Language Patterns Used by Vocational Rehabilitation Staff To Communicate with Deaf Clients: Enabling or Disabling?

This project examined whether there is a lexicon of messages commonly used by vocational rehabilitation (VR) counselors with deaf clients that might be stored digitally on a CD-ROM disk with the eventual purpose of developing a voice-to-sign translation system to facilitate communication between hearing and deaf individuals. Surveys of counselors and reception personnel from 34 VR offices were analyzed, and a set of commonly used messages was identified. Messages were evaluated for length, complexity, and evidence of enabling/disabling language. Ninety-three percent of the total messages (N=1080) identified contained no references to enabling or disabling language. Examination of the remaining 88 messages revealed only three instances of "disabling language". Calculations indicated that it is feasible to create a computer program to translate voice or text input to manual signs. Results suggest the inclusion in such a disk of 125 commonly used messages and 120 individually signed words. Development of computer strategies to implement recommendations is discussed. (Contains 16 references.) (DB)