College Degree Within Reach

R.P. is a young woman who is deaf and moved to New Mexico from Louisiana. Her dream is to get a college degree and work with the deaf community.

In her pursuit of a degree in social work at New Mexico State University (NMSU), she has faced many obstacles. Obtaining adequate American Sign Language Interpreter (ASL) and tutorial services from the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) and NMSU has been an on-going battle. There was a disagreement over who was responsible for paying for the services R.P. needed to succeed in school. NMSU has a policy that prohibits ASL interpreters from also providing tutorial services and NMSU will not furnish ASL Interpreter services for activities outside of the classroom, even if the teacher requires the activity. This includes tutoring sessions.

After much negotiation, DVR did agree to pay for ASL services for school-related activities and tutoring sessions on a limited basis. This still meant coordinating the schedules of the interpreter, the tutor, and the student. We went back to the table with DVR and since they do not have a policy that prohibits the interpreter and the tutor from being the same person, obtained the services of a qualified tutor who is certified in ASL! This still takes much coordination and determination on R.P.’s part, but it is working much better and she is experiencing success and is slated to graduate in 2004.