Power Point Presentation

Interpreting for People with no Deaf Culture Knowledge

Transcript

1. By Victoria Duran Troy University
2. Who I am  Victoria Duran  I live in New York  I have an Associates Degree in Deaf Studies  I work part time as an Employment Specialist for Deaf people that usually have other disabilities to find, train and keep employment.
3. Why is this important?  In our job of interpreting, we must be cultural and lingual mediators. It is important to know how to do this.
4. What do hearing people say?  Some examples: “If you lose your job, you can get a job as a plane marshal! You know, the ones with the orange flags?” *laughs*  “Do they always use hand signals?”  “Are you the sign gesture person?”  “OH HEY! I SIGN TOO!” *waves*  “SO…YOU LIPREAD”
5. What Hearing People Do:  Talking to the interpreter (in lieu of talking directly to the deaf client)  Looking at the interpreter (in lieu of looking directly at the client)  Assuming the Deaf client and interpreter are friends and asking the interpreter questions about the deaf person  Asking the interpreter to “tell” the deaf client something
6. Something you would interpret and a hearing persons response:  “Excuse me, do you mind not interpreting this? This is a private conversation.” (while on the phone and speaking loudly enough to hear) Ms. Williams comments. “Excuse you, if the deaf person was hearing, they’d hear your little tiff with your soon-to-be-ex, just like every other hearing person in the vicinity, in fact I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but a few people are listening. Why shouldn’t the deaf person have the same access to this salacious gossip? Now leave the poor terp alone.”
7. What do you(the interpreter) do?  According to the interpreters I interviewed they try to let the Deaf person deal with the situation.  They do sometimes correct the Hearing people but Interpreter B answered: “ I try to allow the deaf person to decide what to do. Sometimes they are so used to it and tell you to just interpret.”
8. Empowering Your Deaf Client  Interpreter A told me of a panel interview that she had interpreted. She said that the panel kept referring to the deaf client as “she’s” and kept using the word “she’s.” A interpreted this and since the client was well educated and able to understand what was happening, she was able to take control of the situation and put a stop to it. She asked who is “she” I’m sitting right here, we are talking about me not she.
9. How do you deal with these situations personally?  Sometimes, the ignorance we face in regards to Deaf culture can be staggering.  The good thing is that there are other interpreters that you can commiserate with and so you don’t have to feel alone.
10. Words of Advice from Current Interpreters  Your best resource on how to deal with the deaf culture ignorant is to ask the people who deal with it every day: the Deaf.
11. References:  http://www.meriahnichols.com/10-dumb- things-hearing-say-deaf-2/  http://limpingchicken.com/2012/03/12/do nna-williams-s-people-say-to-sign- language-interpreters/