I'm on the fence about professional interpreters. There is an active community of deaf people who reject the idea that deafness is a disability. To them, I say - no accommodations should be needed. And yet...
There is an active community of deaf people who believe their inability to hear is a disability, which I would grant deserves accommodation.
How to reconcile the two? Do we require all deaf people to sign in and declare their affiliation with disabled or not-disabled, before the show starts, and put the not-disabled ones on the side of the theatre so they're not allowed to see the interpreter? Do we give them special glasses to prevent them from seeing the closed captions?
Do we put the ones who say they ARE disabled, in the front row so they can better see the interpreter? Do THEY get special glasses that display closed captioning only to them and no one else?
In addition, if you consider that ASL is its own language, and we need to accommodate ASL-speaking deaf with interpreters - what about people who speak some OTHER language that is also not English? Do we provide interpreters for all non-English language-speakers? Should we have a Farsi interpreter, a Japanese interpreter, a Welsh interpreter, a Spanish interpreter, a Hindi interpreter, and an Italian interpreter too?
And what of those Deaf who use any of the other 299 sign languages? Shouldn't they get an interpreter for them too?
Or - perhaps everyone living in The Villages should be required to learn ASL. That way we can all communicate with the deaf without the need for any interpreter at all.
I personally feel that it'd be great to have interpreters, but I'm not sold on the need for exclusively "professional" interpreters. Anyone who is hearing-abled AND ASL-fluent, should have the opportunity to apply as a volunteer interpreter. Vet them, absolutely. Make sure they're qualified for the task. But if someone wants to help, you shouldn't let a school certification stop you. Many folks grew up with deaf family members and learned ASL to communicate with their own brothers, sisters, parents, children. Their fluency is likely better than anyone taking college courses in the language.
For the record - I'm hearing impaired, have been since birth and my impairment is degenerative. I understand a very limited amount of ASL. If I live long enough, I will eventually be deaf. So I speak as someone who is "on that road," not from a place of complete ignorance of the subject.
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