Public Employee Press

Profiles in Public Service
Signs of caring

Local 2627 member Robin Renaud interprets the world for the deaf
through the new language she started learning at DC 37.

By JANE LaTOUR

Robin Renaud’s journey started out as personal, but it ended up encompassing her entire community. Sixteen years ago, after a niece was born with a birth defect, Renaud read a notice in the Public Employee Press about a sign language course being offered at DC 37. She decided to enroll as an aid to communicating with the girl.

But as her first class was beginning, she concluded that failure would soon follow, since the teacher, Thomas Samuel, was deaf. Then, she experienced an epiphany.

“The class was breathtaking. Within the first 30 minutes, my opinion changed dramatically,” she said. “Although there was total silence, the classroom was noisy with visible conversation and the expressive exchange of ideas. My teacher made me hear with my eyes.”

Through the new language she learned, another world opened up to her. “I had an insatiable appetite and sought out classes and events that were sign-interpreted,” she explained. Renaud went on to graduate from the Seymour Joseph Institute of American Sign Language on Staten Island. Beyond communicating with her niece, her original source of inspiration, Renaud employs her language skill at every opportunity.

Signing has taken her from the pulpit of the House of the Lord Pentecostal Church to the classroom, from helping residents of the Tanya Towers apartments to interpreting music at St. Peter’s Jazz Church in Manhattan. She has signed children’s stories at the New York Public Library, interpreted a jazz CD and taught classes at her church.

At her church’s youth convention in Washington, Renaud stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and signed Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech. “The words always meant a lot to me, but when you actually interpret them, you have to take it apart. You focus on each line and it comes alive in a different way,” she said.

Once, after she signed a children’s story, something that was fun became exceptional when a small girl expressed her delight. “We always try to make it really descriptive for the children by acting out emotions,” said Renaud. “But she came up to us and said, ‘You all were great!’ I’ll always remember her.”

On Nov. 28, the Dept. of Information Technology and Telecommunications honored Renaud’s volunteer efforts with a Community Service Award. She is a member of Electronic Data Processing Personnel Local 2627, a Computer Specialist who works on technical problems such as getting software to communicate with hardware.

Small step leads to a larger one
Currently she is planning a future that relies on a different communication skill. She’s eagerly awaiting an answer to her application to the Hunter College Graduate School, where she hopes to earn a master’s degree in Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Studies.

Teaching is a passion and she hopes to work with deaf children. “Children are very flexible. They’re like sponges. They become as enthusiastic as you are,” she said.

Renaud is a member of the National Alliance of Black Interpreters and the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf. She recalls her passage from timid student overcoming her fear as she performed in front of her church for the first time. “Deacon Janie Williams came up to me and grabbed my hands. She looked me in the eyes and told me how much my signing had inspired her. Although I receive an indescribable amount of support and encouragement from my church family, I don’t take it for granted,” she said. “God is the wind beneath my wings.”