Bloom goes quiet... and we love it!

We’re so thrilled that Bloom has its first Deaf certified trainer that we’re tempted to jump in with several long, enthusiastic paragraphs about it. 

But since our goal is to give people the tools to speak for themselves (and since our very first deaf certified Bloom trainer is such a wonderful communicator and a joyous person to experience), here’s Lisseth: 

She’s amazing, isn’t she?!

And she’s done such a wonderful job of introducing herself, and Bloom, and what being able to teach others to use Bloom means to her and her community, that we really don’t have all that much more that we can add.

Still, we should say that although Bloom is a great tool, if it isn’t introduced and implemented in the right way it can still be rejected by communities who could benefit from it the most. Bloom has been accepted and has succeeded within local Deaf communities both because it’s great software, and because we’ve been careful in how we’ve presented it. We continue to work on that presentation, and have enjoyed watching our success rate improve. 

In the words of Sonia Shannon, Multilingual Deaf Education Coordinator and consultant with SIL International, “We celebrate Lisseth’s accomplishment! She was part of the first Deaf team trained in Bloom. Deaf teams continue to receive technical support and MLDE advice. Our MLDE website has a page dedicated to each team. As they promote their material and they learn from each other’s work, they are encouraged and motivated to work on new Bloom projects, expand them, and invite other Deaf to start publishing Bloom material.”

We’re grateful for the efforts made by our many collaborators to ensure that Bloom is well received in the Deaf community. But today, especially, we want to celebrate Lisseth’s accomplishment, and welcome her to the certified Bloom Trainers community.