Advancing Health Equity with the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Community
Christine A. West, MA, MAISCE, CI/CT, SC:L, Ed:K-12
Christine West is passionate about advancing health, educational, and communication equity
with linguistically diverse communities. She has worked as a sign language interpreter for the
past 30 years. She is the former Director of the Healthcare System Transformation Project at
the Rhode Island Commission on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, a project aimed at improving
healthcare access with Deaf, Hard of Hearing, and Deaf-Blind communities in Rhode Island.
Christine
has also worked in educational administration, equal employment opportunity investigation,
and research. Her study entitled, “Health, Human Rights, and Structural Violence: Identifying
Barriers to Healthcare Access of Deaf American Sign Language Users in Rhode Island” is the
first to provide a holistic exploration of healthcare access barriers specific to Deaf ASL users in
Rhode Island and the first in the U.S. to investigate healthcare access barriers of Deaf ASL
users employing a structural violence framework.
Christine has also been an instructional
designer for Project Level Up: Advancing Healthcare Interpreter Competencies at the
Collaborative for the Advancement of Teaching Excellence (CATIE) Center at St. Catherine
University in Minnesota. She serves as the Program Specialist for the Public Health and Equity
Sign Language Interpreting Program at Rhode Island College.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts
degree from New York University, a Master of Arts degree from San Diego State University and
a Master of Arts degree from St. Catherine University. As of October 2022, Christine became
the inaugural Health Equity Director for UnitedHealthcare Community & State Plan of Rhode
Island.
A native Rhode Islander, Christine currently resides in Westerly with her husband, Tim..
Kate Bowden, Esquire
Job title or function
Kate Bowden has been an attorney with Disability Rights Rhode Island since 2004. Previously she was an associate at the law firm of Brody, Hardoon, Perkins & Kesten, LLP in Boston where she represented cities and towns. She served as law clerk and senior law clerk to the Massachusetts Superior Court and served as law clerk to the Superior Court Justices of Rhode Island. At DRRI, Kate has successfully represented clients on a variety of legal issues including Americans with Disabilities Act litigation in federal court, eligibility assessments before the Division of Developmental Disabilities, contested civil commitment, housing discrimination, guardianship proceedings, and administrative actions before the State Board of Elections regarding accessible voting equipment and voting rights.
Kate is the lead attorney for DRRI’s voting rights grant for which she spearheads systemic advocacy, outreach and training activities to ensure full participation in the electoral process for people with disabilities. Kate is passionate about assisting people with disabilities to know and exercise their voting rights. In her career, she has presented to municipal officials and election officials, disability advocates, and persons with disabilities and their family members on diverse topics including: guardianship and alternatives to guardianship, voting rights and procedures, legislative advocacy, employment discrimination and public records/open meeting statutes.
Michael Baer
Job title or function
Born Deaf, Father of four Deaf children, and Grandfather of a deaf granddaughter, Mike is always passionate about ensuring that the deaf and hard-of-hearing citizens enjoy and experience the same access, opportunities, and rights in all areas of American society. Early in his career, Mike worked in the telecommunications industry and with Federal Communications Commission (policies and regulations), providing and enriching the telephone relay services between standard phone users (hearing) and deaf users using text and video applications. Mike has also worked in higher education and non-profit agencies to promote employment opportunities for deaf and hard-of-hearing applicants and employees. Mike is also known for his advocacy work in the deaf communities. He is a dynamic and humorous presenter and trainer related to Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing topics to any audience.
Today, Mike is the first Emergency and Public Communication Access Program Director with the RI Commission on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. In his position, he advises and trains the State of Rhode Island State Government, RI Emergency Management Agency, and local public safety agencies (police, fire, EMTs) to ensure they proactively stand ready to provide effective communications utilizing sign language interpreter services and assistive technologies for the deaf and hard of hearing persons in their public programs and services. More recently, Mike was the RI Department of Health’s main point of contact and the ASL communicator via video vlogs and Zoom video conferences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mike can provide you and your groups with Needs assessment, Technical consulting, and Effective Communications 101 presentations/training. (401) 216-5414 | [email protected] | www.cdhh.ri.gov
James Simon, LICSW, CAGS
Job title or function
Jim is the Senior Director of Youth & Family Services at Perspectives Corporation overseeing a range of home and community based therapeutic supports for children and adolescents with special health care needs. Jim is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker who began his career in mental health over 25 years ago at the Center on Deafness located outside of Chicago. Jim worked as a counselor in their residential therapeutic school and later became a member of their administrative team. In addition, Jim worked as a state screened American Sign Language interpreter while pursuing his Master’s degree in Social Work at the University of Illinois at Chicago graduating in 2001. In 2003, Jim moved back to his home state of Rhode Island to develop specialized services for Deaf & Hard of Hearing children, adolescents, and adults at Perspectives. Jim served as a Board Member on the RI Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing for several terms and was the Co-Chair of the Healthcare Committee. In addition to his work with Perspectives, Jim provides outpatient therapy often integrating the expressive and creative arts in his private practice.
James Litvack
Job title or function
James Litvack is a 53 year old who was born with a hearing loss that increased as he grew up. He currently utilizes a combination of Assistive Technology, educating others on his communication needs and his cochlear implants when navigating the world. He currently works for the ATEL program which is a part of ATAP a partnership that aims to increase access to Assistive Technology
Tim Riker
Job title or function
Tim Riker is a Senior Lecturer in American Sign Language at Brown University and Co-Investigator of the Sign Here 2.0 research team. As a second-generation Deaf individual, Tim has dedicated his career to serving the Deaf community through his extensive experience in advocacy, education, research, and interpreting/translating. Having experienced the devastating consequences of systemic injustice firsthand, Tim is committed to addressing the structural violence that perpetuates inequality in the health and well-being of the Deaf community. He is driven by the memory of his father, who was denied access to interpreters and lacked the opportunity to fully understand his own health, ultimately passing away in a hospital. This personal tragedy has fueled Tim's lifelong mission to promote language equity and ensure early language acquisition and communication access for Deaf children and adults.
As an expert in American Sign Language, Tim has worked tirelessly to improve the quality of life for the Deaf community. His advocacy and research focus on advancing transformative justice and promoting language access in healthcare settings. He has also been instrumental in developing innovative teaching methods for American Sign Language learners, ensuring that they receive a comprehensive education and understand the nuances of Deaf culture.