Laurie Benjamin


Contact Info:

Email: lbenjami@williams.edu
Phone: (802) 823-4014 Voice
Text: (413)441-6878


Education:

  • UMass Amherst, B.A. International Multilingual Education
  • Northeastern University Interpreter Education Program

Certifications:

  • RID, CI

About Laurie:

Laurie was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, in a hearing family. In high school, she met several Deaf students and started learning Sign Language. In college she studied ASL linguistics and education. After graduating she attended the Interpreter Training Program at Northeastern University in Boston. After 2 years of teaching, she decided interpreting was a better match and started interpreting full time. She has been interpreting for almost 30 years. Although her specialty was mental health work, she has interpreted across a broad range: medical, education, technology, conferences, theatre and more. She works as a freelance interpreter in New York, Vermont, and Massachusetts. She also works part time as a Video Relay Interpreter.

In her spare time, Laurie enjoys reading, gardening, canning, kayaking, biking, skiing. She especially loves traveling, in the United States and abroad. She loves meeting Deaf people in other countries!

Feel free to contact her with the information above, or through the Options website. She always looks forward to meeting new people and working in new situations!



Options Mission


Options standards:

  1. Clear and fair practices for all individuals who are a party to our services.
  2. Vetted, competent and accountable interpreters are working each and every assignment.
  3. Working within the frame of upholding the linguistic and human rights of the individuals we serve.
  4. Fostering and nurturing the development of interpreters by ways of education and mentorship.

Options priorities:

  1. Raise the bar on interpreting standards and expectations of customer service.
  2. Shift the paradigm of procurement of interpreter services.
  3. Being available and accessible to the communities we serve.

All Options: An Interpreting Cooperative practitioners;

  • Are RID certified or RID certification ready (i.e. passed the RID written examination and are committed to taking the RID performance evaluation)
  • Engages in regular professional dialogue and has an ethical support community.
  • Supports the Deaf community by ways of giving back such as pro bono work, community engagement and involvement, volunteerism, and activism.
  • Maintains and exceeds national expectations of professional development and growth.
  • Upholds the linguistic rights of the Deaf community by practicing within a rights based frame of ethical decision making.
  • Advocates for the direct procurement of optimal and culturally competent interpreting services.

Interested in investing and becoming a part of Options?

Contact us!