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Every time Georgia news conferences get around, people fawn over the official ASL interpreter for the state. A lot of it is your typical “ooh sign language looks so cool, he’s so animated” nonsense but let me tell you what is cool about David Cowan: he is a deaf interpreter. https://twitter.com/jamesrbuk/status/1333919015174098950
I want to draw attention to that because I’m not sure many people know what that is or how it works. I’ve only encountered it IRL once or twice. Basically, a sign interpreter is relaying Gabriel Sterling’s vehement censure to David from the back of the room.
David is then interpreting for Georgia’s deaf population. So all that’s happening in real time. Some might wonder why go to all the trouble and the answer is that if you need critical information to be conveyed accurately, it’s really your best bet.
With deaf and sign language interpreters working together, they can tackle interpretive challenges together and the deaf interpreter brings experience and idioms that the sign interpreter may not know.
The deaf interpreter brings their deafness and I don’t think a lot of us hearing people who are fluent in our country’s prevalent language really understand how much of a difference it makes to receive a message from someone who you understand is like you.
I try not to make a big symbolic deal out of a couple people just doing a job they are paid to do but I do think there’s a helpful metaphor in that relationship about how I want to be an ally. The hearing sign interpreter has a valid (even essential) role but is totally invisible
It’s not important and would actually impede the work for the sign language interpreter to have a platform right beside David. David is the right person to communicate the message to a wider deaf audience.
In this article, David explains the importance of a deaf interpreter in his own words https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/expressive-interpreter/GficR5xnRrC5wsPP82nf6M/%3foutputType=amp
One more thing about David: he didn’t learn ASL until he was in college. Increasing language access is something he does as a deaf interpreter and also by advocating for deaf children’s right to sign language. Oh, and he’s a pretty good dancer.
Here’s more info about the role of deaf interpreters. https://www.google.com/amp/s/blog.cyracom.com/icymi-using-certified-deaf-interpreters-cdis-communicate-with-the-deaf%3fhs_amp=true
It’s a different kind of expertise that incorporates the skills deaf people develop to communicate visually (even beyond language.)
(These are also skills that deaf actors use, which is why they are often more interesting to watch onstage even when they aren’t signing - deaf people have to rely on highly integrated body communication in order to navigate the world in a way hearing people often don’t)
(I can tell you from my own personal experience that there are a lot of hearing actors who can go through four years of theatre school and still deliver a monologue with lobster-claw hands stiffly at their side and their voice doing all the acting)
Another interview on the role of certified deaf interpreters with Nic Zapko, the deaf interpreter for MN (who, like David, is coincidentally also an actor) https://www.kare11.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/you-had-more-questions-for-asl-interpreter-nic-zapko-so-she-and-jana-sat-down-again-to-chat/89-27ded995-2637-4c53-8d96-2ed10353f995
Arkady Belozovsky, the deaf interpreter for NY, specifically mentions signing in a New York dialect to match Cuomo’s style https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.newportri.com/news/20200405/raimondorsquos-former-sign-language-interpreter-now-working-for-ny-gov-cuomo%3ftemplate=ampart
He also talks about the expressions he displays as indicative of Cuomo’s emotions and not his own, which I think is often conflated when hearing people watch David Cowan as well
Nixo Lanning also has a great point on being a consistent face to deliver crucial information
Also in Georgia? @FreeDeafRico. He was not provided with a certified interpreter when making a statement, which led to a wrongful conviction. This is why certified interpreters are so important!
(I know that I keep adding to a thread that never ends but June Prusak just explains the advantages of a deaf interpeter/hearing interpreter team so well and gives us a window into her job as a CDI for Cook County)
"To give you a better idea, I use ASL to the max as a Deaf person. I do use English but only up to a certain level. I don’t have full access to English and I’m fine admitting that.
Hearing interpreters who have full access to English only use ASL up to a certain level. They don’t have full access to ASL. So when you put the two of us together, Deaf and hearing interpreters, people will have full access to both ASL and English — and that is incredible."
Another good team interview that talks about the importance of CDIs in emergency preparedness, the need for deaf interpreters and why there aren't more of them, and how those press conferences work! https://deafhhs.org/questions-and-answers-about-american-sign-language-and-interpreters/
