Catherine Sienko felt that, as president of the Arizona Association of the Deaf, she needed to come to the Tucson Unified School District’s governing board meeting to speak for Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind students, she says, could not speak up for themselves.
Sienko said she asked for an interpreter days in advance to ensure she could participate, but when she walked up to the podium expecting her accommodation to be honored, no one was there.
“I have shown up here in a space with no interpreter, a room full of hearing people who don’t know sign, asking a friend to interpret for me. How does that make us feel comfortable that the deaf, hard-of-hearing students who will go to your schools will not feel isolated?” Sienko said…