 Hello, and welcome to the first Sign at State Symposium. I'm Roberta Mather. I'm a Senior Advisor for Employee Communications here at the Department of State. And I'm honored to be here with you. We have amazing deaf professionals here on the panelist and audience from all around the country. We are shocked to have over 40 states represented here today. It shows seriously the power of the deaf community in America and around the world. One thing that I want to mention is the CDIO and the Secretary both are personally invested in the diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility effort here at the Department, especially for deaf culture. I did meet the Secretary last week and film that video, and we were talking about deaf culture. And he said it was amazing to look and watch ASL and watch deaf employees. And he was very humbled to learn about our community. He was humbled to work with the amazing deaf professionals here, and it was a great opportunity for us as well. I started myself as an intern during the summer. There was a guy named Randy Richard, who talked to me about the Department of State. And I was like, what is that? I understand the concept of embassies. But once he started talking about it and once I got in here as an intern, I understood the rich network of change. And one of my favorite things about working at the Department of State is meeting people who have traveled around the world. They are used to using interpreters. They saw me as a human being. They use spoken language interpreters, signed interpreters. They didn't look at me as just a deaf person. They saw me as a human who happens to be deaf. So the thing for today is eye to the power of three. It's influence, impact, and identity. Eye to the power of three. So we're going to talk about three people who are here today who are deaf and work here at the Department of State. And we will go around and introduce them. We have Doug, Rob, and Arissa, who is on screen with us. Are we ready to get started? All right. Sure are. So over to you, Doug. And just for the audience, I want to explain a little bit about who they are and why they're here at the Department of State. So Doug? Hello. Thank you so much, Roberta. Honestly, I'm very happy to be here today. And my name is Doug Soret. And I've worked in the Foreign Service. I was a generalist and I was a specialist between the two tracks. I've worked coming up on my 10-year anniversary at the State Department. Congratulations. Yeah, I'm very excited about that. Thank you. When would I do? I have a lot of different tasks, actually. And it is hard to pin it down to one thing. It really depends on a position where I work at that time. So just as a general discussion, kind of what I do, I work with IMS, which is information management. There's different in IT, fits in networks, or any even cybersecurity, cyber operations as well. So we work with any of the communication devices, phones, radios, and even personal device phones. We do all of that. Right now, I'm in cyber operations. It's IRM, and it's a subset of that. What I work on, so we understand that there is a physical world and a digital world. When we're navigating in this cyberspace, it's so different because we exist without boundaries. And so it's kind of looking at, you know, it's more than numbers, and it's more than this behind the curtain thing. We look at embassies specifically overseas, and their staff, what phones are they using? Is our information secure? And what is our threat level? And we're looking at all of that. Amazing. One thing we did discuss is about how the Department of State is big on cybersecurity. We have a new bureau called CDP. That's a new initiative, a new program, and you as the first deaf diplomat, foreign service officer. It's amazing. Teamwork all the way, yes, but thank you so much. So thank you for that, and I'm going to go over to a next amazing human being, Rob. Roberta, thank you. Truly, thank you. Thank you for your deaf leadership. It means so much to me, and to everyone. So, I guess starting off, my name is Rob Dooling. And my name sign is this, which you might be because I end up never sticking to the point, going off track. I am an editor, a technical editor. So I work with individuals that can hear that work on different barriers, and I work in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research, INR, within the Department of State. We edit different analysis, state analysis of all different countries, providing context for all different issues. And I truly do love that. It's a very fast-paced job. One thing about Rob is he is an amazing writer. He's one of the best writers I know on earth. And I'm so happy that he's here at the Department of State with us. Yeah, he's great. And another amazing human being we have here is Arissa Nakamori. She is on screen, so we'll go over to you, Arissa. Thank you so much, Roberta, for inviting me to be part of this panel today. This is a fantastic opportunity. My name is Arissa Nakamori, and I work for Global Talent Management, or GTM, which is part of Human Resources. My role is to do compensation management for overseas employees all around the world. And we have approximately 60,000 locally employed staff in various countries. And so the State Department really relies on those locally employed staff and employees to maintain the programs in their countries. But I develop the competitive salary packages for them and work on retention and recruitment of employees all over the world. So that's what I'm responsible for. Thank you so much for having me join the panel. Thank you, Arissa. So we're all fascinated in our own stories, but I want to share that with the audience. So how did you all get here? What gave you that pull to the Department of State? And we'll start with you, Rob. OK, so a very funny story. So my major is actually computer science, coding. I've worked in the private sector for a number of years. And I liked writing and I loved editing. I wanted to do more of that myself. And I realized that state has many opportunities for those type of employment jobs. And that's how I got here. And it's funny because editing really is a huge difference and a huge jump from the world of coding. So I was able to use my skills in the interview and show that there are many different applications to the job itself that I could bring. I mean, people change careers all the time. IT, interested in writing, why not? Is it use the same part of your brain? Speaking of which, now over to Doug for the same question. Tell us a little bit more about your background and how you got here and became a foreign service officer. Yeah, so I'm trying to think of one of the famous writers who really said it the right way, J.R.R. Tolkien. He wrote movies and books. And there was one quote from there that was really impactful to me. And I feel like summarizes it the best. It says that to step out of our door is always dangerous because once that first step lands, we don't know what the future holds. And so obviously paraphrased a bit. But yeah, it's the same mentality when we go to another country. And I wanted to serve my country. I wasn't able to join the military due to being deaf. And so looking through my options, the foreign service presented itself, filled out my application. And again, there were two tracks. There was the public diplomacy track. And then there was the specialist track, which was IMS. And it was a very long process, which is normal. And one day I got my offer and was happy to accept and join. And since then, I have served in many capacities and wasn't expecting it. Zero regrets. And looking back, it's just been so great to have the opportunity to work with colleagues as yourselves. I think I want to use that quote in the future. I mean, J.R.R. Tolkien said it the best. Now over to Arissa, same question. My experience was that I was majoring in international relations in undergrad. And I found out that the State Department had an internship program that was for international relations. So I decided to apply for that internship. And at that time, it was a non-paid internship. But now the State Department internships are paid. But I was a young college student and wanted that internship opportunity. So I came in as an unpaid intern. And I did my internship in the European Bureau and decided that I really loved it and I wanted to be here at State. And so I sent my resumes to various departments and end up in human resources. I thought about going back to grad school, but I really loved my work at the State Department. So I decided to stay. And just because that was my experience doesn't mean you have to major in international relations to end up here at the State Department. Like Rob was saying, he works on writing and his background is in coding. It just happened that I was already majoring in international relations and that's what led me to apply to the internship program. Beautifully said, Arissa, gave me chills. I remember my favorite quote from Colin Powell. He was really fascinated with people who were sleeping the floors and doing janitorial work. Because honestly, everyone here contributes to diplomacy. So thinking about the myriad of job opportunities here. You can be informed policy, working in IT. You can be working in the cafeteria. You can be a graphic designer, a photographer. We have something here for everyone. So as you're thinking, I'm curious, what is the most defining moment that you felt in your career here at Department of State where you knew you were in the right space at the right time? I'm getting goose bumps talking about it. So yeah, thinking about your most defining moment. So we'll start with you, Doug. You know, honestly, it's hard to ask a foreign service officer this because there are so many cherishable moments looking back over all of our times. Honestly, monthly, it happens. Something that really just strikes the chords in our art. I'm trying to think of one. I can start with one that comes to mind right off. There was my first tour. I was in the Philippines and Manila, such a beautiful country. I was working with an interpreter at that time. And as the day progressed, we, the interpreter, forgot something. I don't remember exactly what it was. And we walked back to the hotel. There was the general manager there at the front desk. The hotel itself is very well known. And so we go in chatting with the general manager and he saw a deaf person who worked at the embassy. And as we went in, the interpreter had told the general manager about this. And he looked at me and said, oh, you clean the floors at the embassy. And no, I actually am a foreign service officer. I have an established job and position. And his mind was blown. His world was turned upside down by hearing this type of narrative. Now, there were no negative intentions in his statements. It was just from his limited experience. And to realize that there is such this vast positions that we can fill. And so I was explaining that it doesn't matter what position it is. Just because I'm deaf, I can do all of them. The only difference is you can hear. And so he was immediately fascinated in this and wanted to me and the interpreter were trying to figure out if they're in the Philippines and Manila, if there was a way to get some names of people who were deaf who could possibly work at the hotel. And I think there were around five people, I'm not sure of the exact number, but they were actually hired by that hotel, which was great. I didn't think anything of it at the time other than that moment of celebration. But then going to the hotel again, we saw one of the deaf employees. And on their lapel were pins. And so they spoke a different sign language. And but then we realized that this was a designation of a staff member who had been recognized for their work. And so because of that, they had a pin. And so they were the employee of the month. And it was the deaf employee. And so the general manager came up to us and was profusely thanking us. And I don't know how this worked. And it just so incredible that you opened my mind to this. So he's like, thank you for giving us this incredible employee. We want more deaf employees. And so we're like, oh, they know people. We can make this happen. And so from that one instance, there were nearby hotels competing. And so there became this recruitment push for employees who were deaf. And so we saw this lead from these businesses and the business owners that be at a cafe or whatever there was, the owners of this, they would look at deaf-faced businesses and we got to see all of this growth and emergence up to even 30 employees who were deaf at that time. And so we really got to see the Philippines were able to push this and to create what I would say is a global change. And to go back, my role in that was such a small seed of exposure and just really grew into something that was quite profound. And so that is my second of knowing that this was the right job looking back of being sleeves up and how can we do this? And so that was my experience. What a great story. I feel like I'm getting teary eyed. So that was amazing. We need people out there. I mean, the simple thing is, yes, that's not part of our job. That was not part of your assignment, but it wasn't out of benefit because you were there. Over to you, Rob, your defining moment. Wow. Yes, I would say the most defining moment for me was actually in 2019 when I was actually able to travel to the World Federation of the Deaf. It was the WFD's World Conference that was done in Paris. And it was an amazing trip forward that I represented the Department of State, which was an amazing honor. And the role that I supported was both for my community and as the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Representative, the DRL, and for short. And this is a Bureau that focuses on supporting international disability rights. So I was there at the conference and I was supporting DRL in their aspects of what they wanted through various interviews with people from different international countries, all of the world that had gone to support this World Federation for the Deaf event. And one of the interesting things is there was a recent law that was passed regarding deaf disability rights at a country. And I was just wondering if that had seen anything that we could utilize as a model for the rest of the world. And it just truly was an honor to do that. I think one thing that comes to mind about your role is being a US citizen as a deaf person, but you're going to Paris and you're representing the government at that moment. You're seriously a US government representative working on behalf of the government as a deaf person to change the minds of other people. It's amazing. Now over to Arissa. I'm curious to hear your story. I have so many different rewarding moments over the years, but the one I think of most readily is really providing access to employment for people. When I first started my job here in HR just within the first few weeks, the earthquake hit in Haiti. And so the embassy there really needed our support for their locally employed staff to make sure that they recovered and they had support. So I was responsible for developing the emergency compensation packages that would provide the ongoing support for them throughout that natural disaster that was impacting the entire country of Haiti. And so we were able to prepare those packages and provide that financial security and ongoing support throughout the time of the disaster. And I think that's one of those moments where you feel, here I am at the Department of State and I'm making a difference for people. And we see this in various countries when we have closures in China, in Russia, I've seen these kinds of impacts happen over and over again, but it's just a rewarding piece of being in this position. Great statement. So everyone here has different experiences and we've all contributed in different ways. Deaf people coming together brings value. And the concept of gain is what I wanna talk about. I have two parts to this. There are two sides to the gain. Let's say we have a coin. On one side, the department gives you something. You are gaining from the department. So I wanna know what that benefit or gain was to you from the department. And the other side of the coin is what is deaf gain? What does the department gain from you in terms of diplomacy? What does that look like? So that's a two-parter question. Well, the Department of State has given me as a deaf person. Let's see, what has that been? They've already recognized that we have a diverse skill set. The people all over the world and the position that we have is where we bring together the world. And I feel like they value me as a signing deaf person that I work here. And the other big moment I would have to say is when I saw deaf gain was helping the diplomacy was actually at that 2019 Paris conference. During an interview, there was a deaf individual from China and there was a deaf education specialist there as well, also from China. And I know ASL, the other person knew Chinese sign language and there was just a struggle to communicate. But there's this colleague of mine who knew the Chinese language, the written language of Chinese. They could write in those characters and they could go back and forth. So there was a way that we didn't know the same language but we were still able to communicate through written Chinese characters. It was just an amazing opportunity to show how we could use those characters on the palms of our hands to then communicate back and forth. And so I absolutely think that we are experts as deaf people in overcoming barriers to communication. That is an absolute moment of deaf gain for diplomacy. Well said. Amazing. Like you said it all, communication through Chinese characters written on the palm of a hand, wow. Over to Doug, tell me more about deaf gain, both sides of that coin. Well, so I kind of want to piggyback off of what Arissa said a little bit and kind of pull parts from Rob's. I think we really need to thank our local staff so much. Absolutely. The employees within those countries, I appreciate them so much. They may think that I forget them but I specifically remember each of them. There was one specific moment and it was in Maldova and it was the country where I was posted and there was one staff in general service office or GSO, it was a woman named Vecoria. And so we went to the airport together once or twice a month, we had business there and we were just chatting and we got to know each other through this. We learned our similarities, our differences, compared our cultures and it's pretty standard for foreign service officers to have that cultural share. And something that I was able to understand is that parallel with the benefit as a deaf person and to diplomacy itself is that there's not one sign language. As you've said, we think, oh, there's another person who's deaf in China, we got this. But there's so many different sign languages. Each country has their own and so it's that ability to navigate that that makes us those communication experts. Being able to do that also aids in fighting against oppression, bias, discrimination, misunderstandings. And that helps us to understand our own rights to accessibility and something as basic as a phone call. That's something that we have to fight and to do. Look before we had TTYs and that was a barrier that we were able to overcome. So through the advancements of technology and they may benefit some people that aren't related to disabilities. Look at the recent pandemic. We thought this might be an opportunity where we're able to look at FaceTime. We're able to have these video conferencing before deaf people were familiar with this. But now we see this parallel and overlay to people who are hearing as well. And so looking at the background, so what are we doing? So we're able to provide this, our benefit and to benefit them. Absolutely, I think it does come to the term resilience and adaptability. So we have that innately. And to be able to see the obstacle, we know that it might be there, but we take on the challenge. Yeah, the solution's even, yeah. Right, I was reading this morning. They were talking about barriers and how that they are not a problem. You look at a barrier and you figure out how to make a better world from that. Roberto, the different perspectives even, yeah. Now, Arissa, you're feeling of a two-sided coin. Well, I would definitely want to thank the State Department for my position and how I'm here today. I did want to talk a little bit about my background. My parents emigrated from Japan and when they found out I was deaf, they wanted to make sure I had a strong language foundation. But their own English was not as strong, so they decided to move us back to Japan so that I could learn in their native language. But then, later, the Americans with Disabilities Act passed and my parents recognized that the U.S. was going to be the place of biggest opportunity for me as a deaf person to get an education. So they moved back to the United States and I was able to get my education here. So I feel the State Department has empowered me to be able to do tours of duty all over the world and work in different countries. I host town halls and consultancy meetings with people in various countries. And so many times when the town halls end, the local people come up to me, the staff who are there working in those countries and share their stories. One example was when I was in Papua New Guinea and we gave a town hall there. And at the end, one of the locally employed staff came up to me and told me that she has a niece who is deaf. And she was hoping to be able to learn sign language because her niece had very little access to education, very little access to opportunity. And they had never seen a deaf person in a high-level position. So to see me, a deaf Asian woman, in that kind of a leadership role and that kind of a position showed them that they can continue to fight against those barriers in their own country and to open those barriers so that people who are deaf and people with disabilities can have these high-level opportunities. So I think that opportunity to share my story and to just be visible as a deaf person is deaf gain. So here in the United States and abroad. I have known you for quite a while but I never knew that story about your parents. And sometimes you really, right, it was a heart-touching story. So we create an impact that really spans the world. So now that your kids are learning sign language, your niece and nephew, they're gonna go to college and continue their education and that's amazing. So are you ready for the next question everyone? Doug will start with you. You ready? Bring it up. Okay, so your experience as the first deaf foreign service officer diplomat, why do you think it was important to be on the front lines of diplomacy as a diplomat? And being the first episode, why was that important to show the world? I love these questions, this is great. So there was no one else. No, okay. No, really, I think it's important to have somebody who's able to be front and center who can bring an issue up directly. Looking at cultures, we normally focus on mobility issues rather than hearing issues. And people don't realize how often we rely on our sense of sound, the tone to pick up someone's mood. And so we have a lot of these different senses that we use at different times. So for this, we're looking at body language. So I'm able to have this unique perspective that might not include something that another person is using to give that same cue. So here at the department, I think that's able to be a little bit of overlap there. An analogy could be perhaps a rock lifting it up and seeing bugs scurry out from under nothing bad, but looking at uncovering, kind of unearthing these things. And so to have a person who's deaf, they might not have known to do that. They might not have unearthed some of these learning opportunities that they have. And this gives us an opportunity to train our staff. This gives them an opportunity to look at, hey, look, there are laws and regulations about this, but still I'm able to contribute in this way. And that was the same when I was in the Philippines. They're able to look at, I'm able to learn from them and they can learn from me. It's all the same. I agree. I think one of the biggest challenges that I learned through my career was honestly the biggest obstacle in general was about hiring people who are deaf or have other disabilities. It's just fear. It's fear of the unknown, being afraid of how they can work with that person. And once they get past that, they realize that it's a gem. Yes, it's the same concepts of other countries and how they apply to diplomacy. They may not realize that that perspective was ever any different. Whether that agriculture or perhaps their economies, they're looking at all of these different features of that society. And so I think, yes, even though we are in America, being deaf, we have this split, but comparing that to other countries, it's all the same. We're able to look at some of the generational differences and kind of how to merge all of that, all of those different pieces of a puzzle into one picture. Wow, you're looking at it from the mile high perspective. You get to see everything. I love that. Definitely. So thank you for that. And now I have a question for you, Rob. Are you ready? You know what I mentioned. Yes, please, please. I know that you love to write. So how does a deaf person become a skilled editor and writer? How did you do that? Yes. So how? So you're absolutely correct. How does a deaf person take on that role? Where we're teaching English to hearing people, right? But it is really all interconnected to what you said, that fear of the unknown. There's two sides of the equation in this. There's working with the employees, there I work with them and the employer. We have to both of us be creative on both sides of that equation. Be creative and dare to dream big and see what possibilities are out there. And that's how we overcome those fears. We have to get their employers to overcome their fears in that hiring process. And the Department of State is one of the best places in the entire world where you can see that creative effort, that innovative effort to overcome those barriers to find the ability to have equity for all of us. And most people, the people that truly inspire me, the 2015 when President Obama did have a receptionist who was themselves deaf. Her name was Leah Katz Hernandez. Leah was the first deaf receptionist of the White House, of the United States. She sat at the desk, at the front desk at the White House and met everyone from all over the world. Different leaders would come and they were amazed because President Obama had the courage, the innovation and imagination to hire that person for that role. So again, a deaf person can do anything. High level communication is not a problem. Now, people thought I had a communication disability while I was growing up. And the Department of State has helped me and they themselves overcome that barrier, that stigma. That's so powerful. Yeah, and like, you know, President Obama said, yes, we can. Absolutely. It's powerful. I mean, truly, the fear, we have to remove that. And it's ironic, you know, as you're writing briefings for the White House, Rob. I am. So it's all connected. Now, Arisa, I have a question for you. You mentioned how your multilingual in Japanese, sign language, Japanese language, your multicultural. So I'm wondering that multilingual background. How does it influence your thinking as a professional? How has that changed the way you work? What is your game from your multilingual, multicultural background? Because you have ASL, English, Japanese, Japanese sign language and all of that is part of you. And I know that makes you a better worker. So can you explain more about how? Yes, definitely having that experience with multilingual has made a difference. I remember Gallaudet University hosted an exchange program where they had deaf students from Japan come here to the United States and they asked me to interpret as part of that program. And it was fascinating for me because it's not just interpreting between Japanese sign language and American sign language. It's not just the vocabulary and the words themselves. It's also the cultural exchange and filling that gap to make sure that cross-culturally, those who were using Japanese sign language and those who were using ASL understood each other. Those two sign languages are completely different and the languages themselves also reflect their cultures. So I can show you some examples of that. In American sign language, we sign thank you from the chin because it represents blowing a kiss. In Japanese sign language, they sign it based on a gesture that's used by sumo wrestlers. When they win the competition, they use an up and down gesture with their hand and that has become the sign for thank you. Another example is the sign for sorry in the United States. We sign it over our heart. And in Japan, it's signed on the forehead because when you are apologizing, your facial expression is that your eyebrows knit together. So, and it includes the bowing gesture as well. So there are these cultural aspects that are incorporated into the language. And it's very important to recognize that. Sometimes the people from the United States will be very forward, whereas a person from Japan will use a very soft tone to reflect their respect within their culture. So it's part of diplomacy to be able to bridge those cultural gaps. And I really enjoy the opportunity to be able to do that, not just interpreting again the language, the vocabulary, but also the cultural aspects of making people feel comfortable and connected. Beautiful. So the way the mind processes and the cultures that you have to be able to express yourself and the intersectionality that you bring is honestly a gift and we're lucky to have you here at the department with us. So now we're gonna open to live question and answer. You all ready? Absolutely. Let's do this. All right, let's go. So type in the chat any questions you have for our panelists here. We do have one question that we'll ask from the audience. What is advice that you would give to anyone who wants to join the department of state as a deaf and hard of hearing person? Rob? Sure. Okay. So what advice would I give? If you wanna work at the department of state, I would encourage you to work with the regional accessibility office and those individuals who make it possible for some of the things that we talked about that both sides of the equation that I mentioned before. They might find the policeman coordination. They might be able to set up accessible accommodations for panels like this. And I advise, they are able to advise the department of state as well. It's truly, and if you wanna excel and do what you love, like editing for myself, it's really the people that were helpful that gave me their stories of all the things that helped them, that shared their passion, their heart and through to the world. So really, I think I love reading about all those different stories, all those different things that people have put in. And I put that into my application when I applied to put in what's possible at the department of state. From my degree in computer science, my formal experience as an editing, I didn't have any, but I was able to put in a lot of those adjunct experiences, those tangential experiences to show that I had the heart and the spirit for working here. And that's a key part of applying for state. So I encourage you to be creative in your applications and look for different possibilities and opportunities that you can show bring greater opportunities to the world beyond. It's a literally a world of opportunities here. And that's why you're such an amazing writer. So over to Doug, question about the advice. So opportunities as a Foreign Service Officer, are there any recommendations to people in the audience about how to get their foot in the door as a FSO, Foreign Service Officer? So I will say, I just celebrated my 10 year anniversary. I'll say that again. But there was a coworker of mine, Stephen. He used to, his previous job was at Nike. And so I think it's quite appropriate to just steal their phrase, just do it. Apply, go through, just throw in your hat and do it. You know that Uncle Sam poster that I want you? That's it. The United States here, such a diverse population. We have such a population. Deafness is part of that diversity. So if it's just me, it's not fair for me to be the only representative of this. We have diversity of language. We have, even within the US, different accents and dialects of sign language and Black ASO. And there's just so much diversity here that we have. So to be honest, I don't feel that I can appropriately represent every one of those facets. But through diversity and through recruitment and I think we could make it a more fair playing field and we could more accurately represent that diversity here that we strive for. I completely agree with you because representation, like we should represent ourselves. We all have different backgrounds. We need more people to be involved because we all have diverse intersectional backgrounds. So Riso, what would you say about the way you got your foot in the door and how would you advise other people who are watching now to join the Department of State? I think I would agree with what Doug mentioned that we are focusing on diversity and wanting to make sure that various cultures and languages are represented within the Department of State. And so it's important for people to be able to engage with deaf people from the variety of backgrounds. So I would just piggyback on Doug's comment. That would be my response. I do have a question regarding IMS. So someone from the audience asks, what is IMS? Can you expand on that a little bit? Yeah, it's the Information Management Specialist. And so it's kind of our IT department. We have IRM and then that branches down. It's kind of a broad meaning really. It includes embassy operations, some of their networks, phones and radios, a lot of different types of communications. And so it's not just one approach. It takes some surface knowledge of all of the different topics. Right, that makes sense. So generally, an embassy has different specialists employed there. They have their IT specialists that do each faucet of IT and they'll have a public diplomacy person. They'll have a management. They'll have generalists who do those things. Yeah, passport visas that type. Right, so all of the different people with backgrounds will go to an embassy and then they'll say, for example, I wanna learn more about public diplomacy and the media. So I'll work with the politicians in their country and they'll contact IMS, the Information Management System, to make that happen. Yep, yep, that's IT, IMS. We make sure that the diplomats in other countries have everything that they need to be able to run their operations and the tools for that mission. Awesome, there's another question from the audience. Since working here, it seems like you've done great things for the department. So what is the most challenging thing that you have experienced here? So yeah, what is the most challenging experience, Rob? The most challenging thing for me is a deaf person in the Department of State. It's fast-paced, it's a fast-paced job. There's a lot of patience that's required, patience to be able to understand that sometimes you need more time to request interpreters for the meetings that we're set up. They accept that accessibility and we are really very, very fortunate that we have patient staffs and the offices that we work at. These people that we work with all over the world and they're willing to be patient to work with the reasonable accommodation, offices and specialists around the world to provide that. It is a challenge, it is. Signing and communication in different languages is something that we have the resources to make successful. Absolutely. So Doug, now what is your most challenging experience from your perspective thus far? To be honest with you, I think one part is moving every two or three or maybe five years going between countries and picking up. I know that in surveying a lot of Americans, they say that the most stressful part of life is a move. But with Foreign Service, it's expected that every two or three years, so you make these friendships, you create these bonds. And so there is a bit of loss there, feeling that and it is a challenge to move all the time. Sometimes you find a place you're like, I just wanna stay here, but it's probably fine to move on to the next place. While at the same time, we know that you can make new friends in those new areas and you don't wanna to find that there's a best post ever and to be there because you know you're going to be leaving. And so honestly, looking at it, it's true that every post is a best post. And so the move is hard. I'm gonna have a question for you after this. Arissa, what is your perspective on the biggest challenge you've experienced so far here at the Department of State? I think I would agree with Rob about the interpreting access as I consult with Foreign Service officers and I'm providing information to them. They will often have assumptions or the interpretation will not come through correctly. And then I am informed that the interpretation didn't really reflect what I was saying. So I'll have to sit down with the interpreters and go through it again to make sure that they are familiar with what the State Department internal ways of explaining things are or internal framing is to make sure that that's there. And every time we go to a different country, it's a new challenge, it's a new thing. They've never heard those names before, they've never heard the names of the places or those kind of things. So I think that the challenge of working with the interpreters to make sure that they are up there and ready to provide that access. And the Department of State provides that access for us but it just takes that extra step, yep. This is Rob, yes, yes, yes. Thank you, Arissa, thank you. But I also wanna remind everybody that there are interpreters here. I'm a deaf person and I wanna remind you all that we have interpreters here, but it's not because I'm deaf. It's because hearing people don't know sign language. So they assume that spoken language is the default all over the world. But come on, open up your minds. Visual communication is all over the world. We have both. That's the middle of diplomacy. Realize it, people. Oh, yeah, let's meet in the middle. So really I think when it comes to interpreters, in my career I've experienced different models. One that I currently have now, I'm very fortunate, is I have regular interpreters consistently because I move very fast when you have different interpreters like I experienced in the past when I was a graphic designer. Maybe someone was great at using a Mac but then someone else might be really skilled in a PC. So talking to different people about the different technologies that matter which interpreter I had and they become part of my career. Yeah, it depends on your job, yeah. Absolutely, and it's important to have a regular team of interpreters. So a reasonable accommodations next panel will talk about that, but the team that we make as a deaf person with the interpreters really gets our message across perfectly because we can understand exactly what's happening. So for me as a deaf person, I wanna know what the secretary is saying and that's where the good interpreters come into play. And so I have another question. You were talking about travel, Doug. Moving feels gut-wrenching at times but I want to know your favorite country. I know you said they're all the best, I get that. You can't say that, I get it's tough. Philippines, Singapore, Dublin, Ireland. I've done so many. And I can look at each one and pick out something about it that was the best. Not really too many negatives but I do specifically remember in Maldova that I wasn't sure where I'm on the map. So and so I'm like, oh, is this a communist country? Is this, you know, so it was something that once I got there I saw what a beautiful country and the people were so warm and friendly and it was just, and the food, I will have to say the food. I wouldn't mind to go back because of that but I can talk all day about each country and specifically but I can't pinpoint a favorite. I really did love parts of each. And I could go into this more with you all and ask you even more questions. I think we'll have to save it for the next sign at State Symposium but I have a million dollar question left for you. You ready? All right, Rob's ready. I'll give it to him first. So Rob has to go first. Arissa, sorry about that. Rob took it. So the question I have, if you had to pick one word, one signed word that will describe diplomacy, what sign would you pick? Actually, sorry, Rob. I'm gonna give it to Doug. That's okay. Okay, all right. Gonna give it to me? No, no, he's here. You saw that excitement. Okay. So one side that best represents it. I think imagination. Dare to dream big. Deaf people can work here. Dream that, be that. Find the world, you know, if it's finding a world peace, a solution for all the problems that we have in the world. Dream those dreams. Okay, fine. So as I'm thinking about this, I'm gonna create a sign. So it looks like this. So imagine a table and then the hand shape like the letter D. So this can represent a person who's sitting at the table. If you're discussing recruitment or you're talking about different roles, the person needs to be at the table. So representation using this sign that I'm gonna create, that's what I'll use. Arissa, what is your sign? I'm thinking about it. I think I would pick engagement because again, it's about that diversity and including different people, engaging with various cultures and religions and really making connections and developing those relationships across those identities. So engagement would be my sign. Thank you for your perspectives. So all of the signs that you picked, all three of them were amazing, but now let's talk about I to the power of three. The influence, really, by showing up here, being at the table, we do influence. We actually change the world through the influence that we have. The next I is identity. Our identity that we bring to the table isn't just about being a deaf person, having the deaf identity. Like Arissa had mentioned, herself being an Asian American woman who is deaf, she knows Japanese, she has immigrant parents. We all have those identities, the intersectionalities that we bring as a human that influences and creates an impact and that is the last word, impact. My favorite theme is by Margaret Atwood. It was like never underestimate people in the world. I believe one concept of transformative leadership and I think as a person you might feel like, oh, I'm just in this career, I'm feeling lonely, but honestly, you can change. We bring a small group of people together like here in the Department of State and we change foreign policy, we make big impacts. So now as we wrap up, I wanna say again, I to the power of three, you can be part of our I3, the impact, influence, and we can make the world a better place with your identity and change foreign policy and make the world a better place for it. So thank you all so much for being here today. Thank you, thank you, yes.