Final Thoughts: Interpreters, Signers, Technology, and Sign Language

Interpreters vs. Signers

  • Communication between deaf and hearing individuals often involves interpreters, ensuring smoother interactions.
  • Interpreters are highly skilled professionals who are compensated for their expertise.
  • Professionalism stems from passing rigorous tests and adhering to a strict code of ethics.
  • Interpreters can both interpret and transliterate.
    • Transliteration: Adapting English into sign, closely following the English structure (Pidgin Signed English).
    • Interpretation: Converting spoken English into a more visually-oriented form such as ASL.

Staying in Your Lane

  • Taking a few sign language classes doesn't qualify someone to be an interpreter.
  • Speaking in the context of diagnosing someone via Google Translate, it's a reminder to stay within one's professional boundaries.
  • Basic sign language knowledge can be helpful when a qualified interpreter isn't available, but it's not a substitute.

Signers

  • Signers are individuals who have taken sign language classes.
  • They sign to express themselves, with varying levels of proficiency.
  • Signers should not be used in the capacity of professional interpreters.
  • Using someone who knows "some sign language" as a substitute for a qualified interpreter is inappropriate.

Situations Where Signers Can and Cannot Help

  • Acceptable: Having casual conversations with deaf individuals.
  • Unacceptable: Interpreting staff meetings or other formal settings due to potential liability and lack of professional qualification.

Fluency

  • Knowing the alphabet in sign language does not equate to fluency in ASL.

Technology and Deafness

  • Technology mitigates the effects of deafness.
  • Numerous technological aids are available to deaf individuals.

Light Signaling Devices

  • Doorbell: Instead of an auditory signal, a flashing light indicates someone is at the door.
  • Phone: Flashing lights or vibrations alert deaf individuals to incoming calls or messages.

Baby Cry System

  • Similar to audio monitors, these systems use flashing lights to alert parents to a baby's cries.

TTY/TDD

  • TTY (Teletypewriter): An early form of texting using a landline.
  • TDD (Telecommunication Device for the Deaf): A later term for the same concept.
  • Allowed deaf individuals to use the telephone.

Sidekicks

  • An early smartphone with a physical keyboard that was popular among deaf people.
  • Heavy usage led to issues like carpal tunnel syndrome.

Computers and Video Relay

  • Video Relay Interpreting (VRI): Interpreters facilitate phone calls between deaf and hearing individuals via video.
  • Remote Interpreting: Using video technology to provide interpreting services to locations lacking on-site interpreters.

Apps

  • Various apps like Glide, FaceTime, and Marco Polo facilitate communication.

Hearing Dogs for the Deaf

  • Hearing dogs alert deaf individuals to important sounds.

Top Four Inventions for Deaf People

  • Closed Caption Decoder: Enabled subtitles on televisions. Now a standard feature.
  • Wireless Mobile Devices: Increased communication access.
  • Videophones: Allow deaf individuals to communicate visually over distance.
  • Snuggie Blankets: A humorous addition highlighting the need for warm arms while signing.

Hard of Hearing People

  • Hard of hearing individuals have some residual hearing, which can lead to misunderstandings.
  • Hearing individuals often assume hard of hearing people can hear more than they actually can, based on their speech clarity.

Challenges in Communication

  • Speech clarity can lead hearing people to overestimate the hearing ability of hard of hearing individuals.
  • It can be easier to write things down to avoid misunderstandings.

Important Distinctions

  • Speech cannot be equated with hearing loss.
  • Speech cannot be equated with language.
  • Language and speech are not the same thing.
  • Speech cannot be equated with literacy or intelligence.

Visual Representation of Communication Barriers

  • Mumbling or covering your mouth
  • Not facing the person
  • Multiple people talking at once

What Sign Language Has Given Us

  • Sign language is a legitimate language.
  • It provides insights into language itself.
  • Human language is flexible.
  • Language can exist either in auditory or visual forms.

Language Acquisition

  • Humans have an innate ability to learn language.
  • The brain is ready to learn language from birth.
  • When there is no input, connections aren't made.
  • Exposure to a visual language enables deaf individuals to develop language skills parallel to their hearing peers.
  • Human language can use either speech or sign.

The Future of Deafness

  • Deafness will likely always exist.
  • There will always be a need for people who are not deaf to understand deaf people.

Acknowledgment

  • The audience now has a better understanding of deaf people.

IKing Jordan Quote

  • "I think there will always be deafness, and there will always be a need for people who are not deaf to understand deaf people."