Signing In

Interpreting in Mental Health Settings Workshop!

2010-04-07T12:33:00.000-07:00

The Education and Research Center of Seattle (ERC) will be hosting Karen Kozlowski Graham, MSW, and Jan Humphrey, SC:L, Ed.D presenting on sign language interpretation work in mental health settings. Topics covered will include: diagnositics, working with a therapist, types of treamtnet, medications, language challenges, and more.

Karen Graham brings 20 years of work in direct mental health services to this event. She has presented nationally on this topic and has won awards for her work in psychiatric rehabilitation. Jan Humphrey is a well known interpreter education, speaker and author in the field of sign language interpretation. Register online at: ercseattle.org

Dates: May 14 (evening) and 15 (all day)
CEU's available
See you there!

Carla Mathers Workshop at Education and Research Center of Seattle

2010-03-30T15:11:00.000-07:00

ERC SEattle

Last chance to sign up for Interpreting in Court! Carla Mathers, renown expert in legal interpreting is coming to Seattle to host a hands on workshop over the course of four days in sign language interpretation in legal settings. Don't miss this opportunity to participate in this special event. For more information contact: jan@ercseattle.org or see our website at http://www.ercseattle.org/. We'll see you there!

Join in Supporting Team SignOn at the MS Walk!

2010-03-23T11:12:00.000-07:00

SignOn will be joining the MS Movement on April 11, 2010. We'll be walking and raising money to support the national Multiple Sclerosis Society. The Greater Northwest Chapter of MS proudly serves more than 10,000 people with MS living in Alsaka and Washington. Please help us support this important cause.

Team SignOn includes: Stacy Ward (team captain), Karen Carlson, Val Sultan, Alyson Picus, and Laurie Reinhardt.

For more information and to sign up to help check out our team's website:

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Walk/WASWalkEvents?team_id=196219&pg=team&fr_id=13613&et=K7n3lHrG_7GzVTk4S8ud5Q..&s_tafId=147141

SignOn President in Jail - Help Set her Free!

2010-02-12T13:03:00.000-08:00

Karen Carlson, president, co-founder and interpreter extraordinaire of SignOn needs your help now. She's a prisoner of her devotion to the Deaf/Blind community of Seattle. Only you can help free her by donating to the Deaf Blind Service Center of Seattle. You'll be freeing a much needed interpreter and donating to an incredibly worthy cause.

Bail her out NOW by following the link below:

http://www.seattledbsc.org/events/jail_karen.html

SignOn and Alternative Communication Services Team Up!

2010-01-29T13:04:00.000-08:00

Press Release: For Immediate Release

SignOn: A Sign Language Interpreting Resource, Inc., (SignOn), a Seattle-based corporation, and Alternative Communication Services (ACS), of Illinois announce a collaborative partnership in order to better serve individuals who are Deaf, Hard of Hearing, Deaf-Blind and Late-Deafened. Both agencies hold a customer-first philosophy while at the same time highly valuing the service practitioner.

This new collaboration, to commence February 1, 2010, allows consumers to access both sign language and text-based communication services with a single contact. Individuals who are Deaf, Hard of Hearing, Deaf-Blind or Late-Deafened use a variety of modes to access spoken communication. Interpretation and CART services are available either onsite or remotely for a wide variety of settings, including business, education, and special events such as workshops and conferences.

When asked about the collaboration, Mike Cano, Managing Partner of ACS said, "Client needs have driven our service offerings since our inception. ACS has had great success in developing advanced on site and remote services, both CART/captioning and Text Interpreting (C-Print and TypeWell). As client needs have continued to expand, we are recognizing the value of partnering with experts in the field. SignOn will provide the clients of ACS with the quality and expertise they are accustomed to receiving from us. We are thrilled and confident that needs will not only be met, but exceeded."

Karen Graham, SignOn CEO said, “At SignOn we believe that our consumers should be able to access communication in the way that best meets their needs. Technology continues to expand options for communication access. This partnership allows us to provide a full range of access services in order to meet the needs of a diverse consumer base. Our customers will be happy to be able to consult with us and choose what type of access best meet their needs.”

About SignOn: SignOn is the Northwest's most comprehensive resource for sign language interpreting, specialized interpreting services (tactile, close visual, oral, legal, mental health, medical) and video interpreting. They provide the highest quality service in order to ensure communication between Deaf, Deaf-Blind, Hard of Hearing and Hearing people. The company has served the greater Seattle area and the Pacific Northwest since 1997. Visit http://www.signonasl.com/ for more information or to contact directly, SignOn can be reached at 866-688-7100.

About ACS: Alternative Communication Services (ACS) has operation centers in Chicago, Illinois and Tampa, FL. Their mission is to provide the highest possible quality voice-to-text services via CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation), Captioning and Text Interpreting (C-Print and TypeWell), and delivering these services to consumers throughout the world, recognizing the unique strengths of each individual in the process. For more information on ACS, go to http://www.acscaptions.com. ACS staff can be reached directly by calling 800-335-0911.

Convo Communications and SignOn Seattle Announce Partnership

2010-01-27T11:46:00.000-08:00

Convo and SignOn kick off 2010 together

Deaf-owned Convo Communications and woman-owned SignOn: A Sign Language Interpreting Resource, Inc., are proud to announce a VRS call center partnership effective January 2010. SignOn, located in Seattle, began processing live calls as of January 9, 2010.

“We wanted to start off the new year with a bang and are proud to team up with another business with stellar commitment to the community,” said Ed Bosson, widely recognized as the father of VRS and a vice president at Convo.

(Watch this announcement in video: http://blog.convorelay.com/)

Convo is a provider of 24/7 video relay services, which enable deaf and hard of hearing people who use sign language to convo with hearing people to via the phone by utilizing true-to-life video connection with skilled sign language interpreters. Its services are available to videophone users via convorelay.tv and to Mac users via AIM/iChat at screenname ConvoIM.

SignOn is the largest provider of interpreting services in the Northwest. Founded in 1997, the company offers a wide range of interpreting services, including onsite American Sign language, close visual and tactile signing, and on-demand video services. In 2004, SignOn was honored with a small business award from the Mayor’s office for excellence in marketing, management, employee relations and community involvement.

Said Karen Graham, CEO of SignOn, “We’re thrilled to be partnering with Convo -- we share their passion for quality and commitment to serving the needs of the Deaf Community in this new, exciting era of VRS.”

Convo and SignOn have an open house planned in upcoming weeks to celebrate with the local Seattle community. While SignOn has long established roots in the Seattle area, Convo is no stranger to the local deaf community and recently became the exclusive sponsor of Seattle-based CaptionFish.com, a website developed by three deaf software engineers that aggregates localized lists of captioned and subtitled movies.

Deaf bloggers, vloggers, and Twitterers are welcome to contact either Convo or SignOn. Community Interpreter professionals interested in employment opportunities should contact SignOn.

About

Convo Communications is a deaf-owned provider of 24/7 video relay services, which enables deaf and hard of hearing people who use sign language to convo with hearing people over the phone. Its services allow deaf and hard of hearing people civic and consumer participation and can be accessed via videophone, iChat, or AOL Instant Messenger. For further information, go to www.convorelay.com or follow via Twitter at ConvoRelay.

SignOn is the Northwest's most comprehensive resource for sign language interpreting, specialized interpreting services (tactile, close visual, oral, legal, mental health, medical) and video interpreting. They provide the highest quality service in order to ensure communication between Deaf, Deaf-Blind, Hard of Hearing and Hearing people. The company has served the greater Seattle area and the Pacific Northwest since 1997, and has recently expanded to a second office in Portland, Oregon. Visit http://www.signonasl.com/ for more information.

Fishing for Captioned Films

2009-10-12T09:55:00.001-07:00

Chris Sano, the husband of SignOn interpreter Molly Sano, has developed an immensely cool search engine called Captionfish.

The site enables people to instantly find open captioned and rear-window captioned movies in their area and throughout the United States. Along with showtimes and maps to the theaters, the listings incorporate captioned trailers of the movies.

Says Chris: “The idea behind Captionfish is pretty simple. There are at least a dozen theater chains around the country that show captioned movies. Their showtimes are scattered about, making them extremely difficult and inconvenient to look for. We wanted a central location that would provide the Deaf and hard of hearing community with those captioned showtimes instead of having to go out and look for them.”

Bookmark this site, everybody: the fishing’s good.