Interpreters

I have faced many interpreters in my college lifetime now. Prior to RIT, I only probably had at least 10 interpreters. Now I had numerous. Challenges from interpreters have opened up my eyes and I realize that many people don't realize what us deaf folks go thru with interpreters.

At RIT, most classes would have a team of 2 interpreters who takes turn to interpret every other 15 or 20 minutes. First, its challenging to get used to the interpreters when we settle in our new routines. Everyone assumes that interpreters are all same and that every single deaf person understands every interpreters.

Wrong! There has been bad batch of interpreters I faced. What makes them bad? They miss out too much words which makes me miss out information in the classroom. Or their signing styles. Unprofessional. The list goes on.

I had interpreters that would text or chat with the other interpreter which I really hated. That was distracting when I had interpreters that would chat to each other during class as well making me miss out information.

Distractions from interpreters also are included. What kind distractions there possibly be?

1) I have had many male interpreters lately, and it is a huge distraction when they wear tight pants. C'mon. You can paint that picture.

2) Same as above related to female interpreters. Tight shirts, low cut shirts, tight pants/skirt, too short skirts, etc.

3) I once had a tiny petite female interpreter with HUGE breasts. She never wore low cut or fitting shirts but it still was distracting.

4) Interpreters with really bad eye sights that their glasses have double lens. It is distracting when we, deaf folks have to look at the eye while reading their signs.

5) I once had interpreter that looked more like a con man. He had that light blue shirt with pants which made it look like prison uniform. His hairdo matched the look of a con man as well.

6) Attitude. I had diva interpreters, I had tough interpreters, I had feminine interpreters, etc.

7) Many male interpreters are likely to be gay (NOT ALL) and I have come across some feminine type of gay interpreters who would sign in a feminine way. It is very distracting because it doesn't match with them being dudes.

8) Tattoos. I had interpreter with covered arms. Who the heck hired her? Piercings as well, I experienced one interpreter with multiple piercings on her ears - she had this bed spring style earring that went in all holes. Stretched ears are also distracting.

9) I had an interpreter who freely shared with me that she had a lot domestic violence situations at her home which resulted in her having a lot scars and bruises. No bother to cover them up with make up or something.

10) Hair coloring/hair do/etc. My interpreter showed up to class with pink streaks in her hair. She also was wearing it in pigtails style. It looked like she came from a performance where she had to dress up her hair like that straight to a Prosecution class.

People don't realize what we go through with interpreters. It may seem simple to read their signing and get on with life. That's just one huge challenging part of being deaf.