ASLsTuDeNt2

Hey

Just curious, doing a paper and the question I need to answer is Do Deaf view interpreters as oppressors, and How do Interpreters feel about being viewed as oppressors.?

Deafness

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Reba

I am a hearing interpreter. I hope that Deaf consumers do not view me as an oppressor. I have not yet had any feedback from any of them indicating that they feel "oppressed" by me. Our consumers are encouraged to submit anonymous evaluation cards on each terp. Most of my services are for previous consumers who have requested me by name.

RID interpreter ethics discourage oppressive attitudes by terps. As a professional terp, I follow the RID guidelines. It is not always easy (after all we terps are human), but necessary.

In chatting with other terps, I have heard some of them express some attitudes and behaviors that sound questionable to me, and could be considered oppressive or paternalistic by some. I haven't observed this in person, so it is mostly hearsay. I notice that attitude in some of the older terps who haven't been thru formal terp training at the college level, or who work exclusively in the public schools, with no adult Deaf community exposure.

I hope this helps!

VamPyroX

Could you clarify what you mean by being oppressors?

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ASLsTuDeNt2

Thank you, that does help, I have talked to other interpreters who feel they are being viewed as oppressors, and I have talked to some who have witnessed some being oppressors, I guess it all depends on the person. There is a very good article titled, "Characteristcs of Oppressed and Oppressor Peoples: their effect on the interpreting context" written by Charlotte Baker-Shenk. If you read that it talks about basically what my topic is about.
Thank you very much fory our help, if you talk to anyone else about this and get their opinions, just let me know what they have to say about it.

Thank you again

TheSpirit

I don't think of terps as oppressive. I appreciate what they do for me, and I like have hearing people that can chat with. All terps I hav are friendly and cooperate, change their sign to local sign if different, so I not think they oppressive.

TiaraPrincess

I have had my share of different intepreters. I have had some of whom go from breaking many of the rules to 98 percent fantastic. Out of those, I can say that I have only had one who had no formal training. I don't know how she came to be awesome, but she really was. She did not feel comfortable when I told her that she was the best. I come across some who really felt the need to butt in our lives too much as if we are needy, so when they do that it becomes to the point of oppressive-- to the point that I just think they are a burden and I want them out of my life. I have talked to one of them regarding things that I wanted her to change because she told me that she would not mind, but obviously she DID mind because she did not become better and I stopped telling her what I felt. She even wrote back to justify her actions. I prefer an interpreter who just do their jobs, don't overeact to simple things that deaf people have to learn for themselves just like everyone else. I understand Reba when sometimes you feel the need to mend the rules, but I completely disagree in my case as an individual. I also want interpreters like Reba know that just because we want them to step back by doing their jobs only does not mean that we don't see them as important. We appreciate them, what they do and their loyalty even though sometimes interpreters can't have the same shared time of "being noticed" and not as some unimportant person if you know what I am trying to say. For this reason, I have no longer used them because some will feel the need to not comply with the rules 100 percent. From experience, I have felt the best when they comply with the rules as said. I have no problems. When they don't, it's hell in my experience. It creates problems. I have a CI, so I no longer feel like I need them anyway. Now, I am not trying to make interpreters such as Reba feel low or less than. I am just making my point and what I feel, and I know that interpreters are humans. I just think that there are those capable of complying with the rules and not making themselves oppressive. It's a matter of who are good at it and confronting them if it bothers you what they do. Intepreters should listen to their complaints because they really mean it, at least it did to me when I did. Being without one for quiet a time has made a burden lifted off. I don't feel the responsibility of trying to deal with them anymore. I feel more independent.

That's what I have to say on this topic from my own experience.

Also, I wanted to say that another oppression would be people..how they try to act around us. Some will talk directly to the interpreter or share information with them as if we are not there. I don't like it when they become another role which is someone else's responsibility. That's annoying, but when an interpreter does her job quiet well and redirect these people to them, it doesn't matter so much as the other thing I was talking about.