Playing devils advocate…

I have hanged out with interpreters after a conference, training or program event. Interpreters loves their profession and I have seen they shared their tough experiences with other interpreters while customer watching their conversation.

The interpreters needs to be more trained in confidentiality. If RID/NAD is reading this and hopefully they will put this on their agenda to train interpreters on that subject.

If I have to go to a psychology clinic and with an interpreter, I will never reveal anything. It is because of interpreter’s confidentiality trust. This is the majority of D/deaf customers utmost concern.

Training on confidentiality and trust will give the D/deaf customers assurance that interpreters do get better and better after training.

and i do know it varies from interpreter to interpreter as to how the deal with what situation they’re interpreting for. I do believe most of them are ethical. It’s just a privacy thing, as well as an independence thing for me.

When it comes to certifying an interpreter, I have a serious concern about that. I’ve met some interpreters I’m surprised were certified in the first place. Their abide by the code of ethics, professionalism and ASL skills are left to be desired with.

It is my understanding that RID certified many of them before NAD joined to work with RID. I wonder if there’s anything that can be done with those who already got certified.

We need to educate more deaf people to assert for their rights and speak out to be heard by the RID. I think more teeth in the ADA law has to be done.

As for interpreters breaking the code of ethics… Hmm. Not sure what we could do much other than censuring them then taking away their certificate.

My bad. It’s not HIPPA. It’s HIPAA - Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. There’s a ton of information on it if you google it. But basically, it’s a very strict law on protecting your medical privacy.

Too bad RID or the state deaf commission don’t have as much teeth as HIPPA. Isn’t it ironic that while RID and state deaf commission serve the deaf community and our lives depend on them, they have less teeth. That has to change.

Also, thanks for sharing your blog. I have some stories about interpreters, but I’m not going to share them :) They’re just depressing.

In that case, I guess it takes some analysis of the relationship itself. For instance, right now, I am friends with an interpreter. She interprets my gym classes at a local community college. We have become friends, and I enjoy working with her.

There was a situation where I needed to bring a terp on a cruise with my family. I explicitly made the decision not to bring her becuase she was too close to me and I did not want her in that role with my family. So I chose another terp, one that I was not as close to, not as friendly with.

I think it really does depend on the situation, the persons involved and what your needs are.

I will admit I’m picky about interpreters. there are only a select few that I like when I request interpreters for my concerts. Usually I get them, just because they’re much more flexible in adapting to my sign preference (I prefer more english than asl at concerts because it’s much easier to understand lyrics when they sign it in english) Otherwise, I don’t mind whatever they sign.

Also, recently I made an apapointment with a doctor & they said they can get an asl interpreter for me. I declined simply because I can communicate fine, and I’ve always felt like that’s crossing the line for me. I know they have ethics, and I believe they do try to keep a line there. But it’s still always uncomfortable for me to have someone I don’t know there find out news that’s so personal to me. I couldn’t imagine.

I respect their choice to want to make our lives easier. and for them to be able to communicate with us easier, it’s almost natural for them to become friends with the deaf. that way they can see and understand what we like and what we don’t like. It’s definitely not an easy job.