The Deaf Edge

Before I resume the blog serial, I need to apologize for not posting in the last two days. As many of the regular readers know, a situation arose in the Deaf v/blogosphere, and I was busy blogging on that. So now, we are returning to our regular programming…

As always, please read the preceding chapter if you haven’t done so yet. To see the list of characters, please refer to the Preface post.

We continue with Betty Colonomos’ testimony (this was in 1992, by the way):

Kary: Based on your experience and education, can you give us your opinion as to what, if any, level of education an interpreter would need in order to provide the Level 3 ASLPI skills, interpreter services to Jeannette in the eighth grade environment?

Betty: Yes. I have very strong feelings about that, as do a number of task forces that have discussed this very issue for the last ten years. I feel, at the very minimum, the interpreter needs to have a bachelor’s degree at a minimum for these grades. For higher grades, they should have a master’s degree, and that goes back to my point before about the fact that the interpreter needs to understand the material almost as well, if not as well as the teacher does. Therefore, they need to have their level of education, that level of language, that kind of general, broad liberal arts understanding of the world around them to be able to function well in an educational environment, certainly for children who are pursuing on an academic track, they certainly need to have a degree.

Kary: Is there anything else you want to add to your opinion regarding the quality and level of interpreter services that Jeannette needs in that environment?

Betty: If you are asking me what I would say she should have in terms of an interpreter in terms of their qualifications, we talked about ASL skills. We talked about educational background. For me they would need to be certified, nationally certified by the RID, Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, and I say that only because I have no evidence that there is any other certification or qualifications that guarantees the level of skill that we are talking about.

Kary: In ASL?

Betty: In ASL interpreting. There’s a difference.

(snip)

Kary: If a hearing-impaired teacher did not have that level of sign skills that you have recommended, do you have any recommendation with respect to an alternative provision of that service in the hearing-impaired classroom?

Betty: If the teachers were not able to communicate comfortably with Jeannette and Jeannette with them, then — and assuming that the interpreters were qualified in the way I have outlined, then I would suggest that an interpreter be used in those settings when communication is not happening.

I’m going to jump to my mother’s testimony about her observations of me and the interpreters in the hopes of keeping things clear and connected. I will return later to Betty’s testimony when she is cross-examined by Flaggert afterwards.

Kary: What is it that you observed, if anything, that led you to conclude that Mrs. Lilly’s interpreting for Jeannette in reading was inappropriate?

Mom: Ms. Lilly does not exhibit any knowledge of American Sign Language for one thing. She uses a strict English mode. She would not sign exact English because she does not tense her verbs. In fact, she doesn’t tense her verbs using any mode at all, so that everything that is being conveyed by Ms. Lilly appears to occur in the present tense whereas strictly signing exact English would cause one to tense verbs in an English fashion as opposed to an ASL fashion.

Ms. Lilly appears to not process information or give citation signs. Let me give you an example and I think that it is used within that report that was admitted in evidence.

Kary: By that report, you mean your observation notes?

Mom: Yes, yes. At one point, the teacher of the reading class asked the meaning of the word “cast” as it had been used in the story which she read to the class.

Aside from the fact that the word “cast” never appeared on the interpreter’s hands, and so Jeannette could not have any knowledge of that, the class seemed to be at a loss and so the teacher asked, well what is a “cast” what you would put on a broken wrist, that white hard stuff? And one young man in the class said no, there were no broken bones in the story. And the teacher said right, that meaning doesn’t apply. And Ms. Lilly gave an incorrect interpretation of that word, “apply”.

You have to be able to process — the sign that she used for “apply” was this (indicating), and that is like you apply for a job, apply for benefits, apply for insurance.

Now the most — so it was conceptually incorrect and Jeannette was very confused by that. There is an appropriate, sophisticated sign “apply” (indicating) that would have perfectly suited that situation.

I could also have accepted a less sophisticated interpretation which was conceptually correct which would be “relate.” The vocabulary is not as sophisticated as this sign for “apply” (indicating), but I would not have objected in terms of conceptual accuracy.

Ms. Lilly did that twice with the same word, which indicates to me that she does not process information and has weaknesses with her understanding of the English language because she is not exhibiting an understanding of the multiple meanings within the English language as one would in any translation situation, not just sign. Her vocabulary choices were not always conceptually accurate. And that is further evidence to me that Ms. Lilly has some extremely weak areas within the English language.

(snip) I’m now going to jump to my mother’s testimony about the TC teachers’ signing abilities and why she wanted an interpreter there with me and some TC staff.

Kary: Now, you testified that you had experience interacting both while you were working for Northview as a substitute interpreter and otherwise with the TC staff at Hills and Dales?

Mom: Yes.

Kary: What, if anything, can you tell us about your observations regarding Total Communication staff and their uses of other languages?

Mom: Basically, all of the staff use sign-supported speech which is basically — from pure signed English to a form of Pidgin English which, as I stated before, it is not possible to speak English and sign ASL at the same time. It is like writing French and speaking English at the same time.

I have been also able to observe that many teachers have very poor sign language skills. They have very limited vocabulary. They have virtually no understanding of the grammar of ASL or the three dimensionality of sign language, and they make up signs which infuriates me.

Let me explain that when I go into a college classroom and I am interpreting an electronics course, there are no signs for superheterodyne receiver and transducer and things like this. And my client and I will agree on a sign, and we know it is not a real sign, and it is something that the two of us have agreed on. They may say superheterodyne receiver 60 times in one 50-minute lecture. That is not what I’m talking about.

I’m talking about teachers inventing signs that are incorrect and making the child believe that this is, in fact, a real sign and the child will use that in the deaf community thinking it is a formal sign.

Kary: Can you give us an example of how this works? Something based on observation?

Mom: Sure. I remember watching one teacher who was signing and speaking at the same time and asked people to pick up brochures before they left, and this person did not know the sign of “brochure” and signed “44″ instead, actually made up something — and everyone was confused because everybody was getting, “pick up the 44 before you leave.” That was one of the few clean ones.

I have personally observed — people have a tremendous facility for making up signs which they think are conceptually accurate, and then they turn out to be obscene, and I become extremely upset about this. I was watching a child, not Jeannette, in our program, who would come to my home after school.

And I would take care of her until her mother got off work, and this child was very excited and told me in the spring, her class would be going Greenfield fucking, and I almost fell off my chair.

Continue to Chapter 13

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