Philanthropy

One issue that I am passionate about is accessible resources for the Deaf community. What primarily comes to mind is filing for taxes and voter information. Many hearing people find these two vital tasks difficult, and that is with resources given in their first language. Voting stations will have accessibility options, but they cannot be one size fits all. Tax season is also a hard season to navigate. One way I would want to improve this is sitting down and talking to the Utah Independent living center about having free transportation to polls. And while the Presidential election is over, I think it would be great to have political informational sessions during their classes, to ensure they know about any acts or laws going into affect that could impact them. I also know that the Sanderson center offers informational sessions during tax season, which is great, and I hope that I can maybe attend as well.

The Utah Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (UTRID) states on their website that their mission is " to initiate, sponsor, promote and execute policies and activities that will further the profession of interpretation of American Sign Language and English and the transliteration of English. " To further my research of UTRID, I examined their social media channels to find out what they are currently doing as an organization. For example what events they have coming up, what community members are discussing, and seeing how they present themselves online. Through their Facebook page, they post local events and workshops. During Pride month, they advertised workshops and events centered around unity as well as share resources for scholarships. This type of community engagement is providing resources for interpreters to learn more about groups they may not be apart of but want to work with. These workshops also help Utah interpreters as a whole because they are ensuring that quality and educated interpreters are the ones out in the community.

UTRID demonstrates philanthropy by working with the Sego Lily center for fundraisers, and you can donate to the organization directly on their website. In the future I hope to volunteer at one of these fundraisers and participate in the process.