Shelley Arthur: Consummate Professional And Important Friend, Part I of III
“Shelley Arthur: Consummate Professional And Important Friend,” Part I of III
By Monette Benoit, All Rights Reserved.
I want to highlight and celebrate the life of a dear friend, court reporter, CART provider, and broadcast captioner.
Shelley Darlene Arthur of Vancouver, Canada, was passionate about her work, our profession, and working with deaf, HOH (hard of hearing) and animals.
No one – and I mean no one – could cover your back like Shelley Arthur.
She was a court reporter, mentor, role model, advocate, generous, enthusiastic, spirited, funny, kind, and totally committed to moments involving humans and animals. And she was so loyal to her friends and beliefs, too.
If there was a new item, a discussion, a fact – positive or perhaps not so positive to our world and to the world of animals – Shelley would write, “Did you see this? You need to read this.” “What do you think about …?” “Check this out!”
She shared her knowledge and talents with people all over the world.
Shelley Arthur had been my friend almost 14 years.
We worked and played together; my life is better because of Shelley.
In 1988, Shelley Arthur became a court reporter, opening a court reporting firm. I met Shelley around 1996 when she was very involved in the CART community.
Our CART paths continued to cross and a friendship developed. She expanded her work to include fulfilling requests and streaming text for disability and educational institutions, businesses, judicial environments, religious services, sporting events, and international arbitrations.
In 2000, Shelley Arthur opened Visual Voice Captions.
Shelley was Level II ASL (American Sign Language), devoted to her work with deaf and HOH.
She was also a dedicated advocate for animal rights. My favorite picture is Shelley swimming with dolphins; she wrote, “And they understand ASL!” on the caption.
As a court reporter, remote and onsite CART provider, captioner, Webcaster, and consultant, Shelley worked in the Senate of Canada, the U.S. Senate, and the United Nations.
She provided court reporting and consulting services, wrote articles, conducted seminars, and served on the BCSRA, British Columbia Shorthand Reporters Association, advisory council.
Shelley traveled (writing me detailed e-mails) to Korea, Sri Lanka, India, the Amazon Rain Forest, and World AIDS conferences in Mexico City, Kenya, and South Africa, sharing her reporting and CART skills.
Shelley was dedicated to (a sampling) Cameryn’s Cause for Kids Society; Sign Language for Children; idratherbeflying.net (Shelley recently spent two months to organize next year’s deaf pilots Fly-In); Representative Organisation of Disabled People in Europe; and International Day of Persons With Disabilities UN Enable, among others.
Shelley Arthur “coined the term ‘UN Enable’ and created their logo with the red ‘e’ in 1998” when she built their first web site. “It was a play on the negative word ‘unable’ to hopefully create controversy and bring attention. It stuck. The term ‘UN Enable’ is now used as the name of the UN global Programme on Disability, and earned a high-level URL: www.un.org/disabilities.”
Part II of III is posted May 10, 2010, on Monette’s Musings at www.monettebenoit.com and www.CRRbooks.com
Monette Benoit may be reached: Monette@ARTCS.com
Monette Benoit, B. B.A., CCR, CRI, CPE
Coach, Tutor and Multiple Title Author of Books & Test Prep for the Court Reporting & Captioning Industry
Realtime Court Reporter, Instructor, Consultant, Columnist
Court Reporter Reference Books & CDs: www.CRRbooks.com
* Educational/Career Advancement; Private Tutoring/Coaching
All American RealTime/Captioning Services, Inc.: www.ARTCS.com
Blog: Monette’s Musings, www.monettebenoit.com