I’m sitting here following the RID conference from home through twitter, facebook, emails and text as if it was the big social event for interpreters almost hoping to catch the pictures on TMZ or the Perez Hilton website. I could not make it this year but it didn’t stop me from knowing the details of what is happening with RID. I kept seeing the videos on facebook that RID was posting and asking different interpreters what “Growing Globally” meant to them, which was the theme of this years conference. So I began to think what that meant to me, and it quickly brought me back to the experience I had from the beginning of my career as an interpreter.
I remember learning about the Deaf community during my ITP (interpreter training program) and feeling as if it was almost different to the experience I had with the Deaf Community. See, during that time I had become friends with mostly Deaf Latin@s. It just happened that I met friends who were Deaf or hearing folks who were involved with the Deaf community but they were all from my neighborhood. That’s right, good old Norwalk! The good old neighborhood where carne asada fries were a common food, along with Tacos, menudo, Lumpia, longanisa and a refreshing boba drink (or my personal favortie “Peach snow bubble with coconut jelly....interpret that!). Northgate market was the new “Disneyland” of all Mexican markets with their special ceviche bar, deli sections that sold chilles rellenos, carne con chile, tamales and more heavenly goodness, but somehow I think I missed that part of class that showed me the signs to all those foods. Suddenly what I was being told at school was not matching up with what I saw and knew. I slowly picked up the signs for tamales, tacos, sushi and even the new signs for Mexico and Guatemala, almost like a secret language being slowly and carefully passed down somehow surviving through the “indigenous” circles of Southern California. I learned and signed the way I needed to at school but knew that my reality was different and knew that interpreting in SoCal would be the same.
So I came in to the interpreting profession very naive thinking I would quickly feel at home, but I had a rude awakening just like my ITP program. How would this self identified Queer Xicano Activist find his place in all of this? I stumbled, I fell but I would stand up until I found those people that would make me feel at home. I started meeting great people at work and slowly almost out of the wood works all these interpreters who understood social consciousness began popping up. We slowly began connecting and suddenly not feeling so alone. I remember going to the first trilingual workshop in California and seeing Arlene Narvaez present. OMG it’s true, there she was a beautiful Chicana standing there and explaining about the Latino Community in the context of the ASL interpreting field. Wow! Suddenly my experiences werematching up with what I was being taught and with what I believed. I would go to interpret Dr. appts and realize that the models I learned during my ITP were not matching up. The families I was interpreting for had their whole family with them to help them make a decision and I don’t remember “So you want to be an interpreter?” book explain what to do then. But here I am, in this workshop and finally these questions are being answered.
As the years have passed I have come to see more and more change happen in regards to social consciousness. It was the Mano a Mano conference video that you can see four interpreters standing next to each other beautifully interpreting in to four different Sign Languages while Angela Roth was speaking in Spanish. I sat there and understood that suddenly we were finally beginning to meet the needs of our consumers, our gente and our Raza. See, I understood that equal access meant access for ALL regardless of their gender, social class, race, sexuality, immigration status, language or language modality. As interpreters we are there to facilitate and help interpret so that ALL voices are being seen and heard.
Last Year I attended the Deaf Latino Conference in Chicago. That was a trip that just strengthen my passion for the Deaf and the Deaf Latino community. It was there that I met Deaf Activist of Color whose presentations included quotes from Queer Chicana Writers like Gloria Anzaldua and spoke of privilege, audism, sexism, racism and so on. I myself had the wonderful experience of sitting at a table where all of us were trying to communicate by using all the languages including Mexican Sign Language, Salvadorian Sign Language, Brittish Sign Language and American Sign Language all working together to understand each other but still appreciating each language and culture. It is there that I met Radical Deaf Xicanas like Elena who in time has help me understand more about the Deaf community, privilege and even myself. This is the community I work with and completely love. I strongly recommend interpreters to attend these conferences and support the community. I must remind hearing interpreters that these spaces are safe spaces created by the Deaf community in order to empower themselves. It’s important we go in and learn but allow the community to take the stage and not us hearing people.
The Deaf and Interpreting community is a diverse one and it seems that we are finally understanding that we need to educate ourselves in order to serve a more diverse population. We are also starting to recognize privilege and the affect that our privilege has on others. It has been improving thanks to conferences like the Deaf Latino Conference, Deaf People of Color Conference and Deaf folks that have paved the way to open dialogue for a more inclusive history and education of both the Deaf community and the interpreting field. This is what I think “Growing Globally” means. This year Mano a Mano was no longer separate from the rest of the RID conference. RID is moving towards the right direction in regards to this but it requires us to keep moving forward and pushing the subjects. Thanks for the Deaf community for pushing and creating spaces and language for those not being seen or heard. Thanks to the interpreters who are movers and shakers that have put themselves on the line discussing subjects that puts them in uncomfortable situations ,but you do it because you know you have to. It’s because of that, that we have been able to “grow globally”. Let’s continue to grow together. Obviously our communities have so many layers and and communities within those, so let’s continue to educate and advocate and make everyone seen and heard.
* Oh yeah and the picture above is a bunch of us with Dolores Huerta signing “Si Se Puede” in Mexican Sign Language cause’ that’s how we roll! :)
Si Se Puede!
Gilberto Partida
No comments:
Post a Comment