I am not directing this at anyone in particular, but felt I should mention this after a message from a lovely person: You are expected to abide by confidentiality. Both your hearing and d/Deaf consumers expect you to abide by it. Whether you are RID certified, aspiring to be, work in HIPPAA applicable settings, therapy, or even education, both sides of the field expect you to abide by confidentiality. You cannot name names, use name signs, or give IDENTIFIABLE information. If a nurse you worked with has a unique mole and you say "I was at [city] for a hospital call, and this nurse with a huge mole did [medically private info]..." you have not abided by confidentiality. If you say "I terped for this Deaf person in [city] at [time when they never answer their VP], and they said THE CRAZIEST THINGS WHAT A NUTJOB" you have not abided by confidentiality. Interpreting only works when there is trust. Have I poked fun at some medical staff who honestly didn't know better? Sure. Have I mentioned my own personal and embarassing scenarios? Absolutely; everyone makes mistakes or says dumb stuff when they are new to terping. Do I let off steam in a profession, confidentiality compliant way, where we rarely meet our peers at assignments and ARE SUPPOSED TO ABIDE BY CONFIDENTIALITY AND THEREFORE CANNOT SHARE STORIES? Yes. Consumers should not be afraid to be a story you share over beers. Consumers should not feel forced to withhold potentially life saving/risking info because they are afraid of their interpreters. Interpreters should never reinforce feelings of mistrust to hearing staff that legitimately do not know better due to lack of experience. Everyone deserves to feel safe. I don't want to hurt any feelings with this post. If you are generally a private person, put yourself in their shoes. "Would this hurt me if all my peers found out?" If you are a youtube posting, chubby bunny cinnamon challenge expect and love to laugh at yourself, remind yourself why such few people have also posted it and respect that you are different people. If you have to stop and wonder "Is this okay to say?" Then do not say it. We still love you and your gross smoothie challenge, and hope you stay the lovely, funny person you are while simultaneously not sharing your interpreting experiences wih your fellow youtuber/terps. I hope no one feels alienated, but I hope this small blog's may help an aspiring interpreter to help consumers feel a little safer.
