Sign Language Interpreters

If the hearing impaired person has difficulty understanding a particular phrase or word, try to find a different way of saying the same thing, rather than repeating the original words over and over.

For my Deaf event, I attended Deaf Coffee Night at Starbucks. When I walked in, I was happy to be able to look around and see people communicate through the use of only their hands, body and faces. I was also encouraged by the fact that I understood a majority of the signs I saw. After I ordered my drink, I approached a table of two people who were using ASL and I introduced myself. One person at the table was hearing while the other was Deaf, but both were happy to include me in their conversation. We talked for quite awhile about each of our lives. It was interesting to notice that throughout our conversation, the three of us were equally engaged in the conversation at hand about the lives of these strangers. This is a lot different then most conversations in the hearing world since most of the time we do not talk about our lives for that long and when listening to the lives of other people we do not actually care to pay close attention.

1. Sight loss - identify yourself and you need to make it clear that you are speaking to them and not someone else, they can't read your body language so you need to be clear about your meanings and directions etc, a noisy environment can make it difficult for them to concentrate on your voice and so on.Hearing loss - be respectful when trying to get their attention eg use a light touch on the arm, if they lip read they need to see your face, you need to speak clearly at a normal pace and tone, you may need to be patient and repeat things. Deafblindness - some of the above and you need to know the levels of deafness and blindness and their preferred method of communication.

• Some clients may speak a different language or use sign language, this will be difficult for me to deal with because they might find it offensive if I ask them to speak in English or write down what they are trying to tell me.

1.3 If a person’s hearing or sight is impaired, body language and tone of voice will become more important. They may also need to learn new skills such as sign language or lip reading in order to be able to communicate. Making sure the person's glasses is the correct prescription, that their hearing aids are working properly, that they are looking at your face when you speak so that they can lip read, keeping your communication simple and clear, using visual prompts, light touches to their arms to gain attention etc.

In the case of a foreign language being spoken, the help of a translator or interpretation service can assist.

Posted by Lachelle Gilbert- There are ways to communicate with the hearing impaired and one way is to provide the same respect, empathy, probing with a combination of other necessity like speech reading, lipreading, writing, and visual language system and assistence of an interpreter. These are ways that

2.2 There are many ways in which to communicate, the most common is talking. Other ways of communication are writing and pictures. Sign language, or finger spelling, for the deaf. If they don't speak English then an interpreter or translator could be used. If they have a sight impairment

I was interested in immersing myself with this group because they are a community of people that I’ve often wondered about. I’ve always wondered about the way they communicate with others and was it hard being deaf or hearing impaired in some ways. As myself, I learned that most people feel uncomfortable when meeting a Deaf person for the first time and this is very normal. When we communicate with people, we generally don’t have to think about the process. When faced with a Deaf person, we are uncertain which rules apply. We don’t know where to look, or how fast or loud to speak. When the Deaf person gives us a look of confusion, we don’t know how to correct the problem. Accept the fact that your initial

Trial is another problem for a deaf person. A large percent of deaf people who face criminal charges are convicted and sentenced without understanding the legal proceedings that led to their conviction (Vernon 2005) because an interpreter often is not provided or there is a high likelihood the client being prosecuted is illiterate, is considered Linguistic Incompetent or has PPD. Another problem deaf clients have during the trial is the lack of a qualified interpreter to do legal interpreting, meaning one who is familiar with legal terminology and expansion, which is the act of explaining an unknown concept in detail by finger spelling, examples, pictures and miming.

American Sign Language Interpreters who interpret in mental health settings have a unique opportunity to be an effective part of the healing process for Deaf consumers by accurately interpreting the information between him or her and their mental health physician and / or team. In order to accomplish this, interpreters must seek the necessary training to work in the mental health setting, educate themselves about the various mental illnesses , understand the various demands and controls necessary to function in this environment, and lastly, know how to take care of themselves when they feel emotionally drained from working in this type of environment.

My second deaf event didn’t involve communicating with the deaf community but it involved a form of deaf culture within hearing society. In November, I attended a Pride event that had the Gay Men’s Choir. This was the first time I would see an interpreter at an event. I was excited and astonished to see one. I understood mostly all the signs that were shown but there were a couple I didn’t know. Majority of the time was of course them singing. They sang popular songs such as Bruno Mars, Cher, and even film scores from “The Sound of Music” and “DreamGirls”. I thought it was great for the event to have interpreters there. I didn’t see anyone who was deaf or signing when I got closer to the stage but I did see the interpreter's signing to each

I have always lived in  the hearing culture and I am so used to being around hearing people that it would be a challenge for me to change my behavior to fit their social norms.The relationship would also be hard, as we would have to find a balance between hearing-centered and. Deaf-centered. Finally, communication between him and my hearing family and friends. They only way for him to communicate with them would be if (1) my family and friends learned ASL or (2) I would have to translate everything they wanted to say to each other. Even if my family and friends learned ASL, I don’t know how well they would communicate with him because my family/friends wouldn’t use it that often so, there is a possibility of them forgetting. Also, if I translated everything for him, that would make him dependent on me in those situations and I don’t know how he would feel about that, however if he was fine, then I would absolutely translate, it would just be challenge for me to

A plethora of different beliefs, morals, and biases exist within our society, and they can, and do, transfer across hearing and deaf cultures. Because of this, ethical dilemmas may arise between the ASL interpreter, the client, and the hiring entity. For example, say an interpreter was hired to interpret onstage for a sizable rally. They knew a few of the speakers who would be attending and agreed to interpret. Part way through the event, a speaker comes on stage who produces a lot of bigoted statements and promotes prejudiced ideas. The interpreter does not want to repeat the ideas produced by the speaker and does not want to appear to agree or disagree with them. The Interpreters’ Code of Ethics states that interpreters must,

Per this assignment, I interviewed a Deaf individual named Alyssa Kovatch. Her reactions to the videos were nearly identical to mine. We thought the same things about the videos, especially the Thinking Out Loud one. During our FaceTime interview, Alyssa said she was “Awful” and that she “Could not understand the video at all unless [she] read the captions.” She also said that she did not like how in the Boston Blizzard video she had to read the captions for the whole first part of the video since the interpreter was not shown until later. Even when the interpreter was being shown, Alyssa said it was difficult to see her. She said that in emergency situations it is absolutely important for interpreters to be shown in focus, or at least on the side of the screen in a separate bubble. Alyssa did say that she appreciated the first and the last videos much more than she appreciated the middle one.