American Sign Language

Coalition Language Representative

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Su Kyong Isakson MA, NIC, Ed:K-12, is an Associate Professor in the Interpreter Preparation Program at the Community College of Baltimore County in Catonsville, MD, where she has been faculty since 2016. She began her interpreting career in 2009, having worked in community, education, conference, performance, and business settings. Graduating in 2016 from Western Oregon University's Masters in Interpreting Studies program with an emphasis in teaching, her areas of interest include curriculum design and teaching strategies of heritage signers of ASL in ASL and interpreter training programs, as well as the sociocultural impacts of professional identity development among Coda (children of deaf adults) interpreters. The daughter of Deaf South Korean immigrants, Su Kyong’s heritage languages are Korean Sign Language and Korean. Her contributions include Heritage Signers: language profile questionnaire (2016), and The Case for Heritage ASL Instruction for Hearing Heritage Signers (2018), "Between Two Worlds, I am Whole" in We are Codas - Between the World of Hearing and the World of Silence (pp. 347-388), an anthology of South Korean Coda stories, and Infusing Social Justice in Interpreter Education (2023). Ms. Isakson is co-founder of The Coda Network, an online learning community for Codas seeking personal and professional development.

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Candace Jones is an experienced educator, advocate, and change agent with over 16 years of involvement in the Deaf, Black and Brown Deaf, and Deaf with Disabilities educational communities. She currently serves as the director of Gallaudet University's newly established Heritage Sign Languages Center (HSLC), which operates under the office of the Chief Bilingual Officer. Candace's primary objective for the HSLC is to offer multicultural family and education services in diverse settings such as schools, training sessions, conferences, workshops, and community events. She firmly believes in equal rights for all individuals, regardless of race, sexual orientation, religion, gender, disability, or ethnicity. Candace is also a second-year Ph.D. student at Gallaudet University, pursuing her studies in the Critical Studies in the Education of Deaf Learners program. Candace's favorite quote by Dr. Maya Angelou, "I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel," guides her work in uplifting and empowering the Deaf, Black and Brown Deaf, DeafBlind, and Hard of Hearing communities. The Heritage Sign Languages Center's "Together, We Thrive" tagline reflects Candace's vision for fostering a vibrant and inclusive community.

Published: Wednesday, September 25, 2019