OUR CORE VALUES
Among many others, PLI holds these core values as it conducts its work:
Autonomy: We are committed to supporting the autonomy of DeafBlind individuals and those with a combination of vision and hearing loss.
Integrity: We value the integrity of our relationship with the DeafBlind community through the life of the grant and beyond.
Collaboration: We recognize the key to creating change is engaging in active collaboration with our mentors, community partners, stakeholders and service providers.
Equity: We strive to demonstrate our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion through outreach and partnership with diverse stakeholders who encourage, challenge, and deepen our commitment to working with marginalized populations and to improve standards in interpreting.
Humanity: We work to honor our collective humanity and respect the DeafBlind community’s experiences and culture.
Results: We believe in the strength of evidence-based practices and that without evaluation, effectiveness and impact cannot be measured or assumed.
Trust: We believe that Protactile language is distinct and unique from American Sign Language and we are honored to be entrusted by the DeafBlind community and RSA to carry out this important work and take this responsibility very seriously.
Stewardship: We recognize the fiscal and programmatic responsibility given to us by our funders and are committed to ethical and responsible practices in all we do.
The Protactile Language Interpreting National Education Program (PLI) is part of the Research and Resource Center with Deaf communities at Western Oregon University. PLI’s educator team consists of DeafBlind individuals who are involved in Protactile Language research, education, and training, and are considered native language models.
PLI strives to be a culturally-responsive program. We acknowledge that our work happens within systems that often perpetuate discrimination based on race, gender, and disability. We affirm the need for ongoing self-reflection and analysis as a project and as individuals who are doing this work. Systems of inequity will not be dismantled on their own, but instead through purposeful planning and action. To that end, PLI is committed to continuous improvement and welcomes feedback related to your experience.