"SHUSA!" - Workshop on Understanding Racial Dynamics of Deaf Professionals of Color Working with White Interpreters

  CEU-Flyer-1-10-2026-Rezenet Moges-Riedel_SHUSA.jpg

“SHUSA!” – Workshop on Understanding

Racial Dynamics of Deaf Professionals of Color

Working with White Interpreters

By: Rezenet Moges-Riedel

Saturday, January 10, 2026, 9:00 am–11:00 am

SDCRID Business Meeting 11:00am-1:00pm, following the workshop

Mesa Community College

7250 Mesa College, Dr.,

San Diego, CA, 92111

Building S, Room S-201

Presented in ASL

0.2 PS ACETs

Free for SDCRID Members, $30.00 for Non-SDCRID Members

Register at sdcrid.wildapricot.org

This workshop will start with a 45-minute presentation, covering the published article of “SHUSA!” (2022) in short of a recurring ASL-signed phrase “SORRY HARD UNDERSTAND, STRONG ACCENT!” which was co-authored by Dr. Lynn Hou & Dr. Rezenet Moges-Riedel. This talk will be followed by an open Q/A and a short break after doing a mini-survey from the participants. After the break, the attendees will be divided into groups to participate in an hour of activities such as small group discussion questions and brainstorming for more meaningful responses and approaches when interpreting a situation with an unfamiliar signing style or speech, especially with clients of any racialized background.

By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

•  Analyze and discuss their own ex/implicit racial/oral biases of different accents of any language or modality;
•  Develop alternatives when self-explaining their incapability of understanding another person’s signs or speech without directing the problem(s) on any racialized body;
•  Evaluate and describe the accountability of one’s limitations, such as limited experiences, exposure, or training from SL-interpreting programs.

Dr. Rezenet Moges-Riedel is the Director of the ASL Linguistics and Deaf Cultures (ASLD) program and an Assistant Professor at California State University, Long Beach. Her upcoming publication covers critical race and language theory in Deaf-signing education. Her recently-published article focuses on intersectional experiences and retention of Deaf Faculty of Color, working at postsecondary institutions.  Her research interests also encompass in linguistic anthropological issues, such as sign language contact, demissionization, and female masculinity signing styles.

Mesa College Map.pdf