Miss-Delectable
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La Crosse Tribune - 6.0
Colleen Cudo’s children spoke their first words using their hands.
By 9 months old, Cody, now 8, could sign “more” and “all done.” At seven months, Morgan, almost 6, could sign “milk” and “more.” That’s because their mother spoke to them using sign language as well as sound language.
Many metaphors could be used to describe Cudo, 37, and her work as a sign language interpreter.
She is a language vessel who often gets so absorbed in the work of listening, processing and signing at an event that, afterwards, she can’t say what was happening around her.
She is a light helping illuminate the experience of music for deaf people, like when she memorized 200 songs, including “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk,” at Country Jam in Eau Claire, Wis., this summer, or helping illuminate the experience of a silent world for hearing people, like when she requires students at Western Technical College to go around with ear plugs for six hours.
In her own spoken words, Cudo is a bridge.
“You’ve got the deaf island, and you’ve got the hearing island,” said Cudo, who lives in Onalaska with her husband and two children. “It’s like a bridge and you’re holding two islands together.”
Cudo has been doing sign language work since 1989.
That’s included a lot of steady gigs in elementary and high schools. But more recently, she has done the work on a freelance basis, with volunteer signing mixed in. She could probably sign a book about the tales from her work.
There was the time she was interpreting between a veterinarian and a deaf farmer, who was learning to artificially inseminate his cow. When the farmer would pull his gloved hand out of the cow, he’d fling gunk all over the place while he signed.
There was the time she signed at a deaf and blind conference, where people touched signing hands to understand what was being said.
At an outing to Valleyfair, she was the only interpreter willing to accompany the deaf and blind onto a roller coaster. Cudo slept 18 hours after riding 30 times in a row.
There was the time she interpreted “The Vagina Monologues.”
And there was the time when, at a police department, her morals were even more deeply tested when she had to interpret in a situation of violence, which deterred her from interpreting in those situations again.
Cudo became interested in sign language when her older sister studied it at Western Technical College.
“I’m very proud of her,” said that sister, Dena Zezulka, who lives near Cudo in Onalaska. “She works very hard in making sure that the deaf community is brought into the community as much as possible.”
Zezulka’s 17-year-old daughter knows some sign language, and plans to go to college to become a nurse and minor in signing.
Cudo works in admissions and registration at WTC while she is finishing a degree in education with a focus on business management at Viterbo University.
She’d like to see a local high school start teaching American Sign Language as a foreign language, as she said it’s the third most used language in the world.
She’d also like to see the La Crosse Center use an interpreter at more of its concerts.
Perhaps the importance of her work can best be seen during surgery and in emergency rooms, places where her bridge-building enters life and death situations.
“Could you imagine being put in a situation where you can’t communicate with somebody and you’re in an emergency room and you’re scared and there is only that one person who can help you?” Cudo asked. “God gave me a gift, and I’m here to use it.”
Colleen Cudo’s children spoke their first words using their hands.
By 9 months old, Cody, now 8, could sign “more” and “all done.” At seven months, Morgan, almost 6, could sign “milk” and “more.” That’s because their mother spoke to them using sign language as well as sound language.
Many metaphors could be used to describe Cudo, 37, and her work as a sign language interpreter.
She is a language vessel who often gets so absorbed in the work of listening, processing and signing at an event that, afterwards, she can’t say what was happening around her.
She is a light helping illuminate the experience of music for deaf people, like when she memorized 200 songs, including “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk,” at Country Jam in Eau Claire, Wis., this summer, or helping illuminate the experience of a silent world for hearing people, like when she requires students at Western Technical College to go around with ear plugs for six hours.
In her own spoken words, Cudo is a bridge.
“You’ve got the deaf island, and you’ve got the hearing island,” said Cudo, who lives in Onalaska with her husband and two children. “It’s like a bridge and you’re holding two islands together.”
Cudo has been doing sign language work since 1989.
That’s included a lot of steady gigs in elementary and high schools. But more recently, she has done the work on a freelance basis, with volunteer signing mixed in. She could probably sign a book about the tales from her work.
There was the time she was interpreting between a veterinarian and a deaf farmer, who was learning to artificially inseminate his cow. When the farmer would pull his gloved hand out of the cow, he’d fling gunk all over the place while he signed.
There was the time she signed at a deaf and blind conference, where people touched signing hands to understand what was being said.
At an outing to Valleyfair, she was the only interpreter willing to accompany the deaf and blind onto a roller coaster. Cudo slept 18 hours after riding 30 times in a row.
There was the time she interpreted “The Vagina Monologues.”
And there was the time when, at a police department, her morals were even more deeply tested when she had to interpret in a situation of violence, which deterred her from interpreting in those situations again.
Cudo became interested in sign language when her older sister studied it at Western Technical College.
“I’m very proud of her,” said that sister, Dena Zezulka, who lives near Cudo in Onalaska. “She works very hard in making sure that the deaf community is brought into the community as much as possible.”
Zezulka’s 17-year-old daughter knows some sign language, and plans to go to college to become a nurse and minor in signing.
Cudo works in admissions and registration at WTC while she is finishing a degree in education with a focus on business management at Viterbo University.
She’d like to see a local high school start teaching American Sign Language as a foreign language, as she said it’s the third most used language in the world.
She’d also like to see the La Crosse Center use an interpreter at more of its concerts.
Perhaps the importance of her work can best be seen during surgery and in emergency rooms, places where her bridge-building enters life and death situations.
“Could you imagine being put in a situation where you can’t communicate with somebody and you’re in an emergency room and you’re scared and there is only that one person who can help you?” Cudo asked. “God gave me a gift, and I’m here to use it.”