|
The DBI grant staff will be working closely with DeafBlind leaders, interpreters educators, vocational rehabilitation professionals and linguists as we develop the curriculum, needs assessment, and scope of the grant work.
A majority of our core team members who will serve as consultants are DeafBlind themselves. You can read more about each of them below. |
|
aJ granda | Tactile Communications Team
aj granda and Jelica Nuccio are DeafBlind women who are leading the development and are in the forefront of teaching and training ProTactile ASL — the socio-cultural philosophy and linguistic movement currently shaping all DeafBlind practices: linguistics, interpersonal, and politics.
Granda is a teacher, social justice activist, textile artist, and a mom. She is also one of the contributors developing curriculum on national project for training Support Service Providers and DeafBlind people in the first training guide of its kind. Granda hails from Carlsbad, California and has lived everywhere in the states. She made Seattle her home. Granda has been active in bringing changes and new ideas to Seattle’s DeafBlind community for the past at lest 15 years. Granda worked for DeafBlind Service Center and at the Lighthouse for the Blind both as an advocate and teacher. She and Nuccio have been working closely developing a new curriculum to teach ProTactile ASL to DeafBlind and sighted people.
Granda is a teacher, social justice activist, textile artist, and a mom. She is also one of the contributors developing curriculum on national project for training Support Service Providers and DeafBlind people in the first training guide of its kind. Granda hails from Carlsbad, California and has lived everywhere in the states. She made Seattle her home. Granda has been active in bringing changes and new ideas to Seattle’s DeafBlind community for the past at lest 15 years. Granda worked for DeafBlind Service Center and at the Lighthouse for the Blind both as an advocate and teacher. She and Nuccio have been working closely developing a new curriculum to teach ProTactile ASL to DeafBlind and sighted people.
Jelica Nuccio | TACTILE COMMUNICATIONS TEAM
aj granda and Jelica Nuccio are DeafBlind women who are leading the development and are in the forefront of teaching and training ProTactile ASL — the socio-cultural philosophy and linguistic movement currently shaping all DeafBlind practices: linguistics, interpersonal, and politics.
Nuccio, originally from Croatia, lives in Seattle and has been very active in the DeafBlind community since she moved from Atlanta, Georgia in 1997. Jelica was the first Deaf-Blind Director of the Seattle Deaf-Blind Service Center (DBSC) and also a co-author of a curriculum for DeafBlind people getting the most out of their Support Service Providers (SSP). She is currently the founder of Tactile Communications which is the training center based on ProTactile philosophy and DeafBlind Education. Prior to this work, Jelica worked variously as a research coordinator, advocate and job-developer. Jelica has a B.A. in Biology from RIT in Rochester, and an M.A. in Public Health from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. For the past 25 years, she has been active in the local and national DeafBlind communities.
Nuccio, originally from Croatia, lives in Seattle and has been very active in the DeafBlind community since she moved from Atlanta, Georgia in 1997. Jelica was the first Deaf-Blind Director of the Seattle Deaf-Blind Service Center (DBSC) and also a co-author of a curriculum for DeafBlind people getting the most out of their Support Service Providers (SSP). She is currently the founder of Tactile Communications which is the training center based on ProTactile philosophy and DeafBlind Education. Prior to this work, Jelica worked variously as a research coordinator, advocate and job-developer. Jelica has a B.A. in Biology from RIT in Rochester, and an M.A. in Public Health from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. For the past 25 years, she has been active in the local and national DeafBlind communities.
Roberto Cabrera
Roberto Cabrera is a Senior Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor for Deaf, DeafBlind, DeafDisabled, Late-Deafened and Hard of Hearing (DDBDDLDHH). Roberto is also teaching American Sign Language courses.
In the community, Roberto is one of the California Association of the Deaf’s Employment Taskforce Committees and is a board member of California Manos del Corazon. In his off hours, Roberto Cabrera is active in leading discussions on a wide range of mental health and social psychology topics within the DDBDDLDHH community. As a proactive community member, Roberto has embraced his intersectional identities—Second Generation DeafBlind, Dominican and Queer. Roberto received his Master’s degree in Counseling with an emphasis on Marriage and Family Therapy and his Bachelor’s degree in Human Service with an emphasis on Mental Health from California State University, Fullerton. As an active person, Roberto loves chatting with people and loves learning new technology to make life easier.
In the community, Roberto is one of the California Association of the Deaf’s Employment Taskforce Committees and is a board member of California Manos del Corazon. In his off hours, Roberto Cabrera is active in leading discussions on a wide range of mental health and social psychology topics within the DDBDDLDHH community. As a proactive community member, Roberto has embraced his intersectional identities—Second Generation DeafBlind, Dominican and Queer. Roberto received his Master’s degree in Counseling with an emphasis on Marriage and Family Therapy and his Bachelor’s degree in Human Service with an emphasis on Mental Health from California State University, Fullerton. As an active person, Roberto loves chatting with people and loves learning new technology to make life easier.
Rebecca Cowan-Story
Rebecca Cowan-Story resides in the tiny metropolis of Adairsville, Georgia. Since 2011, Rebecca has worked as the State Coordinator of DeafBlind Services for the Georgia Vocational Rehabilitation Agency. Her professional journey began as an American Sign Language Interpreter for the University System of Georgia and the Technical College System of Georgia. She went on to become a high school vocational instructor with the Jobs for Georgia Graduates program at the Georgia School for the Deaf, later serving as a Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor for the Deaf before obtaining her current position. She still does not know what she wants to be when she grows up, but every job she has had in her life has been working with people that have hearing loss, and she has not lived a day on Earth without people who are Deaf in her life. Rebecca is currently serving as the secretary of the Georgia Association of the DeafBlind. She is active with Georgia Blind Sports and Northwest Georgia Council for the Blind, and various other organizations, but gains most of her wisdom and insight for serving others at Pleasant Valley North Baptist Church as a follower of Christ. Rebecca graduated from the University of Kentucky with her Master’s in Rehabilitation and earned an additional graduate certificate in DeafBlind Rehabilitation from Northern Illinois University. She is the proud mom of Luke (13), Mark (8) and Maggie (8), and proud human of two felines, Habankah and Hershe. Throughout her career, the lack of service equity for people that are DeafBlind has fueled her insistence on raising the bar within the state of Georgia. Being selected to serve on the core team of the DeafBlind Interpreting national training grant and working to ensure that national services are taken to the next level gives her heart joy.
Terra Edwards
Terra Edwards a linguistic anthropologist interested in the social and interactional foundations of language structure and language use, language and embodiment, and language emergence. For the past decade, she has been pursuing these interests in the Seattle DeafBlind community. Her research examines a grammatical divergence between visual American Sign Language and protactile American Sign Language, focusing most sharply on emergent deictic and phonological systems in protactile ASL. She is currently on the faculty of the Department of Linguistics at Gallaudet University.
Prior to joining the Department of Linguistics at Gallaudet University, where she is currently a faculty member, she earned a PhD in anthropology from the University of California in 2014 and an MA in Anthropology from the University of Texas, Austin in 2007. She has published several articles about language and communication in the Seattle DeafBlind community, as well as a dissertation, titled, Language Emergence in the Seattle DeafBlind Community.
Prior to joining the Department of Linguistics at Gallaudet University, where she is currently a faculty member, she earned a PhD in anthropology from the University of California in 2014 and an MA in Anthropology from the University of Texas, Austin in 2007. She has published several articles about language and communication in the Seattle DeafBlind community, as well as a dissertation, titled, Language Emergence in the Seattle DeafBlind Community.
Jason Herbers
Jason Herbers is a DeafBlind person, an advocate, and a teacher.
He graduated from Gallaudet University in 1996 with BS in Computer Information Systems. He retired after 15+ years in the information technology field with his last position being Computer Support Team Leader at Gallaudet University. He currently teaches DeafBlind Interpreting at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College in Cincinnati, Ohio and at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. He has taken several Train The Trainers programs and frequently gives workshops with topics including Pro-Tactile and Touch Signals (Haptics). Jason is serving as a Member at Large for the Ohio Association of the DeafBlind.
He is married to Deanna Herbers and they have two children, Kyanna and Brandon. In his spare time, he enjoys sports news, especially football, and running a football fantasy league.
He graduated from Gallaudet University in 1996 with BS in Computer Information Systems. He retired after 15+ years in the information technology field with his last position being Computer Support Team Leader at Gallaudet University. He currently teaches DeafBlind Interpreting at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College in Cincinnati, Ohio and at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. He has taken several Train The Trainers programs and frequently gives workshops with topics including Pro-Tactile and Touch Signals (Haptics). Jason is serving as a Member at Large for the Ohio Association of the DeafBlind.
He is married to Deanna Herbers and they have two children, Kyanna and Brandon. In his spare time, he enjoys sports news, especially football, and running a football fantasy league.