Deaf Protesters Picket Center Nonprofit Program Gets Tax Dollars; State Seeks Changes In New Contract

A nonprofit center that collects thousands of tax dollars to aid deaf people provides only limited services, protesters charged Monday.

Two dozen Spokane residents - most of them deaf - picketed the Eastern Washington Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing on Monday.

Carrying signs and shouting “Get a new director now,” protesters claimed the center ignores their educational needs, refuses to be their advocate and “blacklists” them for complaining.

They also charged that only one of a half-dozen center employees is deaf.

“They have absolutely no understanding of deaf culture,” said Clarence Pitts, whose wife is deaf. “And that’s their job.”

The downtown center provides classes, community programs, workshops and sign-language interpreters for about 50,000 hearing-impaired residents in 11 Eastern Washington counties, according to its own brochure.

It contracts with the state for some of those services and also collects money from the city of Spokane and Spokane County.

But protesters say there are no educational programs for children, interpreters are hard to come by and classes have changed little in a decade.

They also claim center director Yvonne Rivers asks interpreters to tell her about deaf clients’ private conversations.

“If you go to a doctor and he tells you about your medical condition through an interpreter, would you want that blabbed?” asked Donia Campbell, who is deaf. “She wants interpreters to tell her everything.”

Rivers refused comment on any of the accusations on the advice of the center’s attorney. She said only that “maybe they (protesters) don’t represent everyone’s opinion.”

Attorney George Guinn also refused comment, claiming he has not been “treated fairly by journalists in the past.”

But a state official who oversees the center’s $307,000-a-year state contract said the protesters’ concerns weren’t without foundation.

“I think the board needs to make some changes,” said Leon Curtis, director of the state’s Office for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

He offered the center a restrictive new contract that would run for six months rather than the traditional two years. It asks the center to increase counseling, advocacy, interpreting services and outreach.

“We’re giving them six months to comply with the contract and improve the service,” he said.

The center’s seven-member board was expected to consider the new contract Monday. Its existing contract expires Wednesday.

Protesters have been battling with the center for months, mostly over their relationship with Rivers.

“Her attitude toward deaf people is not wonderful,” said Lee Howes, president of an association of deaf Spokane residents.

They also claim the board won’t listen to their concerns, and they question whether the center’s money is spent appropriately.

Rivers, reached at her office Monday, refused to provide a copy of a 1997 tax return, which would show how the center spends its money.

She acknowledged that those records are supposed to be available for public inspection during business hours. She said her office is technically closed until Jan. 5.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: CENTER STATS The downtown center provides classes, community programs, workshops and sign-language interpreters for about 50,000 hearing-impaired residents in 11 Eastern Washington counties, according to its own brochure.