Signing Savvy Team > Leslie Elion
Leslie Elion
Born and raised in New York, Leslie Elion learned sign language after joining the Peace Corps for a Deaf Rehabilitation Program in the Philippines. In Angeles City, where she was stationed, she used both ASL and Filipino Sign Language. She broadened her knowledge of Deaf culture and ASL with stints as a dorm supervisor at the Mississippi School for the Deaf and as a community advocate at the Westchester County Office for the Disabled in New York.
For six years, Leslie served as Executive Director of Deaf Community Services of San Diego. She was responsible for overseeing staff and a growing interpreting department, advocating for Deaf and hard of hearing clients, creating alliances with key agencies and institutions to establish, improve, and expand services, and providing guidance on the Americans with Disabilities Act. She served one term on the San Diego Mayor’s Committee on Disability.
Leslie was instrumental in collaborating with Dr. Georgia Sadler of the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego, to establish a groundbreaking cancer education program for the Deaf community. Inspired by a conversation between Leslie and program advisor Dr. Barbara Brauer of Gallaudet’s Counseling Center about lack of access to medical services, Dr. Sadler applied for and received a pioneering grant from the National Institutes of Health to teach medical students sign language to prepare them to communicate with future Deaf patients.
Leslie’s B.A. in Communications is from Hamilton College. After receiving a J.D. from California Western School of Law, Leslie was appointed by the NAD to co-chair the joint NAD-RID National Council on Interpreting Code of Ethics Review Committee. The committee’s work led to the Code of Professional Conduct (CPC), which expanded and replaced the individual NAD and RID codes of ethics. Leslie also served on RID’s Professional Standards Committee following the codification of the CPC.
For her work on the CPC, Leslie was awarded the NAD-RID Outstanding Services to Interpreting Award as well as the National Association of the Deaf Chief Executive Officer’s Award for Exceptional Service.
To carry on her involvement in ethical practices of interpreting, Leslie taught Professional Aspects of Interpreting to aspiring interpreters at San Diego Mesa Community College.
While in law school, Leslie wrote Chuck Baird: 35 Plates, an appreciative look at the life and work of Deaf artist Chuck Baird.
Leslie is deeply committed to the language rights of Deaf children and adults and to the full participation of Deaf people in every aspect of society. She firmly believes in the mission of Signing Savvy.
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