Adverbial Morphemes in Tactile ASL - Gallaudet University

PDE – Steven D. Collins
Introduction
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Between the time of my undergraduate education and my return to graduate education, as
mentioned above, I worked for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) as a
clerk in the Legal Affairs division. During this time, I also started to work as a free-lance
American Sign Language teacher at various community colleges and schools. In addition to my
interpreting skills, I had computer skills and subsequently changed jobs to work for two different
high-tech companies configuring and testing computer hardware and software and preparing
them for delivery to customers. In addition, I had responsibilities for purchasing and inventory.
While I was doing this work, I continued to teach and free-lance interpret for deaf-blind persons.
During this period, I realized that my real vocation is to teach language and interpreting. At this
time, I became very interested in the complex issues of Deaf-Blind culture and, particularly, the
aspects of interpretation and communication in the deaf-blind community.
In 1990, I decided that I would focus my professional life in the fields of linguistics,
interpreting, and teaching. My goal would be to do research in the specific area of Deaf-Blind
communication in order to enhance the interpreting experience for people in the Deaf-Blind
community. I began collaborating with several others in this field and subsequently have given
numerous workshops and presentations as well as published several professional papers on these
subjects. As previously mentioned, I enrolled in the Master of Arts degree program in
Interpretation at Gallaudet University and became the first Deaf student to graduate from that
institution with a Master's Degree in Interpretation.
Upon graduation, I went to work at the Gallaudet Interpreting Service as the supervisor of
the interpreting program for students and as the coordinator of Deaf and hearing interpreters. I
supervised 100 free-lance interpreters and 12 staff interpreters. I qualified for, and received, my
certification as an interpreter from the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID). In 1995, I
received a temporary appointment to the faculty as an instructor in the ASL, Linguistics and
Interpretation Department. In 1997, I competed for, and received a permanent appointment to
that department. I am currently in this faculty position doing research and teaching interpretation
and linguistics.
To date, I have remained active in my research area of interest, Deaf-Blind
communication, and I continue to give regular workshops and presentations around the country.
In addition, I was chairman of the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID) special task force
5