Attleboro High School senior advocates for sign language education in justice system | Local News

Cooney spoke to Tobey Reed’s criminal justice class at AHS last week for her independent study project about the deaf and the criminal justice system.

During a slide show, she presented examples of deaf men who were beaten and even shocked with a Taser by police because their attempts to use sign language with police were misinterpreted as not being compliant.

“Often times police officers can confuse the signs as signs of aggression,” Cooney said.

Cooney wants to change that and says more police officers need to learn some sign language and more interpreters are needed in the criminal justice system.

In addition, she said a simple to use electronic communication device can help police and others to communicate with the deaf or hard of hearing.

About a half-dozen of the devices are now being used by the Bristol County Sheriff’s office at the jail, in the field and by assisting police departments in the county, according to Deputy Sheriff Brennan Bulgar.

Bulgar, a K9 officer who also knows sign language, worked with Cooney on her project along with Weston Pondolfino, who teaches American Sign Language at the high school.

ASL is a visual language that is expressed by facial expression as well as movements and motions with the hands.

Relying on lip reading is not effective because studies show few words can actually be accurately understood, according to Pondolfino.

To demonstrate, Cooney played a video of a man using different expressions with varying degrees of difficulty to show that similar sounding words can be misinterpreted.

“Communication is key,” said Bulgar, whose deafness as a child was corrected after surgery.

Cooney, 17, said she is interested in sign language and the criminal justice system because her younger brother is deaf. She said she does not want anything bad happening to him or any other deaf or hard of hearing person because their efforts to communicate are misunderstood.

Cooney is also interested in using her ability to use sign language in a future career.

“I want to be a lawyer or an interpreter for the court system,” she said.

Being able to communicate is important for everyone, Cooney said, adding that sign language is similar to a foreign language.

She displayed a sign that deaf or hard of hearing individuals can keep in their car in case they are stopped by police.

In addition, Cooney said the Bristol County district attorney’s office has placards deaf people can use to communicate.

The court system has a variety of foreign language interpreters and uses sign language interpreters through the Massachusetts Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, a court spokeswoman said.

In Attleboro, Police Chief Kyle Heagney said the police department has already started taking steps to give officers sign language instruction.

Earlier this month, two instructors from the commission were invited to the police department to give basic sign language classes to 75 employees, including police officers and clerical staff, Lt. Brian Kelley said.

The chief wanted members of the department to learn sign language skills and Kelley said he hopes sign language will be taught at the police academy. The department also has placards that show key phrases to help officers communicate with deaf or hard of hearing individuals.

“The overall goal is to help police officers recognize and understand a deaf or hard of hearing individual,” said Kelley, who has a relative who is deaf.

A few months ago, Heagney said, police had to call the commission for a sign language interpreter to help officers communicate with a deaf person who had been arrested.