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Howdy
and welcome to my little corner
of the Internet. My name is Paula
Dunn and I have worked as a
freelance and theatrical
interpreter for the Deaf and hard
of hearing communities for over
20 years.
I have taught sign language at
California State University -
Fullerton, University of
California - Irvine, Golden West
College and Disneyland - to name
a few.
I helped establish one of the
first - if not the first
24-hour on-call interpreter
service for hospital emergencies
back in 1980. I managed one of
the first TTY-relay services
before any of the phone companies
even considered it.
I taught one- and three-day Deaf
Awareness workshops to peace
officers throughout the State of
California. I worked for the only
non-peace officer agency
permitted to teach Peace Officer
Standards and Training (POST)
classes and we had the highest
ratings in the state.
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I love the field of interpreting. Each
assignment brings a learning opportunity.
Please contact me if you need an
interpreter (714) 267-2456. Read on if
you'd like to know how I got into this
profession.
I grew up in Idaho (Mtn. Home AFB
initially then Boise). Helen Keller's
story always fascinated me. I read the
book "The Miracle Worker" numerous times
and practiced the ABCs. I didn't do
anything with it thinking, "Boise would
*never* have sign language classes." After
all, I'd never seen a deaf person in town
so they must not live there.
When I worked as a candy striper (notice
that's one "p" not two) at a local
hospital, two deaf women came into our
small coffee shop. I learned to sign
coffee, milk, sandwich. Several months
later, my best friend and I took the train
to Oregon to go skiing. The same two deaf
women were on that train. do do do do, do
do do do (Twilight Zone sound). I learned
to sign vacation, snow and ski. Still I
did nothing about it. Then, years later
when I got married, my husband's cousin
had a daughter whom they learned would
lose her hearing. The mom scoped out
classes and actually found one taught
through Easter Seals! She asked me to take
it with her and... I've signed ever since.
Of course, little did I realize that
Manually Coded English (SEE signs
essentially) was *not* really sign
language.
A couple of years later I heard about a
program at CSUN (Cal State University -
Northridge) that would last three months
and offered a $500 / month stipend to
attendees. I called at the last minute -
after the application period had closed. I
spoke with Mel Carter (wonderful man with
a delightful sense of humor and an amazing
memory) who accepted my application. I
came to California on Christmas Eve and
enrolled in the program in January.
I got offered a job from one of the two
required three-week internship sites. I
dithered about accepting since I'd never
really lived away from home. After all,
this three-month gig was temporary. I
finally accepted and said I would only
stay for a year. Yeah, right. I'm still
here!
In a nutshell, that's my story. Obviously
I had to unlearn my MCE and work on
getting more ASL type skills. Still
learning to this day and loving every
minute of it.
Here is a short list of the some of the
wonderful people / groups for whom I've
had the opportunity to interpret.
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Bill
Clinton
Hinton Battle
(Broadway)
Brett Butler
(comedianne)
Chubby
Checker
Margaret Cho
(comedianne)
Jim Cogan
Stephen
Covey
Laura Dern
Sam Fedele
(comedian)
Diane Ferlatte
(story
teller)
Diane Ford
(comedianne)
Jeff Garcia
(comedian)
Bruce Gary (The
Knack)
Wynonna
Judd
Laura
Kightlinger
(comedianne)
Bobby Kimball
(Toto)
Denny Laine
(Moody Blues
&
Wings)
Jack Lemmon
Angela Lloyd
(story
teller)
Art Metrano
Randy Miesner
(The
Eagles)
Bill Gates
David Gates
(Bread)
Leeza
Gibbons
Whoopi
Goldberg
Anthony
Griffith
(comedian)
Robert David
Hall
Lily
Tomlin
Alan Blumenfeld
David Gonzalez
Kasey Mahaffy
Caralyn Kozlowski
Michelle Duffy
Rebecca Mozo
Arye Gross
Nick Ullett
Daniel Blinkoff
Ann Marie Lee
Joe Sears
Timothy Landfield
Peter Katona
Kimberly Scott
Lori Larsen
Petula Clark
Michael Newcomer
Matt McGrath
Marin Ireland
Shannon Holt
Patrick Kerr
Marin Hinkle
Richard Doyle
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Carl
Reiner
Margaret Smith
(comedian)
Weird Al
Yankovich
Mariette
Hartley
Bea Arthur
David
Copperfield
Linda Eder
(singer)
Jamie-Lynn
Sigler
Sesame St.
Live
Natalie
Toro
Leslie
Uggams
Rachel York
Maya
Angelou
Zina
Bethune
Dan Bradley
(comedian)
Kathy Buckley
(comedianne)
Bobby Slayton
(comedian)
Freddy Soto
(comedian)
Alan Thicke
(actor)
Izzy Tooinsky
(story
teller)
Bree
Walker-Lampley
(TV anchor)
Josh Wolf
(comedian)
William Allen
Young
(actor)
Mark Yuzuik
(hypnotist)
Daphne
Zuniga
Thomas Monroe
Hensley
(comedian)
Davy Jones (The
Monkees)
Bill
Cosby
Bill Brochtrup
Cynthia Harris
Kevin Rahm
Conor O’Farrell
Amy Aquino
Jennifer Parsons
Kristen Potter
Matt Letscher
Patty LuPone
Reg Rogers
T. Scott Cunningham
Melody Butiu
Nike Doukas
Lorenzo Pisoni
Nancy Bell
Karen Hensel
Kristen Bush
Jenny O’Hara
Mary Gordon Murray
Harry Groener
Dana Reeve
Mark Jacoby
Tony Amendola
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Ann-Margret
Estelle
Getty
Marilu
Henner
Ertha Kitt
Diane Krall
Michael
Learned
Betty
Mahmoody
Camryn
Manheim
Rue
McClanahan
Parachute
Express
Chita
Rivera
Riverdance
Sara
Purcell
Brian Regan
(comedian)
Linda
Ronstad
Nick St.
Nicholas
(Steppenwolf)
Jerry Seinfeld
(comedian)
Stan Sellers
(comedian)
Rondell
Sheridan
(comedian)
Bobby Sherman
(singer)
Peter Noone
(Herman's
Hermits)
Bobby Norfolk
(story
teller)
Marie
Osmond
Paula
Poundstone
(comedianne)
Michael Monarch
(Steppenwolf)
Haley Mills
Bill Harley
(story
teller)
Niki Scalera
The Pointer Sisters
Linda Gehringer
Kaleo Griffith
Matthew Arkin
Caroline Lagerfelt
Andrew Borba
Dan Zanes & Friends
Jaston Williams
Adam Arkin
Dan Callaway
Hal Landon, Jr.
Joan McMurtrey
Amelia White
Graham Michael Hamilton
John Vickery
Art Koustik
Lenny Von Dohlen
Margaret Welsh
Christina Pickles
Gregory Itzin
James Joseph O’Neil
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Once again, if you need an interpreter for
any reason, please call me at (714)
267-2456.
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