through partnerships with organizations across the US this team has created a network of regional centers that work as a mechanism to deliver programming for Deaf/HoH middle and high schoolers, their school systems, and service providers. Facets of this program include the STEM Academy, a summer bridge program for students entering post-secondary institutions; their GenCyber cybersecurity summer camp; as well as STEM Interpreting workshops for working K12 interpreters!

Over the three days of workshops the NRSC team presented on strategies for interpreting in the areas of Math, Human Body Systems, and Chemistry! In their holistic approach to ensure that our Deaf/HoH have the best access in the classroom our interpreters learned how to navigate differently within the educational space, how to better leverage current resources, and how to modify their interpreting process to make STEM content more digestable. Other available content areas that weren’t included in the ABQ sessions are Astronomy, Physics, and Advanced Math.

The NRSC team works alongside Professors and Deaf experts to incorporate visual strategies for interpreting that align well with the visual nature of ASL (pictured above: how to represent molecular compounds). Since the creation of these support programs at RIT they have seen the overall performance and grades of the Deaf/HoH students wildly surpass those of their hearing peers! Talk about Deaf Gain!

RGCA is grateful for the investment and commitment of NRSC, APS, and our K12 freelancers; and for the lasting connections as a result of this series! If you or a Deaf/HoH child you know would be interested in learning more about these amazing summer programs cohosted by NRSC check out this hyperlinked website for the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind. If you believe a school system in your area could benefit from the Interpreter Workshop series offered by the NRSC team inquiries can be directed to Cheryl Reminder (cardis@rit.edu) of RIT/NTID.

Arlyn Anderson Comes to New Mexico!

RGC Access is thrilled to be partnering with the New Mexico School for the Deaf to bring Minneapolis based Arlyn Anderson to New Mexico. Arlyn is an expert in her field and will be teaching us all about Compassion Fatigue and how we can stay effective in our workplace. By the registration numbers, it looks like we will have a great turn out at our workshop! If you would like more information about Arlyn, please visit her website here.

RGC Access Out and About

RGCA was excited to be invited to participate in APS’s ASL Family Fun Night at Hodgin Elementary School! Several community partners were there including the NM Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and Hands and Voices of New Mexico.

When participates stopped by our booth, they were greeted by our amazing team of interns (Katrina, Andie, Jared, and Victoria), who helped the kids make paper flowers using their hands as a template. Our interns were also able to lend a hand at some of the other booths, too!

What a great opportunity to catch up with old friends and make new ones! Thank you to APS for hosting such a great event and to our interns for making the RGCA booth a huge success. We can’t wait for next year!

Come FUN-draise with RGC Access!

The war in Ukraine has displaced more than 10 million people in just over a month. 40,000 of those people are Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing. RGC Access would like to support efforts to get Deaf people to safety and to help make up-to-date information more accessible. This fundraiser will donate 100% of the proceeds to Off-the-Grid Missions, an organization which has created an online Deaf Hub, a network of assistance for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing people in Ukraine.

Join us Sunday, October 23, 4:00 PM to 9:00 PM at O’Niell’s Nob Hill for a fun Social Event!

Interpreter Spotlight: Santana Chavez!

RGC Access could not do what we do without the amazing community of interpreters we have right here in New Mexico. Many of whom were born here all their lives. (If you are not from this beautiful “Land of Enchantment,” you may not have heard this local colloquialism! ) With all of the rich talent in the New Mexico signing community, we would like to do a series of Interpreter Spotlights to showcase a few of the many New Mexico interpreters making a difference in our community. Our interpreters work hard throughout their careers to develop their own unique paths and we want to brag about the great work they are doing!

We are going to begin our Interpreter Spotlight series with the lovely Santana Chavez! Santana is a true New Mexican and was “born here all her life.” Raised in Dora, New Mexico (15 minutes south of Portales), Santana attended UNM and graduated in 2016 with a degree in Sign Language Interpreting. After graduation, Santana joined the interpreting team at Rochester Institute of Technology in New York and worked in their interpreting department for 3 years. Santana returned to New Mexico in 2019. We were thrilled to have her back in our interpreting community and signed her up immediately to work with us!

Santana has the heart and skills we are looking for in an interpreter. She is community focused and works diligently to better her interpreting to provide the best possible access for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community. We are so excited to announce that last month her hard work paid off and she became RID Certified! We are SO proud of her!

We met with Santana and asked her a few questions about her journey into the field of interpreting. We’d love to share what we learned.

What inspired you to become an interpreter?

At 15 I started learning sign language from a Deaf friend in my hometown of Portales. I wanted a profession working with the Deaf population, so after graduating high school I decided to go to Eastern NM University for speech pathology. It was not long before I realized that interpreting would be a better fit for me. I love people and I love learning new things, so after meeting interpreters at Deaf events I decided to change my plan and I went back to school to be a terping gal!

Getting into the field of sign language interpreting can be challenging. Did you experience any barriers? What can we do as a community to help break down these barriers for future interpreters?

I don't feel like I had any real challenges other than that damn certification test! That said, I think that formal mentoring is really the only way new interpreters can make it. We have to learn the language diversities, the bookkeeping, the networking, etc; the initial process is daunting.

I think that regardless of formal programs, all new interpreters should have surrogate mentors to aid in the school to work transition. Having gone through this process myself, I know mentoring newbies will be on the horizon for me.

Now that you have passed the NIC RID certification exam, what's next?

I love medical work so I'd like to get my Certificate in Healthcare Interpreting from RIT, and then perhaps the QMHI…if I have brain cells left.

We just learned that Santana was recently accepted into RIT’s Certificate in Healthcare Interpreting program and will be starting that in the Fall to further her education in the medical field. Cool!

When Santana isn’t interpreting, she is enjoying the outdoors with her sweet pup Chito, hanging out with friends, making pottery, and taking care of her plant babies. We want to thank Santana for her time and continuous dedication to the interpreting community. If you see her out in the community, which I’m sure you will, please congratulate her on her new RID certification! We could not be more proud of her. Way to go, Santana!

Work with Us, Grow with Us

It’s not always easy to make the transition from student to professional, especially in the field of Sign Language interpreting. Staff positions for ASL interpreters are few and far between, and freelancing is the name of the game. This leaves recent graduates having to learn how to establish their own business, as well as network to set up a variety of contracts. This can be overwhelming! RGC Access established their Bridge-to-Work mentorship program in 2016 to help with this transition. Every year, RGC Access awards a limited number of interpreter contracts through a competitive process to motived graduates of Interpreting Training Programs (ITPs) who are seeking mentoring and professional development.

The Bridge-to-Work mentorship program is contract based. Selected contractors for the program will have paid opportunities to work alongside nationally certified interpreters, receive on-the-job feedback and mentoring, and meet regularly with our professional development coordinator to create personalized professional development plans. Some other perks include paid observation opportunities, paid professional development, and access to workshops exclusively designed for RGC Access contractors (free CEUs!).

RGC Access does not offer contracts to pre-certified interpreters (without work experience) outside of the Bridge-to-Work program. If you are interested in contracting with RGC Access, please submit your application before May 15, 2021! Apply online on our website at https://rgc-access.org/work-with-us.

RGC Access is dedicated to the growth of our field by supporting new practitioners. Work with us, grow with us! 

Stopping the Spread

More and more businesses are opening up for in-person appointments and meetings, but the threat of COVID 19 is unfortunately still prevailing. RGC Access is dedicated to providing high quality interpreting services both virtually and in person while keeping our community safe. For in-person assignments, we know how vital it is to protect yourself and others from the spread of the virus with the use of personal protective equipment, PPE.

With the help of the New Mexico Department of Health and the New Mexico Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, RGC Access is able to provide all of our interpreters with PPE for their in-person assignments. Because traditional masks are not always accessible to the Deaf community, RGC Access has a supply of face shields and plastic masks that provide better visual access! You can now rest assured that when an RGC Access interpreter comes to your work to provide interpretation services they are fully equipped with functional PPE, have gone through a COVID screening process, and are ready to interpret safely.

Interpreters who need PPE prior to an assignment can contact us to arrange a pick-up time. Thank you for using PPE and doing your part to keep our community safe!

“Because traditional masks are not always accessible to the Deaf community, RGC Access has a supply of face shields and plastic masks that provide better visual access.”

Plastic masks provide better access for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community.

Welcome 2020 Interns!

As many of you know, RGC Access runs a Bridge to Work internship program for recent Interpreting Training Program graduates. The 2019-2020 interns, Kaylee Lind, Jaden Chavez, and Maddie Ertle have worked extremely hard throughout the past year and have completed our program! Jaden and Kaylee have extended their contracts with us and will be continuing to work in the community. Make sure that you congratulate them on completing the Badge to Work program when you see them! We wish them the best of luck and are pleased that the New Mexico interpreting community will continue to have an opportunity to work with them and see them grow.

Although Maddie isn’t staying in the Land of Enchantment, we are happy to report that she is continuing her interpreting career in Minnesota where she recently accepted an interpreting position. We know she will make a positive impact wherever she chooses to go!

With the completion of last year’s interns, we are extremely proud to announce our new 2020-2021 interns: Vanessa Martinez and Shannon Garrison! Both graduated this year with a degree in Sign Language Interpreting from the University of New Mexico and are well on their way to becoming top-notch interpreters. If you see them around, please say hello and welcome them into the field of interpreting! We are very excited to invite them both to be a part of the RGCA team and look forward to working with them in the community.

Shannon Garrison

Vanessa Martinez

VRI is the Name of the Game

We know it’s not easy facilitating online meetings, however, this seems to be “the new normal” these days. We have made a quick reference guide to share with you about how to make online platforms more accessible. We hope these tips help and allow you to run your meetings smoothly and with ease.

Changes and Adaptations

During these unprecedented times as the world tries to deal with the spread of a global pandemic, changes are inevitable. These are challenging times for everyone. While in-person community needs have all but ceased, there is still the need for communication access. RGC Access is adapting our agency’s approach to be there for the community we care so much about.

Zoom, Google Meets, Jitsi, Poly, FaceTime, etc., are all workable platforms to provide access, and we are ready to log on! Many RGC Access interpreters, including our core team, have worked diligently to set up private, well-lit, remote interpreting offices. We are ready to connect and provide access anytime.

We also understand remote interpreting doesn’t work for every situation and client. RGC Access is still able to provide in-person interpreters if needed. Communication access is mandated by law as an “essential service,” and we are here for you whatever your needs may be. RGC Access cares deeply about the safety of our community and are taking every precaution and following the CDC guidelines when working in the public.

In a time of change and adaptations, we want you to know we are here for our community and are committed to still providing the best access.

We are all in this together. Please let us know how we can help.

“In a time of change and adaptations, we want you to know we are here for our community and are committed to still providing the best access.”

RGC Access ABC's

As an interpreter we often hear “I would love to learn sign language!” When I hear this, I usually respond by saying that they should start by learning the ASL alphabet. Here is a cool downloadable ABC sheet for all those folks that are dying to pick up their hands and start signing!

Another great resource for learning the ASL alphabet is The ASL App. You can download the app for free here: www.theaslapp.com. The ASL App is designed and owned by Deaf native signers. It’s never too late to start learning sign language!

Deaf Docent Provides ASL Tours at SITE Santa Fe

SITE Santa Fe creates significant experiences for visitors by presenting the most innovative visual art of our time in new and engaging ways. Since its opening in 1995, SITE Santa Fe has been committed to supporting new developments in contemporary art, encouraging artistic exploration, and expanding traditional museum experiences. SITE’s year-round schedule of exhibitions serves as a platform for experimental curatorial approaches, innovative exhibition design, and projects by emerging and established artists. SITE also hosts an Art & Culture series of lectures and performances, as well as an extensive education and outreach program for local schools, all of which attract 20,000-30,000 local, national and international visitors.

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“Free guided ASL Tours of SITE Santa will happen on the 2nd Friday of each month through December.”

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SITE Santa Fe is now offering ASL Tours of the museum! Did I mention these museum tours are FREE?! Tours will be provided by native signer, Shira Grabelsky, on the 2nd Friday of each month through December!

The first ASL Tour is this Friday, September 13, at 4:00 PM. SITE would love for people to email an RSVP to Amanda at lee@sitesantafe.org, though they welcome walk-ins if the reservation list is not full. Here is the full list of ASL Tour dates: Friday, September 13, 4PM, Friday, October 11, 4PM, Friday, November 08, 4PM, and Friday, December 13, 4PM. If these designated time don’t work, they are also offering to schedule private tours in ASL, though there may be a fee depending on group size, time and date. Again, you can email Amanda for more information.

I can’t wait to sign up for a tour myself! Thank you SITE Santa Fe for working diligently to provide access to your beautiful museum!

MAKE Santa Fe is Offering ASL Interpreted Workshops

Megan Goldberg here with RGC Access, and I have some exciting news! We are pleased to announce our new partnership with MAKE Santa Fe! MAKE Santa Fe is a large makers space just off of Siler Road in Santa Fe. It has a large variety of tools, resources, and workshops. They are dedicated to creating a space that is accessible for all and are offering monthly interpreted workshops.

This month MAKE is offering an ASL Interpreted Woodshop Workshop on September 15 from 12:30 to 4:30. Get a broad understanding of navigating a well equipped wood shop while learning the safety basics through practice. In this course makers will begin with unmilled lumber and process it through various wood shop machines to get hands on experience with a variety of tools in the shop resulting in a mini hat rack to take home with them!

I have personally had a chance to explore the space, and I can tell you it is very welcoming with an amazing assortment of tools. My favorite so far is the Laser Cutter and the Sewing Machines! Please click HERE for a detailed list of their tools. I am excited to check out the Woodshop on the 15th and hope to see some of you local ASL users there. To register or for more information, click HERE.

Please spread the word and check back on MAKE’s calendar to see the next ASL interpreted workshop.

“MAKE is dedicated to creating a space that is accessible for all and are offering monthly interpreted workshops.”

What you’ll learn:

• Chop sawing longer lumber to size

• Face jointing to create a reference face

• Edge jointing to square edge #1

• Planing to a specific thickness using reference face and proper wood orientation

• Rip and crosscut table saw instruction to achieve designation size

• Drill press instruction to achieve both through and depth-designated bores

• Band saw detailing

Workshop Opportunity Just for You!

RGC Access supports your growth as an interpreter and invites you to participate in our next free workshop/webinar! We are excited to virtually host Danny Maffia while we meet as a group on the CNM campus. Danny is a professor at Rochester Institute of Technology. We are so please he is able to present his workshop More or Less: Explicitation and Implicitation in Interpreting at the end of this month.

We are limiting this workshop to 20 attendees, it’s free, and we are offering CEUs. Please RSVP to rdesantis@rgc-access.org as soon as you can before it fills up. There’s nothing better than a free workshop where we can learn with our friends!

Providing Access to Find Solace

RGC-Access was pleased to be invited to talk with the staff at Solace Crisis Treatment Center in Santa Fe, NM. Solace provides support to individuals experiencing sexual violence and other traumatic events. We commend them for always providing access to interpreting services and we enjoyed the opportunity to present to their staff.

One of our lead interpreters, Rebecca De Santis, teamed up with Mark Ramirez, a local Deaf community member and social worker to create this powerful presentation. Mark talked about Deafness, intersectionality, and the impacts of audism as he engaged the audience to think critically about how to approach work with a Deaf individual experiencing trauma. Rebecca spoke toward the use of Sign Language interpreters, building trust as a team, and the benefits of bringing in Deaf interpreters.

For more information about Solace Crisis Treatment Center, visit their site: https://www.findsolace.org

New Website, Who Dis?

Hello RGCA Community!

We have some exciting news! We’ve been diligently working to update our website and it is finally here. Yay! We are thrilled to launch the new and improved www.rgc-access.org.

We worked with Santa Fe local web-tech Padraic O’Neill to switch our site from a Wordpress platform to the more modern, easier to work with Squarespace. With our new website, we wanted to showcase our strengths and commitment to this amazing community, while at the same time being user friendly and aesthetically pleasing.

You will notice a few changes, but don’t worry, making an interpreter request is still as easy as ever. Just click on the Request an Interpreter tab, same as before, and fill out our simple request form. It is that easy!

You might also notice that we added more information about who we are individually that make up our well-rounded RGCA team. You can find this info on the Contact Us page. We also added information about contracting with us as an interpreter, and our Bridge to Work internship that is offered once a year to recent grads on our Work With Us page.

“Our most exciting new feature is definitely our Blog, Access News!”

And the most exciting new feature is definitely our new Blog! Access News will provide information about events and will highlight what we are working on in the community. We will also be linking our blog posts to our FaceBook account, so feel free to follow us there, too!

We hope you like our new website as much as we do! See you all in the community soon!