Last night was our Town Hall meeting with Dr. Carolyn Ball, Affiliate Chapter Liaison to RID, and Krystal Sanders, Region V Representative to RID. The town hall was a forum for UTRID to voice their support or rejection for the RID Board to move forward with further research into what is required for RID to transition from a Member Driven Organization (MDO) to a Professional Certification Organization (PCO).
You can find more information about the Townhall and Transition here: https://rid.org/organizational-transition-overview/transition-faqs/ Additional information about the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA) can be found here: https://www.credentialingexcellence.org/page/get-started-with-accreditation
Dr. Ball assured us that, should all chapters support the board doing a further investigation, all information gleaned from the research will be shared openly with all RID members. That information will be disseminated prior to a voting opportunity to accept or reject any proposals to change the framework of RID.
UTRID members had many questions and comments – most that cannot be answered until more information has been gathered. Some of those questions/comments were:
- How much would it cost for RID to make the transition to a PCO?
- How long would it take for RID to make that transition?
- How would a decision to transition to a PCO affect affiliate chapters, like UTRID?
- How would that same decision affect Utah state certification processes?
- Has RID involved NAD, and the Deaf perspective, in determining the best approach to transitioning?
- We need a PCO in order to prevent future events, like the certification moratorium, becoming the membership’s decision.
- Certification needs to be separate from member majority votes. (Typically a RID Business meeting is poorly attended and roughly 200-300 votes determine whether proposals pass, even when online voting is an option).
- Deaf community input/partnership is needed for both certification and the interpreting profession and that isn’t currently happening.
- A professional organization accreditation would allow members to be recognized as professionals equal to nurses, accountants, medical personnel, etc. and not ‘helpers’ or support staff.
In summary: The UTRID Board and participants in the Town hall support the RID board in doing further research into accreditation. President McConnachie must contact President Webb and let him know of our support before September 15, 2020.
If you have any objections to providing support, please email Kimm at president@utrid.org before Monday 9/14. Otherwise, the UTRID board looks forward to learning more during the accreditation discovery phase and commits to keeping our membership informed.