Bringing American Sign Language instruction and communication to rural Nevada has made Western Nevada College Instructor Margaret Craig a hero to many people in the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community.
That heroism is being recognized by Greater Nevada Credit Union through its Community Heroes program.
I feel blessed and inspired to be part of this amazing language and the most resilient group of people I have ever met, the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community, Craig said.
Craig will be recognized on July 22 at the Reno Aces-El Paso Chihuahua baseball game at Greater Nevada Field in Reno. She will receive four tickets to the game, a jersey and in-game recognition.
This summer, GNCU is celebrating incredible local heroes who support Northern Nevada communities working in education, first response, law enforcement, healthcare and the military.
Shes a powerhouse in preparing classes, the conversion to online, her workload and her individual work with students, said WNC Professional and Applied Technology Director Georgia White. Teaching ASL through distance education provides rural communities access to language instruction and the ability to communicate with members of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community.
Craig achieved her Associate Degree in Deaf Studies at WNC before going on to earn her bachelors and masters degrees. She worked for 20 years as an educational interpreter in Deaf and Hard of Hearing programs in Carson City and Douglas County. She started her employment at WNC in 2011 and discovered her professional niche writing online ASL classes.
Because of my love for the language and Deaf and Hard of Hearing community, I wanted to be able to reach all of the students who for various reasons could not come to the college to study in person, Craig said. Now, and because of the support of WNC, our ASL online classes reach students in rural areas, parents and grandparents with Deaf and Hard of Hearing children, single parents, teachers, speech pathologists, high school students, nonverbal, autistic and homebound students.