First, I hope you all are doing well and finding plenty of opportunity to interpret.

Second, I want to share with you a book I recently read that is valuable in understanding hearing and deafness from a perspective different than the traditional interpreting perspective and completely valid.

I Can Hear You Whisper by Lydia Denworth is a mother’s journey in navigating the worlds surrounding deafness after her third son was born deaf.  Ms. Denworth’s day job is as a science writer and so she knows how to thoroughly research scientific aspects of a subject and presents them in a narrative easy for the public to understand.  What Ms. Denworth does in I Can Hear You Whisper  is almost magical.The book is a love story to her son, a prayer that he will have opportunities equal to his hearing older brothers, and a navigation through deafness historically, culturally and scientifically.  We, as interpreters, claim the moral high ground around deafness saying that we accept Deaf people as whole people while we assume audiologists, ENTs, and even hearing parents of Deaf don’t see our people as whole.  I urge you to keep an open mind while reading this book because you’ll see a mom who loves her son so completely that he becomes her life’s work for the better part of a decade.  You’ll see doctors impacted by hearing loss trying to do their best to bring communication back to people they love.  You’ll see the dynamics of Deaf culture through a different lens–the lens of a mother wondering if her son will abandon the family home for another culture and trying to decipher the new culture.

Ms. Denworth sits down with the inventors of Cochlear implants, neurologists who research hearing, staff and Gallaudet and RIT.  She talks about the Deaf woman she hired to teach her family sign language as well as how scary it was for her and her son when he lost what residual hearing he had.  Through it all, she imagines who her son will be as an adult.

Ms. Denworth also talks plainly about the very real way that having less access to sound negatively impacts a person’s life socially and educationally.  This is a very real impact that we, as interpreters like to brush over, but Ms. Denworth, as a mother, is extremely sensitive to.

If I were running an interpreter training program, I would have I Can Hear You Whisper as required reading.  Barring that, I’m simply recommending it to all of you.  If you read the book, please let me know what you think.

The post A Love Story for My Son, a review of I Can Hear You Whisper by Lydia Denworth appeared first on Signtalk Foundation.

The Deaf students in my high school went on an end of the year field trip and I joined them as the interpreter.  The students wanted a group picture in front of the museum that included me.  Can I be in a group picture with the kids, on the kids’ phones? I don’t know how they will use the picture.  (I also want a picture with the kids and me because I’ve been working with them all year and I’m fond of them.) What should I do?

Signed,

I Promise Not to Instagram the Picture

Dear Not Instagramming,

Cameras are ubiquitous these days. It’s impossible to avoid getting shot on camera, intentionally or not. (Who knows how many shots I’ve photo-bombed.) However, this group shot commemorates an important event and the end of a school year.

Humanity is allowed, though confidentiality must be in the forefront of your mind. Not only are you on an interpreting job, you’re on a job with minors.  Take your cue from the teachers and other members of the educational team. Teachers are permitted to be included in group pictures with their students.  So, you are, too.       Yet, you have some restraints.

• Do not post the picture on any personal social media site, as per the NYC DOE social media policy.  This isn’t even an ethical issue, it’s a legal one: “The posting or disclosure of personally identifiable student information or confidential information via personal social media sites, in violation of Chancellor’s Regulations, is prohibited.” (NYC Department of Education Social Media Guidelines.)
• Additionally, if a student posts the picture on their personal site, do not tag yourself in the photo. You shouldn’t be following student on social media, anyhow.
• A teacher may post the group picture to an appropriate school social media site if each of the students has signed a written waiver and you’ve given oral permission.  Still, do not tag yourself.
• Do not take pictures with individual students.
• If you snap a couple of selfies–sans students–it would be prudent to resist posting them to social media.  Confidentiality breaches turn up in unsuspecting ways.  If you must post the selfie of you in front of the Hamilton box office, at least wait a few days after the event.

Of course, if you feel more comfortable behind the camera than in front of it, offer to take the group shot. In most likelihood,  the students will be so focused on their own appearances that they won’t realize you’re not in the picture.

The post Ethics: May I be Included in a Group Photo with my Students? appeared first on Signtalk Foundation.

In 1993, Congress ruled that captioning capabilities must be installed on all analog TVs with screens large than 13 inches. Since then, the law has

been updated to include digital TVs, as well as tablets and phones with much smaller screens. And yet, when a Deaf education teacher wanted to show a PBS movie “Homefront and Warfront: World War II”  to her class, she discovered that the movie was not captioned. When she wrote to PBS to inquire as to why they failed to make a historical feature accessible to Deaf and hard of hearing students, PBS responded that this particular content fell outside the timeframe required by the FCC.

The National Association of the Deaf, the country’s leading organization that monitors captions, has sued both Netflix and Amazon because popular content, including the 50^th anniversary showing of “The Wizard of Oz” had not been captioned.  The courts ruled in favor of Netflix saying that Netflix doesn’t actually have to comply with ADA laws because it isn’t connected to a physical space.  Even though they won the suit, Netflix has plans to caption everything, and Amazon currently captions all its Prime content and intends to caption 100% of its digital content.  Again, though their focus is not specifically to accommodate the Deaf and hard of hearing communities, but rather to make viewing of Netflix and Amazon stations available in bars and restaurants, this too is a win for us.

Anyone who has watched automatically captioned YouTube videos can give you examples of captioning gone awry, but we trust that, as technology tends to do, this will improve with time. Currently the FCC requires video clips aired on TV to be captioned with 30 days. As of July 2017, captioning will be required within 12 hours.  As for “Homefront and Warfront: World War II” as of this writing, it has still not been captioned.

The post Captioning is a win for everyone appeared first on Signtalk Foundation.

But welcoming potential signers will go a long way in opening up communication between Deaf people and the rest of the hearing population. This is a good thing.

• Interpreters don’t have a monopoly on communication. We aren’t going to lose our jobs if teachers, lawyers, nurses, mechanics, and baristas decide to take an ASL class. Not everyone wants to be an interpreter even if they do want to become youTube stars by interpreting Bruno Mars songs.
• Hearing signers open up communication. We’ve all seen Rebecca King order her frappuccino from Katie Wyble via the Evolution Screen at the St. Augustine, FL Starbucks. What made that interaction possible, along with technology, was hearing signers, not interpreters. Ms. Wyble is one of a handful of signers at that Starbucks.  Ms. Wyble was smitten the first time she saw ASL, so she studied it for 4 years.  Her studies helped her do her job well and made Ms. King’s day. St. Augustine has a huge signing community as the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind is located there. The large signing community makes it easy for Starbucks to hire signing baristas.
• Native ASL users live among us. ASL differs from other foreign languages in that many non-English speakers may understand sufficient English with which to communicate and may improve their English skills with time. (I took 2 years of high school Russian and have never said more than da or niet to any native user.) But often ASL is the only language accessible to native users. Therefore, ASL students may have the opportunity to interact with Deaf people in their own neighborhood.
• ASL feels accessible to hearing Americans. Unlike other foreign languages, ASL doesn’t threaten English speaking Americans, either because we code it in English or because it’s a manual language. Whatever the case, Americans are willing to take ASL and practice it almost immediately, by approaching complete strangers and awkwardly signing, “H-I. My name is A-M-B-E-R.”
• Signing students have exposure to Deaf culture.   Hearing people who become ASL signers will naturally learn much about Deaf culture and to  appreciate the Deaf accent. As more people include Deaf people among their community of friends and acquaintances, there will be more acceptance and fewer acts of discrimination, like this one.

So, the next time an eager, potential signer tells you ASL is beautiful, invite them in. A warm response–It is a beautiful language! Learn it!–will go a long way in creating an abundance of recreational signers.

The post We Need Recreational Signers appeared first on Signtalk Foundation.

Rebecca King, a Deaf Starbucks patron, pulled up to her local St. Augustine, Florida Starbucks’ drive-thru window expecting the usual struggles communicating through a kiosk. She was shocked–and ecstatic–when a signing employee appeared on an Evolution Screen.

This is the first known Starbucks to install an Evolution Screen, in which an interpreter communicates with the driver on the screen if they haven’t responded within a certain amount of time.

Be one of the 6 million plus people to view Ms. King easily ordering her Frappuccino in sign language.

The St. Augustine Starbucks employs a handful of signers as the town hosts a large Deaf and signing community, as well as the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind.  ASL is offered at many of the local high schools and colleges.

Not all Starbucks are as accommodating as St. Augustine’s. In 2013, two New York City Starbucks made Deaf News Today and The New York Times by refusing to serve Deaf customers, making fun of the Deaf accent, and even calling the police to remove Deaf patrons. The Deaf patrons sued Starbucks. Starbucks responded quickly in print and video reiterating that all customers, including Deaf customers, should feel welcome and enjoy the Starbucks Experience.

Indeed, what happened in New York City seems to be an anomaly. Starbucks has a history of hiring Deaf employees in many of their stores, from South Korea to Santa Monica, CA. Starbucks is an active participant in RIT’s Coop Program, which offers internships to Deaf college students and hires many of them. According to this video, there are 5 Deaf employees at the Starbucks headquarters in Seattle, WA and Starbucks actively meets all of their communication needs.

Of course, an Evolution Screen isn’t practical for all fast food restaurants, nor do all restaurants have easy access to signing employees. To help facilitate communication, Starbucks also stocks picture cards so any customer can point to the drink of their choice and size without a struggle.

We hope other restaurants and coffee shops will follow suit and install drive-thru touch screens, making it easier for everyone to place accurate orders.

Great job, Starbucks. I raise my red cup to you.

The post Starbucks and the Evolution Screen appeared first on Signtalk Foundation.

Let’s talk about your power as an educational interpreter. “I only facilitate communication,” you say, hiding behind your hands. “I don’t have any real power.” Be honest.  Next time admit, “I facilitate communication and impact, for better or worse, all situations I interpret.” One example of what comes after the ‘and’ is what we’ll discuss today.

The Situation

As an educational interpreter you have duties outside of classroom interpreting which include interpreting impromptu meetings between students and non-signing staff. Today, you’ve just been asked to escort a student to the Senior Advisor’s office so she can ask for her money back as she decided not to go to prom.

The Background

You’ve known this student for 3 ½ years now.  You know she’s never been in trouble, is very polite to adults, and tends to be shy. You also know the Senior Advisor and that she works well with the teenagers in the building including the deaf students.  You also know that the Deaf Services office has a good working relationship with the  Senior Advisor office. The meeting should take 5 minutes and be painless.

Your Power

Super Terp!

Yet, have you considered that you could create tension in this situation? One goal of the Deaf Services office is for the seniors to be more independent.  Is now the time you’ll let your student advocate for herself?  Will you let the student struggle to ask for her money back, or will you lead the narrative? Will you nurture the relationship between the Deaf Services office and the Senior Advisor office, or will you Deaf Pride the place down? Will you voice aggressively? Passively? What kind of comments will you make to your deaf student while the senior advisor is processing her request? How about after you leave the office? These are the questions you should be considering on your walk to the Senior Advisor’s office.

What Happens

The deaf student leads you into the Senior Advisor’s office.  She signs, “Hi.”  Then she smiles and looks at you and looks at the senior advisor and she shrugs nervously and signs very small and very fast, “money. I-don’t know. Whatever.” And not ‘whatever’ with and attitude, but ‘whatever’ like, “nevermind.  I want to leave.”  Then she turns bright red.

Option #1–Lead

You voice, “Hi.  Its great to see you again.  Um, I hate to ask, but could I have the money for prom back because it turns out I can’t go. Is that ok?” You’ve stayed true to your student’s voice and intent but you added a lot of words and basically took over the entire conversation. Is that right or wrong? The senior advisor happily processes the refund because the student asked politely and she had a pleasant interaction with you.  The senior advisor has also had one more positive interaction with your office. You created a great outcome.  Just consider the expense.  Your student is no more independent now than when she walked into the office.

Option #2–Interpret literally

You voice, “Hi, um can I get my money back. Or, I don’t know. Whatever.” You’ve stayed true to the student’s words and perhaps her voice and intent. But, the senior advisor is unnecessarily confused.  Even the toughest kids have enter her office with courtesy and provide explanations for their requests. Your student will still get her money back, but the senior advisor will be left with a bad taste in her mouth.  She will be wondering why this deaf student was rude today when she never had been before.  Or, she’ll assume all the diva interpreters in the Deaf Services office are too big for their britches. You awkwardly forced your power onto a deaf student who didn’t want it, put your student in a bad light,  and broke down communication avenues between offices.

Option #3–Prep with your student

On your walk to the Senior Advisor office you ask your student why she is going to the office. (Who cares if you already know.  Ask anyhow.  You’ll be surprised what you learn.) Next ask your student if she wants to ask herself or if she wants you to interpret. Again, you may be surprised. You walk into the Senior Advisor office with your student and she sign, “Hi.”  She looks at you and looks at the senior advisor and then continues, “I can’t go to prom.  Can I get my money back?” This is the sweet and polite student your senior advisor knows. Of course she can get her money back and of course she loves working with the Deaf Services office.

Conclusion

Obviously, there are more than three ways this scenario could have played out. My point is: you impact the result of the interaction.  For good or bad, you’re part of the equation. Use your power to facilitate communication, yes! But don’t ignore the side effects of that power. Harness your power for a positive outcome.

Additional Readings: 

Ethical Choices: Educational Sign Language Interpreters as Change Agents  http://www.streetleverage.com/2013/04/ethical-choices-educational-sign-language-interpreters-as-change-agents/

What is the Role of the Educational Interpreter? http://www.classroominterpreting.org/Parents/Role.asp

The post The Power of the Educational Interpreter by Amber Ceffalio appeared first on Signtalk Foundation.

You Are Not a Teacher

By Amber Ceffalio, NIC

Last time we discussed the vast array of interpreting models an educational interpreter toggles through each day. Now, let’s discuss what an educational interpreter does not do.

You are not a teacher.

Yes, you’ll take on minor roles in which you impart information. Your student, for example, might ask you–not wanting to ask the teacher–if the next step in the math problem is to divide. OK, go ahead and answer their question.

Confirming for the student that they’re on the right path is different than big picture teaching. Here is where the roles of teaching and interpreting diverge.

A Teacher’s Role

Teachers have responsibilities that interpreters don’t have. Teachers walk into their classroom each day with specific information they wish to impart. Teachers prepare, teach, and assess the students’ understanding of that lesson. Teachers may adjust their lessons based on their assessment of a students’ comprehension.

On top of that, teachers enforce the rules of the school and are held accountable to the school administration.

An Interpreter’s Role

Interpreters interpret the teacher’s lesson. The interpreter assesses the Deaf students’ understanding of the interpretation, which is subtly, but vitally, different from the teacher assessing the students’ understanding of content.

Ideally the interpreter will be familiar with the content and know the teacher’s goals. But, an interpreter walks into the classroom with less preparation and less responsibility than the teacher.

Outside of interpreting, freelance interpreters aren’t accountable to the school administration. Yes, the interpreter is another adult in the room and needs to behave as such. Yes, the interpreter is a mandated reporter and the health and well-being of a student trumps the Professional Code of Conduct. But, the contracted interpreter isn’t necessarily mindful of the bureaucratic process of handing out bathroom passes while the teacher is. However, one must keep in mind that interpreters employed by the school district need to follow school district rules and protocol.

Complementing the Teaching Process

Interpreters can enhance or hinder the teaching and learning process.

1. First, the interpreter needs to be prepared for class. That may mean the interpreter is reading (or re-reading) To Kill A Mockingbird with the English class. It may mean that the interpreter is researching online what the chemical makeup of sugar looks like so she can interpret the information visually. This is baseline work.

2. Second, the interpreter has some information the teacher doesn’t have. How the interpreter uses this information will either be beneficial or detrimental to the teaching process. Because the interpreter is always looking at the student in order to assess if the student understood the interpretation, the interpreter sometimes catches information the teacher doesn’t.

For example, I was interpreting in a contained math classroom. The teacher was trying to teach a specific concept that was needed to understand future concepts. Frustrated because she’d been trying to get this information across in multiple ways, the teacher asked, “Do you get it now?” Frustrated because she’d been trying to understand but couldn’t, the student nodded. But, when the teacher turned to write the new lesson on the board, the student made a face that told me she didn’t understand the material at all.

What are my options? I’m part of the educational team, but I’m not the teacher. The teacher took the student at her word but not understanding to content now will hurt her later. I felt that the student was almost there and if the material was told one more time in a slightly different way, the student would get it. Yet, I’m not the teacher. I don’t want to be the teacher. And, I don’t want to undermine the teacher.

My solution was to sim-com, “Maybe I didn’t interpret that clearly. Did you mean that XYZ = ZYX?” With that, the teacher looked at me, looked at the student, understood exactly what was happening and said, “Yes, XYZ = ZYX and here is why…”.

Both the teacher and I saw the light bulb click on in the student’s brain.

Problems Come Up

That particular situation worked out because I approached the problem as if I was the weakest link in the educational chain. It also worked because the teacher didn’t have an ego to get around. We both shared a common goal.

Yet, we interpreters have a little bit of diva in us. (Raise your hand if you’ve ever thought, “I know more than this teacher.” We all have our hands up now.)

There are times I’ve crossed the line. The teacher usually points out these times with a sigh or an, “Ok, and getting back to my point…”.

Don’t take over the classroom. Defer to the teacher. She’s the one in charge and she’s the one who will ultimately answer to the school principal.

Discussion

Let’s crowd source educational interpreting. I illustrated one solution to one situation. I’m curious what other interpreters have done. In the comments, please tell us what you’ve done when you’ve noticed a student didn’t understand content but the teacher was moving on with the lesson. Let us know as much information about your situation as you can without compromising confidentiality. Was it was a mainstream or a contained classroom? What grade level? Did you have a rapport with the teacher? The more tools we share with each other, the better we’ll all be as educational interpreters.

Terps Up! Amber

The post You’re Not A Teacher appeared first on Signtalk Foundation.

by Amber Ceffalio, NIC

Before the start of each school year, NYC educational interpreters gather to review interpreting policies and procedures. Beth Prevor, Director of the Office of Sign Language Interpreting Services, mentioned during the meeting that she likes to give us educational interpreters, “the freedom to do what we do.”  She added, “And that turns out to be a lot more than just interpreting.”

This column will explore what “a lot more than just interpreting” actually means.

Even though we do “a lot more than just interpreting”, most of the work we do is within our interpreting models. In fact, it’s not a stretch to say that an educational interpreter will use all of the models in any given day.

Let’s take a short walk through how an interpreter might use our models. Obviously, there are many more ways each model might be employed.

Helper: Interpreter acts as a tutor, either formally or informally.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/371054456773398240/

Conduit: Interpreter voices everything the deaf student signs, even if the deaf student doesn’t want you to.

Communication Facilitator: Interpreter understands the goal of the student and expresses it in such a way that the teacher understands what the student needs, even though the student didn’t know how to express their own needs.

Bilingual-Bicultural: Interpreter provides mainstream teachers with materials including information on how to set up closed captions.

Ally: Interpreter escorts the deaf student to the front office and helps the student ask for a special request.  The interpreter ends up being more than an interpreter as she leads her student’s questions.

Educational Team: Interpreters have access to information that teachers don’t have and it’s their responsibility to share that information with the appropriate people.

These are snapshots of situations when it’s ethically responsible to employ the various interpreting models. Educational interpreters don’t have the luxury of simply being a Communication Facilitator. Educational interpreters need to deftly and ethically toggle between the models to provide appropriate interpreting services in any given situation.

Other parts of “a lot more than just interpreting” land outside of our models. We are language models, for example.  We share information necessary information with teachers.  We are a confidants and sometimes informants.

What we do as educational interpreters is difficult to discuss in hypothetical generalizations. So, this column will open each week with a situation. We will use the situation to explore what we do, why we do it, and what options we have to make better informed decisions.

This isn’t, though, us laying down the educational interpreting law.  We want you to participate. Please, leave your thoughts in the comments.  What would you do in a given situation and why? We’d like a healthy and respectful discussion on educational interpreting.

Do you have a situation you’d like to discuss? Email me at amberala@gmail.com. We’ll remove identifying characteristics in order to keep identities confidential.  Yet we’ll make the situation specific enough so we can agree on the parameters.

Happy terping! Amber

To learn more about Amber click here and here.

Amber Ceffalio, NIC Writer & Interpreter

Click here for more information on sign language interpreter models.

More on classroom interpreting here.

The post Educational Interpreters: Who We Are and What We Do appeared first on Signtalk Foundation.