Challenges Experienced by Interpreters of Color. @interpretersofcolor-blog - Tumblr Blog

Angela Roth presented Seriously!? Do Sign Language Interpreters Still Need to Talk About Diversity? at StreetLeverage – Live 2014 | Austin. Her presentation addressed the depth of the challenges our profession still faces addressing individual and collective cross-cultural reality, respect and re…

In this Street Leverage article and video, Angela Roth gave a presentation on the need to continue discussing diversity as sign language interpreters.She shares some personal experiences, and in these stories she dips into a little of everything.

This article/video was a great find and easy to follow along. I’m super glad I came across it and I hope others enjoy it as much as I did.

#streetleverage-live

In Mexico, sign language interpreters come head-to-head with their own challenges. This article was written by Emilio Godoy on March 13, 2015 and he explains the situation of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing individuals in Mexico at that time.

To quote the article, “There are approximately 649,000 people with hearing disabilities in Mexico, a country of 122 million people. Of that number, between 300,000 and 500,000 people communicate through Mexican sign language (LSM). Yet, there are only 42 certified LSM interpreters, plus another 200 with some degree of training, and around 150 informal interpreters.”

Not all challenges interpreters of color face revolve around racism, oppression, or discrimination. Sometimes, the challenges faced are lack of education and exposure in interpreter training programs.

In this thesis, written by Western Oregon University student Katia Y. Rivera Hernandez, the topic of training and education in Puerto Rico is revealed to be lacking substantially. Requirements to work as a professional interpreter are much less strict than in the United States, therefore many interpreters working in Puerto Rico are lacking in essential skills.

This article was the most interesting to me because I was born in Puerto Rico and that is the culture I identify with. At one point I considered looking into work in Puerto Rico since I am trilingual and plan on honing my Spanish to work as a trilingual interpreter.

Citation - Rivera, Katia Y., "General Overview of the Puerto Rican Signed Language Interpreter" (2017). Master's of Arts in Interpreting Studies (MAIS) Theses. 34. https://digitalcommons.wou.edu/theses/34

This thesis, written by another Western Oregon University student named Christine H. Nakahara, brings the topic of interpreters of Asian Heritage to the surface.

The other articles/thesis/surveys posted have focused more primarily on African American/Black interpreters, so I would like to share a few on other races/ethnicities. Christine Nakahara, a Japanese American, wrote her thesis and performed a survey to gather information from other Asian American interpreters. This was very informative and an interesting read.

Citation - Nakahara, Christine, "Expanding the Collective Narrative: Exploring the Experiences of American Sign Language/English Interpreters of Asian Heritage" (2016). Master's of Arts in Interpreting Studies (MAIS) Theses. 30. https://digitalcommons.wou.edu/theses/30

By now, a majority of people with access to the internet have seen this video of the “interpreter” during a Tampa news conference. For people who have never seen a nationally certified interpreter work before, videos like this do damage to the community’s reputation. In this specific incident it was a person of color, and because of this it gives actual sign language interpreters a bad name, especially those of color.

Food for Thought.

How I relate to these articles.

As a Hispanic sign language interpreting student rapidly approaching graduation as I write this, when I enter the interpreting world I will be considered among the minority.

My appearance includes prominent Hispanic features (dark hair, dark eyes, thick eyebrows, olive-toned skin, etc.) and it’s hard to distinguish which Hispanic culture I belong in. Due to this, I face discrimination because people assume I belong to a culture that has been negatively viewed for many years in America.

If I were to work in the Video Relay Service setting, I could face the same struggles other interpreters of color have to face. However, because my skin tone is on the lighter side of Hispanic culture, I may not face it as often as my darker skinned companions.

It is a topic I wish to further research and become more knowledgeable in, therefore I hope this blog is as informative as I find it to be.

Understanding the Challenges of Interpreters of Color

This report, written by Trudy Schafer and Dennis Cokely, gives a demographic representing the diversity of the Interpreting community. The authors surveyed 80 interpreters of color around the world, along with a focus group of an extra 23 interpreters.

This report and the link below this post both have a common theme; d/Deaf consumers may sometimes judge an interpreter’s ability and competency solely on their skin tone in the Video Relay Service setting.

Written By Taiwo A.Olopade

In this thesis written by Western Oregon University student Taiwo Olopade, she goes on to interview three African American Video Interpreters and talks about their experiences in the work field.

This thesis is a good starting point due to the readily-available definitions of key phrases such as racial micro and macroaggressions and the real-life examples provided by the participants.

Citation: Olopade, Taiwo A., "African Americans Interpreters in the Video Relay Service Setting" (2017). Master's of Arts in Interpreting Studies (MAIS) Theses. 38.

Food for Thought.

Based on real world scenarios, allow me to provide an example in which an interpreter of color can experience racism and discrimination during an assignment.

- An African American Sign Language interpreter is working for a Video Relay Service (VRS) company that allows d/Deaf individuals to make calls (similar to skype) to others. The working interpreter receives an incoming call and accepts, but before the call can even begin, the d/Deaf consumer requests a new interpreter. While the consumer may not directly state why, the possibility that the reason for the request is purely because of the interpreter’s race is more likely than we would like to believe. This can also be a result of sexism as well, where the consumer does not want the interpreter to take on the call simply because of the interpreter’s gender.

Another example:

- An interpreting assignment requires a team. The team consists of both a white and non-white interpreter. During the assignment, the d/Deaf consumer refuses to pay attention or acknowledge the interpreter of color. The consumer seems to have no issues with the other interpreter, so it becomes apparent what the situation could be leaning to. It is not safe to assume a person has a certain opinion, so the interpreters must be careful with how they approach the issue. Same as the scenario above, the reason for the consumer behaving in that way could very well be because of the interpreter of color’s race/ethnicity.

The relationship between the deaf community and interpreters has been a complex and multi-faceted one where issues of actual and perceived power, discrimination and exploitation have played a significant part. Interpreters via their training and practice have sought to distance themselves from their roots in social work and welfare provision which was generally viewed as patronizing and controlling (Scott-Gibson 1991; Tate and Turner 2001)

Chijioke Obasi (2013) Race and ethnicity in sign language interpreter education, training and practice, Race Ethnicity and Education, 16:1, 103-120, DOI:10.1080/13613324.2012.733686

Erica West Oyedele presented Missing Narratives in Interpreting and Interpreter Education at StreetLeverage – X | RID Conference 2015. Her presentation explores the lack of diversity within the predominantly White, female field of sign language interpreting and provides a call to action for p…

In this Street Leverage article (written by Erica West Oyedele on Sept. 28, 2015), Erica describes a research study she conducted during her time in Graduate school on the experiences African American/Black interpreters face. There is a small use of obscene language by a participant in a focus group when they were re-telling a story.

#streetleverage-x

Sign language interpreters bring a variety of personal and professional experiences to the field. Sherry Smith explores the unique challenges and contributions of interpreters of color. At times we may question whether our peers value what we bring to the sign language interpreting profession. Regar…

This article, written by Sherry Smith (Nationally Certified Interpreter) on Street Leverage (July 4, 2012), sheds some light on her experience working in the interpreting field as a woman of color. Along with describing her time in the career field, she also provides advice for those who may be dealing with the same issues.

#sherry smith

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