Aspiring drivers can translate the textual content of the Saskatchewan Driver’s Handbook on the SGI web site into greater than 130 languages — however American Signal Language (ASL) just isn’t one in every of them.
That’s why Adam Stratychuk, who has been deaf his whole life, is on a mission to make it extra accessible for deaf and laborious of listening to folks to get their driver’s licence.
“Fifty-four per cent of jobs require a driver’s licence,” Stratychuk stated. “We’re already restricted due to deafness, but when we’ve a driver’s licence it opens up a whole lot of doorways for alternative.”
Stratychuk was employed by the Saskatchewan Deaf and Exhausting of Listening to Companies to translate the province’s whole driver’s handbook into ASL. The objective is to share the translations in a sequence of YouTube movies. Stratychuk and his group have been working on the undertaking since March.
Individuals who are deaf or laborious of listening to can get their Class 5 or Class Seven driver’s licence in Saskatchewan with no restrictions.
Stratychuk labored as a tow truck driver for 11 years. He stated his driving teacher and driving examiner, who taught and examined him when he was getting his licence in highschool, doubted his driving capabilities.
“I needed to sort of struggle to say ‘sure, I may drive and deaf folks do drive,’” Stratychuk stated.
“It’s all about sight and what you’re visually conscious of.”
Saskatoon Morning8:50Saskatchewan Deaf and Exhausting of Listening to Companies is translating SGI Driver’s Handbook into American Signal Language
Visitor host Candice Lipski speaks with the Saskatoon Morning’s Theresa Kliem in regards to the significance of the interpretation undertaking to the deaf and laborious of listening to neighborhood.
Learn full transcript right here.
Challenges with counting on interpreters
Stratychuk bought his driver’s licence with the assistance of ASL interpreters, however he stated that’s not essentially an possibility for all folks.
“We now have a restricted pool of interpreters accessible to us…and we’ve to pay for them to be there, and if the individual fails we’ve to redo the method and that actually eats up a whole lot of our sources,” Stratychuk stated.
Xander Rinaldi, who’s profoundly deaf, not too long ago moved to Saskatoon. He’s been having hassle discovering a job as a result of many require a driver’s licence — and he hasn’t been capable of get one as a result of there isn’t schooling accessible in ASL.
“I have to get an ASL tutor or interpreter to assist me translate [the Saskatchewan Driver’s Textbook] from English to ASL for me to have understanding,” Rinaldi instructed CBC.
“However there’s an expense with the interpreter.”
Why don’t American Signal Language (ASL) interpreters put on masks? And the way many individuals tuning in to COVID-19 briefings depend on their companies? Saskatchewan interpreter Karen Nurkowski solutions your regularly requested ASL questions.
Stratychuk says that some people who find themselves deaf or laborious of listening to are extra snug utilizing ASL as a result of it’s their first language or they use the language greater than English.
He hopes the ASL movies will make it simpler for some people who find themselves deaf or laborious of listening to to understand the content material.
“As a first-language person in ASL, I attempt to do it in a means that makes it comprehensible.”
He says people who find themselves deaf and laborious of listening to face distinctive challenges in the case of schooling.
“One main distinction between deaf folks and different linguistic minority teams, is that deaf folks don’t get pleasure from automated entry to much-needed life options by way of their dad and mom,” Stratychuk stated in an e-mail to CBC.
“Despite their minority standing, in nearly all different linguistic minority teams — households converse the identical language throughout the family.”
SGI just isn’t an official accomplice of Stratychuk’s video undertaking, nevertheless it welcomes the work that Stratychuk and his group are doing.
“If it helps driver’s licences develop into extra accessible to people who find themselves deaf or laborious of listening to, that can improve employment alternatives, improve the standard of life for these folks,” Tyler McMurchy, an SGI spokesperson stated.
“It’s actually a great factor.”
Stratychuk hopes to have your entire sequence of movies wrapped up by the top of August. If the SGI is proud of the ultimate product, Stratychuk and his group at Saskatchewan Deaf and Exhausting of Listening to Companies may ultimately translate the SGI examination questions into ASL format as nicely.
“My objective right here is to be sure that different folks will be profitable,” he stated.