While most people who eventually develop hearing challenges do so much later in life, it’s just the opposite for a very small handful. Experts report only about one or two newborns out of every 1000 are born deaf or close to it.

But deafness can be hereditary – passed from generation to generation. New Utah Division of Services of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Director Lance Pickett knows that all too well.

“I was born deaf, as was my sister,” Pickett begins, communicating through an American Sign Language interpreter. “My mother and her father are deaf. My mom also has a deaf brother, my uncle. And two of his children are deaf. Thankfully, none of my three children is deaf.”

Pickett was named director of the Sanderson Community Center of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (5709 S. 1500 West) this summer. His first day on the job was Aug. 5. He says accepting the position feels like “coming home.”

“I was born and raised in Utah and was living in Mapleton when I was a teenager,” he explained. “I feel like I was raised, in part, by the Sanderson Center. I had a group of deaf friends and our parents carpooled us up here all the time when I was 13, 14, 15. We came to the center to watch captioned movies… to attend various skill development workshops… even for dances.”

After becoming acquainted with the Sanderson Center intimately during those formative years, Pickett moved on to graduate from Springville High School in 1997. From there he moved on to attend school at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., a private, federally-chartered school for the deaf and hard of hearing.

Gallaudet, by the way, was founded in 1864, after Congress and President Abraham Lincoln pledged governmental support. But Pickett was only there one year.

“I liked Gallaudet very much; but it didn’t offer the major I wanted,” he explained. “So, I moved back to Utah County and enrolled at Utah Valley University. I got married along the way – and finally earned my degree in Multimedia Communications Technology in 2006.” 

A couple of years before graduating, Pickett was already working for the company where he would spend more than 20 years: Sorenson Communication.

“While I was at UVU I attended a presentation from Sorenson where they demonstrated the video phones they had invented,” Pickett said. “I loved the product and went to work for them in 2003 as a video phone installer. In just three months I shifted to full time, even though I still had a few more years left to complete my college degree.”

Video phones revolutionized how deaf people communicate by phone. When someone with the device makes or receives a call, they are connected by computer screen to an ASL interpreter. The technology is available 24 hours per day, every day of the year. The ASL expert listens to the hearing caller and signs it to the hearing-impaired party. Then they speak the responses back to the hearing caller, after they are signed to them by the deaf party. 

“It is wonderful technology and I was glad to be with Sorenson for more than 20 years,” Pickett added. “After working in technical support for a few years, I became director of the department. In 2015 I was promoted to vice president of marketing; and in 2022 I was named Chief Relationship Officer.”

However, not long after that final promotion, Sorenson was acquired by another company and some corporate shuffling began. Pickett decided it was time for a career change.

“There had been an interim director here at the Sanderson Center and I applied for the position,” he said. “It took me about three months to finally decide it was a good fit. It felt a little like coming home, after all the time I had spent here as a teen.”

One of the key roles the Sanderson Community Center of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing plays is to state certify people who use, or “speak,” ASL. In fact, state certification is required for anyone who wants to work in Utah as a paid ASL interpreter. The Sanderson Center, in fact, is the only place in Utah where those certification tests are offered.

“We certify about 40 ASL interpreters annually,” Pickett said. “There are currently 445 certified ASL interpreters throughout Utah – and about 18,000 nationwide.” 

Utah Interpreting Program Manager Jes Nelson-Julander coordinates the certification program at the Sanderson Center. Like Pickett, she says her return to the Taylorsville site was a kind of homecoming. The first time she worked there, three decades ago, was about the same time Pickett was regularly visiting as a teen.

“I started at the Sanderson Center as a young interpreter in 1994 and worked here for four or five years,” she explained. “Then I moved on to other jobs, before returning in my current role on Oct. 31, 2022.”

Nelson-Julander says she “thought about” wearing a Halloween costume for that first day back – but eventually thought better of it.

“I don’t have a hearing impairment myself,” she said. “I first became interested in learning ASL when I was in my early 20s and a roommate became deaf. I got interested then – and it eventually became a career. Anytime you can add knowledge about other people, it’s always a good thing. That includes any new language, including ASL.” 

According to a recent World Health Organization report, “nearly 2.5 billion people worldwide – about 1 in 4 people – will be living with some degree of hearing loss by 2050. At least 700 million of these people will require access to ear and hearing care and other rehabilitation services unless action is taken.”

You can learn much more about all of the program offerings at the Sanderson Community Center of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing at the Utah Division of Services of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Facebook page or on the Utah Association of the Deaf website (uad.org). λ