Spotlight on Ms Megan Sullivan: Interpreter's Choice for Outstanding Staff Member
Ms. Megan Sullivan has been recognized by LAF SLS interpreters as an Outstanding Staff Member! Her understanding and support for deaf culture, her professionalism, and her support of other members of the educational team have not gone unnoticed.
Watch the video interview below to learn more.
I'm Megan Sullivan. I'm a paraeducator for school-age students who are on the autism spectrum. I love working with my deaf and hard-of-hearing students. I am hard of hearing myself. I understand the frustrations of communication with others around me, and I want to include them as much as possible.
What inspires me to build personal connections with my students is that each student should have an adult they trust who is not in their home environment, and they can rely on to take care of their personal and basic needs as a human being. I feel it's important for the educational team as a whole to support interpreters and other support staff, because the interpreters connect the bridge for language, and every deaf and hard-of-hearing student should have the basic right to language.
A very fulfilling moment that I've experienced over the years is watching my student go from pointing to signing what she wants, with help from her hearing support staff and other staff learning sign language just for her.
Some suggestions that I am offering to other educators and staff are to address the student by name and try to learn some basic signs that you know the student understands and uses. Instead of telling the student's name to the interpreters or not talking directly to them, try to make sure they can see your face and facial expressions. That's really important in Deaf and hard-of-hearing cultures.