Deaf Initiative in Information
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For Your Boss
Dear Managers:
Your decision to send deaf or hard-of-hearing employee(s) in your company or organization to our specialized computer and information technology training workshops is a meaningful step toward their professional development and your company or organization’s overall growth and advancement. Managers like you who have expressed an interest in our workshops for their deaf and hard-of-hearing employees often need more information about the training we offer. Below are some questions and answers.
| Question: | Why are the workshops so inexpensive? |
| Answer: | This project is supported,
in part, by a grant from the National Science Foundation to offer
computer and information technology training workshops that provide
opportunities for deaf and hard-of-hearing professionals currently
in the workforce (or preparing to enter the workforce) to enhance
their technical skills.
We are not a profit-making training company. We are part of the world-renowned National Technical Institute for the Deaf, one of eight colleges of Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York. Over the last three years we have provided targeted training for nearly 150 deaf and hard-of-hearing professional to enhance their technical skills in computing and information technology. |
| Question: |
Do I have to pay for interpreters for my deaf or hard-of-hearing employee to attend? |
| Answer: | No. All of our instructors use sign language. No interpreters are required. If you have sent your employees to workshop training sessions in the past and paid interpreter fees, you are aware that the cost of support services for a week may be as much as $2,000 or more. You will not have that expense with these workshops. |
| Question: | What makes these workshops so valuable for deaf and hard-of-hearing professionals? |
| Answer: | Deaf and hard-of-hearing professionals who have attended our workshops make a very strong contrast between our training where all attendees are deaf or hard-of-hearing, and their attendance at training classes of predominately hearing people where they are the only deaf person. At other workshops, deaf or hard-of-hearing individuals can feel isolated, and as a result can be reluctant to participate fully in the training. At our workshops, all participants are part of the class. Everyone communicates directly with other class participants and with the workshop leader. |
| Question: | What about travel, lodging, and food costs? |
| Answer:
|
Lunches are included in the cost of the workshops, but we do not cover other meals, travel, or lodging costs. Accommodations in Rochester, New York, are very reasonable and conveniently located near our workshop site on the RIT campus. |
| Question: | What's the best way for me to contact you with other questions? |
| Answer: | Please contact us through e-mail at diit@rit.edu, and thank you again for your interest in our workshops for your deaf or hard-of-hearing employee(s). |
