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Every day's an adventure for OSD interpreter | statesmanjournal.com | Statesman Journal
When Patti Togioka became director of Oregon School for the Deaf, no one had to introduce her to Sandra Gish, the staff's sign language interpreter
The two had known each other for years and led interpreter training workshops together.
"She's the expert," Togioka said. "I have a background and I've been a trainer, you know, but I defer to the best."
Calling Gish an expert may be an understate-ment. Gish is famous in sign language circles.
She has interpreted for a long list of celebrity performers. She has been a professor and coordinator of the respected American Sign Language/English interpreter program at Western Oregon University.
She has published numerous articles and contributed to several training videos. Heck, there's even an interpreting processing model named after her, the Gish Model.
"Once I graduated and went out in the world of interpreting, I realized the gravity of who it was that was teaching us," said CM Hall, one of Gish's former students who is now on staff at Western Oregon. "In our profession, it doesn't matter where I go, Gish is known, Gish is revered. She has national and international credibility for what she has contributed to our profession."
I met Gish the day "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" swooped onto the campus of Oregon School for the Deaf. She was thrust into the spotlight while interpreting on stage for Ty Pennington, the reality TV show's star, and celebrity designers Michael Moloney, Paige Hemmis and Johnny Littlefield.
Gish heard countless times how lucky she was to get a hug from Ty that day and to rub elbows with the cast all week.
Her response, each time, was that she was just doing her job.
That reminds me of an e-mail Gish sent during the project. She told me that on the day "Extreme Makeover" arrived she also interpreted for a 6-year-old trying to tell her parents, who don't sign: "I want to go to school at OSD."
"Interpreting for that little girl was as important — more important — than interpreting for Ty, Michael, Paige and Johnny," Gish said.
That says a lot about Gish, and about her approach to the profession. She's an expert in the field, but isn't one to boast about her resumé.
When I first asked if I could share her story with our readers, she told me she had to think about it.
"I rarely tell folks about my interpreting and teaching history," she explained, "but I'm willing if it benefits OSD."
Gish was hired by the school four years ago when it first found the money for a permanent interpreter position. The school previously used freelancers, which may not have served the students best.
"They don't know the kids, and the trust isn't there," Gish said. "I get to know the kids and their styles, and I gear my interpretation for them."
Gish is called upon to interpret not only for students, but parents (an estimated 94 percent of students come from hearing families), school district officials and staff members. Each Friday morning, for example, she accompanies OSD athletic director John Castrese to a Casco League breakfast at Willamette University. Castrese, who is deaf, is the league president.
"I'm the one always tagging along," Gish said.
She has an office on campus, but rarely spends time in it. She finds it ridiculous now to think she was worried, when she took the job, that she might get bored. Her schedule is jam-packed, especially this year since budget cuts forced the school to reduce her position to 20 hours a week.
"We schedule me very carefully," she said.
Gish came to OSD after retiring from Western Oregon, where she was instrumental in expanding the interpreting program from a one-year program to a bachelor's degree program.
As I visit with Gish, in the library at OSD, I notice she is very animated when she talks and punctuates our conversation with intermittent sign language. I ask if all interpreters do that, and she smiles as she puts one hand over the other and lowers them to her lap.
"We tend to gesture a lot," she said. "People talk about interpreters' hands getting tired, but it's our brains that get tired."
Interpreters must think fast and anticipate what a person is going to say next, which brings me to one of Gish's most important contributions to the profession, the Gish Model of processing.
The model suggests approaching a message to interpret by focusing on the speaker's main points, and then considering how all the details fit in.
"It's trying to understand the speaker's goal and knowing what someone says before you try to interpret it," Gish said.
Historically, the profession had relied on word-for-word interpretation.
Gish believes she was "born at the right time" to pursue a career in sign language interpreting, although she grew up in an era when deaf children were not allowed to sign.
"Signing was considered grotesque, a lesser language," she said. "And there was the myth that if a kid signed, they would never learn to talk."
Oregon School for the Deaf once operated as an "oral only" school.
When Gish started teaching in 1972 at a school for the deaf in Champagne, Ill., she was the first teacher to be allowed to use sign language with the kids.
As sign language became more acceptable, there was a movement to offer interpreting at public events, such as theater performances.
Gish has worked with many celebrities during her career, including Katharine Hepburn, James Earl Jones, Ray Charles, Joan Rivers, Bill Cosby, Bonnie Raitt, Gladys Knight, Jay Leno, Aretha Franklin, Pete Seeger and Jewel.
In the past few years, she has interpreted for Lyle Lovett and His Large Band, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, Earth Wind and Fire, Jennifer Hudson and Lionel Richie.
Having been in the spotlight many times, the "Extreme Makeover" cameras and celebrity designers were no big deal.
Gish was impressed with the entire cast and crew of the show, especially how they immersed themselves in the school and the deaf culture.
"They were wonderful role models for everyone," Gish said. "They were gesturing, they were signing, they were looking right in these kids' eyes."
Gish had plenty of company during the build, with dozens of interpreters from throughout the state volunteering their time. They wore blue T-shirts and white hard hats, and blended in with all the other volunteers, except when their hands and arms were dancing and they were facilitating communication between the deaf and the hearing.
Most important to Gish was how members of the community got involved and learned signs, communicated through gestures and eye contact, or wrote notes if necessary.
"Ty and the crew led the way by teaching us that the connections we make with people are more important than how we communicate with each other," Gish said. "That's another change this makeover has brought to Salem, and it's definitely a home improvement."
"Forward This" appears Wednesdays and Sundays and highlights the people, places and organizations of the Mid-Willamette Valley.
When Patti Togioka became director of Oregon School for the Deaf, no one had to introduce her to Sandra Gish, the staff's sign language interpreter
The two had known each other for years and led interpreter training workshops together.
"She's the expert," Togioka said. "I have a background and I've been a trainer, you know, but I defer to the best."
Calling Gish an expert may be an understate-ment. Gish is famous in sign language circles.
She has interpreted for a long list of celebrity performers. She has been a professor and coordinator of the respected American Sign Language/English interpreter program at Western Oregon University.
She has published numerous articles and contributed to several training videos. Heck, there's even an interpreting processing model named after her, the Gish Model.
"Once I graduated and went out in the world of interpreting, I realized the gravity of who it was that was teaching us," said CM Hall, one of Gish's former students who is now on staff at Western Oregon. "In our profession, it doesn't matter where I go, Gish is known, Gish is revered. She has national and international credibility for what she has contributed to our profession."
I met Gish the day "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" swooped onto the campus of Oregon School for the Deaf. She was thrust into the spotlight while interpreting on stage for Ty Pennington, the reality TV show's star, and celebrity designers Michael Moloney, Paige Hemmis and Johnny Littlefield.
Gish heard countless times how lucky she was to get a hug from Ty that day and to rub elbows with the cast all week.
Her response, each time, was that she was just doing her job.
That reminds me of an e-mail Gish sent during the project. She told me that on the day "Extreme Makeover" arrived she also interpreted for a 6-year-old trying to tell her parents, who don't sign: "I want to go to school at OSD."
"Interpreting for that little girl was as important — more important — than interpreting for Ty, Michael, Paige and Johnny," Gish said.
That says a lot about Gish, and about her approach to the profession. She's an expert in the field, but isn't one to boast about her resumé.
When I first asked if I could share her story with our readers, she told me she had to think about it.
"I rarely tell folks about my interpreting and teaching history," she explained, "but I'm willing if it benefits OSD."
Gish was hired by the school four years ago when it first found the money for a permanent interpreter position. The school previously used freelancers, which may not have served the students best.
"They don't know the kids, and the trust isn't there," Gish said. "I get to know the kids and their styles, and I gear my interpretation for them."
Gish is called upon to interpret not only for students, but parents (an estimated 94 percent of students come from hearing families), school district officials and staff members. Each Friday morning, for example, she accompanies OSD athletic director John Castrese to a Casco League breakfast at Willamette University. Castrese, who is deaf, is the league president.
"I'm the one always tagging along," Gish said.
She has an office on campus, but rarely spends time in it. She finds it ridiculous now to think she was worried, when she took the job, that she might get bored. Her schedule is jam-packed, especially this year since budget cuts forced the school to reduce her position to 20 hours a week.
"We schedule me very carefully," she said.
Gish came to OSD after retiring from Western Oregon, where she was instrumental in expanding the interpreting program from a one-year program to a bachelor's degree program.
As I visit with Gish, in the library at OSD, I notice she is very animated when she talks and punctuates our conversation with intermittent sign language. I ask if all interpreters do that, and she smiles as she puts one hand over the other and lowers them to her lap.
"We tend to gesture a lot," she said. "People talk about interpreters' hands getting tired, but it's our brains that get tired."
Interpreters must think fast and anticipate what a person is going to say next, which brings me to one of Gish's most important contributions to the profession, the Gish Model of processing.
The model suggests approaching a message to interpret by focusing on the speaker's main points, and then considering how all the details fit in.
"It's trying to understand the speaker's goal and knowing what someone says before you try to interpret it," Gish said.
Historically, the profession had relied on word-for-word interpretation.
Gish believes she was "born at the right time" to pursue a career in sign language interpreting, although she grew up in an era when deaf children were not allowed to sign.
"Signing was considered grotesque, a lesser language," she said. "And there was the myth that if a kid signed, they would never learn to talk."
Oregon School for the Deaf once operated as an "oral only" school.
When Gish started teaching in 1972 at a school for the deaf in Champagne, Ill., she was the first teacher to be allowed to use sign language with the kids.
As sign language became more acceptable, there was a movement to offer interpreting at public events, such as theater performances.
Gish has worked with many celebrities during her career, including Katharine Hepburn, James Earl Jones, Ray Charles, Joan Rivers, Bill Cosby, Bonnie Raitt, Gladys Knight, Jay Leno, Aretha Franklin, Pete Seeger and Jewel.
In the past few years, she has interpreted for Lyle Lovett and His Large Band, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, Earth Wind and Fire, Jennifer Hudson and Lionel Richie.
Having been in the spotlight many times, the "Extreme Makeover" cameras and celebrity designers were no big deal.
Gish was impressed with the entire cast and crew of the show, especially how they immersed themselves in the school and the deaf culture.
"They were wonderful role models for everyone," Gish said. "They were gesturing, they were signing, they were looking right in these kids' eyes."
Gish had plenty of company during the build, with dozens of interpreters from throughout the state volunteering their time. They wore blue T-shirts and white hard hats, and blended in with all the other volunteers, except when their hands and arms were dancing and they were facilitating communication between the deaf and the hearing.
Most important to Gish was how members of the community got involved and learned signs, communicated through gestures and eye contact, or wrote notes if necessary.
"Ty and the crew led the way by teaching us that the connections we make with people are more important than how we communicate with each other," Gish said. "That's another change this makeover has brought to Salem, and it's definitely a home improvement."
"Forward This" appears Wednesdays and Sundays and highlights the people, places and organizations of the Mid-Willamette Valley.