Enrollment open in GED class for deaf adults

Palm Coast Observer
Neighbors

When a deaf student approached Tammy Dassance, coordinator for adult general education at Flagler Technical Insitute, about taking a general education degree course, Dassance had to turn her away. Then another one came. And another.

Dassance was unnerved. The goal of adult education is to provide new opportunities to community members, but the program couldn’t afford an interpreter for just one student. Then, Elizabeth November Liston came into her office with a plan.

Liston, who worked for the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind before coming to the Flagler County School District in 1998, saw a need at Flagler Technical Institute. Her proposal: She wanted to teach a GED class solely for deaf students. The two began to plan, and the class — the first of its kind in either of their recollection — begins June 17.

To Liston, the need is great. While working with deaf high school students, she saw many students who were doing well in school being advised to get a special diploma rather than a regular one — even though, many times, those students were doing well academically.

“Deaf people’s barrier is communication,” Liston said. “They might be thinking about the future and have plans, but they don’t always know how to get there because there’s never another deaf adult sitting down and explaining what this diploma means.”

What it means, however, is that college is no longer an option. Getting a job is also difficult. In a world of electronic communication in the workplace, there is no need for deaf people to be alienated from professional lives, Liston said. Just as Flagler County’s adult education programs offer hearing adults a second chance at a high school education, deaf adults deserve that chance, too.

“Deaf people are told over and over again by hearing professionals, ‘You can’t do that,’” Liston said. “Eventually, they begin to believe it.”

Liston’s class runs June 17 to Aug. 2, but she plans to offer it again in future terms. For more information or to register, contact the Flagler Technical Institute or call or send a text message to Liston at 569-9712.