Hollow

I stumbled across this photo yesterday and had to share…basically depicts my childhood growing up in the Southern coalfields of Logan, West Virginia.

A young boy sits on the porch of his home near Delbarton, WV. His father drove a coal truck until he became disabled and is now trying to raise his six children on his own after his wife left him and their $80 a month house. Craig Cunningham/Charleston Daily Mail

Southern county schools have severe shortage of sign language interpreters

CHARLESTON — Hearing impaired children in West Virginia are at a distinct educational disadvantage because of a dearth of sign language interpreters in public schools, a legislative panel was told Tuesday.

There are 400 deaf children in classes across the state, but only between 70 and 75 interpreters, Marissa Sanders, executive director of the West Virginia Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, told Education Subcommittee C.

The need for interpreters is especially keen in rural parts of the state, she said.

And this leads to a difficulty in ensuring such children a quality education, she said.

“Finding qualified interpreters and finding interpreters is always a challenge, especially in rural areas,” Sanders said.