FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CARL AMOS, COMMITTED TO HELPING THE DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING

DANVILLE, VA, December 19, 2006 – Dr. Carl Amos, Coordinator of Community Services for People who are Deaf/Hard of Hearing at Danville Community College, has a commitment to helping others. As a board member of Danville Host Lions Club and the Program Director of Virginia’s only Weekend Educational Interpreter Training (WEIT) program, he has lots to keep him busy.

But with his busy schedule comes recognition. For his humanitarian services to the deaf and hard of hearing, he recently was presented a Melvin Jones Fellowship recognition plaque on behalf of the Lions Clubs International Foundation.

“I was really very honored and pleased to receive this recognition from the Lions Club,” says Amos. “It’s the highest recognition one can receive.”

Amos coordinates services for residents of the DCC service area of Danville, Pittsylvania County and Halifax County. As part of the Technology Assistance Program (TAP), he provides training on the local, state and national levels to the deaf and hard of hearing in the use of equipment such as the TTY machine, an adaptation of the teletype machine.

“DCC is a demo site for the teletype program,” says Amos. “If people who are deaf or hard of hearing want to see the equipment prior to filling out an application, all they have to do is come into my office.”

An additional service that he’s making available is the Video Relay Service (VRS). According to Amos, the service is not unique in Danville, but DCC may be the only community college in the state to offer VRS assistance. The college now houses a 26-inch flat screen TV with a D-Link system, enabling deaf individuals to communicate with others visually through the phone line. Amos says that by offering VRS, it puts “DCC on the map” for technology services for the Deaf.

“DCC is providing good opportunities for students who want to enhance their education beyond high school,” says Amos. “It’s a college (DCC) that has a caring and dedicated staff whose goal is to enhance student learning and provide assistance.”

DCC has two career studies programs, American Sign Language (ASL) and Educational Interpreter Training (EIT). In the fall of 2002, Amos revamped the WEIT program by introducing a new educational interpreter training curriculum and hiring new instructors who are specifically trained in teaching educational interpreting courses.

Amos says that WEIT is unique to other interpreter programs because it is offered on the weekends. He says that it was designed as a weekend program to accommodate individuals across the state who do not have the flexibility to take night classes offered at other colleges.

“This is a very successful program that is intense and takes approximately one and a half years to complete,” says Amos.

According to Amos, by the end of the WEIT program, students are prepared to take the Virginia Quality Assurance Screening (VQAS) examination. He says that 50 percent of the WEIT program students received Level III or higher on the VQAS. Amos says that at least two of his instructors teaching in the lower track are deaf. In addition, in the upper I and upper II courses, there are two teachers who are nationally certified interpreter trainers by the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID).

“The Weekend Educational Interpreter program is one of the most popular programs across the state of Virginia and we have a waiting list,” says Amos.

Amos also provides outreach services for the deaf and hard of hearing. As part of the Lions Affordable Hearing Aid Project (LAHP), he contacted three local audiologists to see if they would assist him in providing audiological services to individuals in need of hearing aids. LAHP purchases the hearing aids and provides a stipend to the audiologists who fit the aids, provide testing and render follow-up services. According to Amos, DCC is the only institution in the state that has this project and provides these services.

“My involvement with assisting the deaf and hard of hearing extends back to when I was four years old,” he says. “My babysitter was deaf and that was a big influence on me.” He remembers that she and his parents would write back and forth to each other and says that she taught him and his brother some basic signing.

More than a decade later, in high school summer camp, Amos worked with children who were deaf. He says that his involvement with the deaf motivated him to pursue his career in “deafness.”

For more information about services for the deaf and hard of hearing, contact Amos at 434.797.8479 or click here.