Alan Parnes was originally from Boston, grew up in New York, and now resides in St. Paul, Minnesota, after living in several locations in the Midwest during his lifetime. He was born hearing and became hard of hearing and gradually became deaf by the age of 8. Alan attended the New York School for the Deaf, Fanwood, located in White Plains, New York, where he stayed through graduation. Lou Fant was a teacher there during Alan's time and was a favorite mentor of Alan's. Fanwood had a number of illustrious alumni, so it is with great pride that he is a Fanwood alumni. He graduated in 1964 and went on to attend Gallaudet College (now University) from which he graduated in 1969.
Alan's first post was as a Vocational Evaluator, then he was promoted to Work Adjunct Trainer. That led to moving to Indianapolis to become a vocational trainer there. He worked there for several years. In addition to working for vocational rehabilitation, Alan was instrumental in getting a mental health program set up for the Center State Hospital network. He also was on the national board of ADARA, and he established an ADARA chapter in Indiana.
He applied for and was accepted to a masters program at New York University (NYU). This was made possible through a federal grant, which provided funding for individuals who wanted to work in the field of deafness and rehabilitation.
After graduating from NYU, Alan relocated to Flint, Michigan, where he took up a position as executive director for an agency similar to CSD (Communication Services for the Deaf). He set up a precedent for services for the deaf that was carried over to other independent living centers all over the country. Slowly, services in Michigan changed to improve access for deaf individuals to get the services they needed.
Alan then moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he worked for a speech and hearing center that also provided interpreting services as well as counseling services. He served as the program director for the center, and worked with the mental health program in Ohio. He also served on the board of the Ohio Association for the Deaf (OAD)
The last stop in his journey found Alan moving to Minnesota where he served as a vocational rehabilitation counselor for the seven county metro area of the Twin Cities. He started out with zero clients, and then the demand increased until the VR office was serving over 200 clients. “EEK?!” He saw the agency change over the years, moving from the old office in Minneapolis to a new office in St. Paul. In addition to working for vocational rehabilitation, Alan was active in the deaf community, including as a contractor for the Commission for 12 years. He was also on the board of MADC (Minnesota Association of Deaf Citizens) at three or four separate times over the years. He served as vice president during his most recent stint with MADC.
While he loved his job as a VR counselor, the stress, challenges, the mental health toll it took with piles of paperwork to go through and the never ending game of playing catch up, played into his decision to retire. He retired in 2010 and remained active in the community, serving on boards and committees for various organizations.
Now in his retirement, Alan spends his time poring over books that line the shelves of his office. He does research, he reads and loves to discuss what he reads with other people. Back in his Fanwood days, fellow students would call him a bookworm, because his nose was always in a book. "Books allow you to take in the words, absorb the ideas, the stories, the experience, all of it." When his nose isn't in a book, Alan enjoys walking outside, taking the time to appreciate all of what nature has to offer.
Alan shared some words of wisdom - "Looking back, in every job over the years, I have found the key theme is advocacy for communication access. I'd love to see the people here in Minnesota as well as organizations and agencies explore the broad spectrum of communication needs and not focus on American Sign Language (ASL) alone. People are from all kinds of backgrounds and educational settings and we need to be inclusive with and embrace what works for communication - ASL, English, Cued Speech, captions, interpreting, transliterating, video relay, to mention a few. We need to broaden communication access for every deaf person. One of my proudest successes was helping the Commission recognize the need for communication access advocacy and making that access a primary goal of the Commission. I have been fortunate in all my previous jobs that I had at least one staff member who was able to communicate with me and was provided sign language interpreters when I requested them."
In parting Alan shared these thoughts: “Become aware of what you can do for the community and yourself, get involved, and help serve people, especially in the deaf community. Get active by serving on committees and helping with projects - get out there and do something!”
The #CanDoAnything campaign showcases people who are deaf, deafblind, or hard of hearing at work, giving them an opportunity to share what they do at their jobs and explain how communication access works for them. This campaign shows what our community can do, which is anything!
Note from the Commission: This is our first posthumously shared #CanDoAnything story. Alan provided an interview, but passed away before we were able to confirm the final details of his story. We would like to thank Marcia Passi and John Fechter for confirming the details of Alan’s remarkable life and contributions to society.
