Deaf-Interpreting Psychologist
Is
Helping to Bridge Cultures
By Amy Halloran
Dr. Russell Wolff is a licensed psychologist whose office
is part of the new home of the Independent Living Center of the Hudson Valley
in Troy, N.Y. Though he is not affiliated with the center, his presence there
has made a big difference: Wolff, who is deaf, is the only psychologist in the
Tri-City (Albany-Schenectady-Troy) area who can treat the deaf without an
interpreter. 
Wolff provides counseling services for the deaf and hard
of hearing, as well as for people who use sign language. He works with
children, families and adults. He has done consulting work with school
districts that are trying to help sort out issues with deaf students. He can
help, for instance, if a child is having a hard time with classmates, or if the
teacher is looking away and the student can’t lip read.
The simple logistics of communication can interfere with
relationships and how people get along in the world. The differences between
Deaf and hearing cultures present other issues to sort out.
“Many in the hearing community don’t understand
Deaf culture,” Wolff said. “You could tap them on the shoulder, stomp
your foot on the floor, but for deaf people, that’s normal. That often
becomes a conflict. There (are) two cultures in one family. They’re
bicultural, but they don’t always understand each other.”
That’s why in a counseling situation, speaking the
same language is so important. A deaf counselor is, in Wolff’s words,
“someone who can understand their issues and understand them.”
“I help them build their confidence to improve their
quality of life,” he continued. “It’s not just for support.
People come here for many reasons: psychiatric illnesses, some have depression,
anxiety -- or it could be ADHD. There (are) a variety of issues. Basically, I
provide services for people with adjustment difficulties, anger management,
anxiety, choosing or adjusting to cochlear implants, dealing with hearing loss,
depression, family relationship problems, managing stress, marital problems and
relationship issues."
“We have had no opportunity to refer (clients) to a
counselor who can sign, who is deaf, in the area,” said Karen Garofallou,
an ILCHV staffer who interpreted the conversation between this reporter and the
doctor. “So it’s been really wonderful to have Dr. Wolff move to the
area and provide people counseling services. There have been people who say
they can sign, but I’ve been doubtful that that really was a skill. From
time to time you heard about people who could sign, as opposed to people who
were fluent in ASL (American Sign Language).”
“It would be like if you’re talking to Karen and
you’re using two different languages,” Wolff added. “You’re
an expert in English, and your Spanish is so-so. Karen is an excellent speaker
in Spanish, and her English is so-so. It’s a language issue. When you
communicated there would be a broken language between you. You might not be
able to understand the full meaning of that language. ASL is a language
separate from English. The communication flows better when you both use
ASL.”
Wolff grew up in Middletown, N.Y., and received his
bachelor of science degree in psychology from the State University of New York
at New Paltz. He graduated with a master's degree in developmental psychology
and a specialist degree in school psychology from Gallaudet University in
Washington, D.C . Prior to that, he completed a full-year internship as a
school psychologist at the South Carolina School for the Deaf and Blind.
He was later hired as a school psychologist for the New
York City Board of Education at the city's only public school for the deaf
(P.S. 47). He also worked as part of the specialized Committee on Special
Education (CSE) for the Hearing Handicapped and Visually Impaired (District
75), a separate citywide district for students with more severe disabilities,
including special education programs for deaf and hard of hearing students age
3-21.
Wolff’s work shifted from a mix of counseling,
assessment and CSE meetings in a single school to a role that was strictly
assessment and CSE meetings, which wasn’t as satisfying to him.
The Scranton State School for the Deaf was his next
professional outpost. He worked in a dorm as a counselor, providing emotional
support for about 50 students who lived in the dormitory from Monday through
Friday. The school had an enrollment of about 100 students, ranging in age from
5-21. The school was closed in 2009 due to budgetary problems.
“At that time I also decided to go back to school, so
I also had to concentrate on meeting the requirements for my Ph.D.,” Wolff
said. “Walden University is an online distance learning program and gave
me a lot of flexibility so I could work full time and go to school full time. I
left the job at Scranton for four months to complete my practicum as part of
the doctoral program requirement. Then I did my full-year internship at
Lexington School for the Deaf.”
He earned his Ph.D. from Walden University with a dual
specialization in counseling and organizational psychology. His dissertation
was about what influenced prelingually deaf adults’ decision to have
cochlear implants and what effect the implant had on their quality of life.
Including the internship, he spent seven years at
Lexington Center for Mental Health Service in Queens, N.Y.
“I loved it at Lexington. The people that I worked
with were wonderful. It was nice to have deaf and hearing supports. It was a
signing environment; everybody signs there. It was very accessible to me. It
was very nice. After I got married and our son was born, my wife and I were
trying to decide where would be the best place to raise our family. So we had
to consider family, buying a house, the environment, and that’s when we
decided to move out of New York City."
Because his wife grew up in the Albany area, the Wolffs
decided to move there. Soon after moving to the area in August 2009, Wolff set
up a private practice, eventually leasing office space at the ILCHV in January
2010.
Wolff teaches ASL at Hudson Valley Community College in
Troy, and he advocates for real-time closed captioning on the local television
stations. During this past winter, in which the Tri-City area experienced
severe weather, one TV station, WTEN, provided live closed captioning. That was
in large part due to Wolff.
“I work with individuals, meet them where
they’re at in their everyday (lives),” Wolff said. “I give them
the coping skills so they can manage their own lives.”
For more information on Wolff, go to
www.drrussellwolff.com.
Amy Halloran, a writer, lives in upstate New York with
her sons and husband. Her blog, where she explores family’s life in
growing and cooking food, is at www.amyhalloran.com . |
