Daniel Greene

Tag: ethics

  • FCC Comment: Interpreters ≠ Dial Tone

    I posted the following comment to the FCC regarding Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS) – Docket 03-123.

    I have been told that the FCC considers sign language interpreters to be “equivalent to a dial tone,” and that we are not mandated reporters of abuse. The problem with this is that we are human beings, and unlike text relay operators, we video interpreters actually witness the the sign language users with our eyes. In the dreaded event that a video interpreter were to witness something like a person having a heart attack or stroke, or see a person beaten, raped, or even shot dead before our very eyes, it would cause us irreparable psychological damage if we were forbidden to report it. Granted, a Communications Assistant who performs text relay services may hear something terrible on the voice line, but they can never know for sure what they heard. Video Interpreters (VI’s) are unlike Communications Assistants (CA’s) in that we are eye witnesses to whatever goes on in front of the sign language user’s camera. We should be considered mandated reporters both for the sake of our clients and ourselves. It is a human being’s natural desire, nay, need to “do something about it” when we are witness to abuse. I could not live with myself if I witness such atrocities and did not report it. It doesn’t do our clients any good either for us to remain silent in such dreadful circumstances.

    You will notice that I use the term “Video Interpreter (VI)” in my letter to you. This is the term that has gained universal acceptance among the profession of sign language interpreting. Our work differs from that of CA’s in so many ways that (more…)

  • FCC Comment: No 10-Second Rule

    I posted the following comment to the FCC regarding Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS) – Docket 03-123.

    There are simply not enough qualified American Sign Language Interpreters in the world to meet the needs of all consumers of Video Relay Services, so I oppose the rule that all calls must be answered within 10 seconds. It takes much longer to train a sign language interpreter than it takes to train a text relay operator. The rule might apply for text relay, but in this real world we live it, it is not applicable. Perhaps in another 5 years, if many sign language interpreters are recruited into interpreter training programs in order to fill the need for qualified video relay interpreters, we can comply with this rule. At this point, it is impossible.

  • Legal Requirements for Self-Employed Persons

    Please note I wrote this in May 2001. Facts may have changed.

    I did some researching lately on the requirements of self-employed status in San Diego, California (laws may be different elsewhere, of course!), and I found out a few things that I thought you might like to know. Some of these facts you probably already knew, and some may surprise you. First of all, did you know that every self-employed person doing business in the city of San Diego is required by law to own a Business Tax Certificate (BTC)? Yes, they haven’t done a very good job at getting the word out about this one, and I’ve never heard of anyone enforcing it, but apparently, anyone could walk up to you while you’re doing your freelance work and demand to see your BTC. The good news is that this BTC (formerly known as a Business License—ah, we’ve at least heard that term before, eh?) typically costs only $46 a year. You may find out all about the BTC, and download the necessary application forms in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF), at http://www.sandiego.gov/treasurer/btax.shtml

    Second, some of us have had, at one time or another over the past several years, certain agencies or individuals tell us that, in order for us to claim independent contractor status, we were required by law to have to have a fictitious business name, incorporated status, a FEIN (Federal Employer ID Number), Worker’s Compensation Insurance, California State Disability Insurance, malpractice (professional liability) insurance, etc. Here is what I found out, by making several phone calls to local and state agencies and by looking up information on government web sites, one of which was (ref #1) http://www.sandiego.gov/economic-development/business/starting/tenkeysteps.shtml: (more…)

  • Correcting the Message

    A while ago, a colleague of mine made an interesting interpreting choice that got me to thinking about how much we should “correct” the signed messages we voice in English. As my team person was voicing, the deaf client misused an English idiom, and my team person voiced the English idiom in the same “broken” way the deaf person had signed and mouthed it. The hearing people in the room softly chuckled, not only because the deaf person had said something funny, but because the way s/he said it was funny as well. I will point out here that the deaf person was taking a turn speaking in a group in which the register was casual, and the deaf person was using a combination of ASL and PSE with a good deal of semi-audible mouthing. “Interesting choice!” I thought to myself, as my ears pricked up when I heard this “broken” English coming out of the interpreter’s mouth. Why did the interpreter choose not to “correct” the deaf person’s English? Is it our job to interpret any and all signed messages into perfect English, no matter how they are signed? Perhaps not, I thought, and I’ve been thinking about this issue ever since.

    Let’s take the above scenario and place a hearing immigrant in the deaf person’s place. Let’s take the interpreter out of the picture as well, because in the above case I believe it can be said that the deaf person did not need the interpreter so much to bridge languages as to bridge communication modes (from aural/oral to visual/gestural). The immigrant is likely to speak English like a foreigner and occasionally misuse English idioms (sometimes to charmingly humorous effect) just as the deaf person did. The native members of the group might softly chuckle and might, perhaps, offer the correct English idiom to the foreigner, so as to teach them the right way to say it. Or perhaps they will try to be polite and not correct the foreigner’s speech. The immigrant either learns the correct idiom or not. Either way, a natural process has occurred among people whose respective languages have come into contact with each other. The natives acquire a natural understanding of the foreigner’s level of familiarity with English, and the foreigner may or may not acquire a better familiarity of English through the feedback s/he receives from the natives. There is no intermediary present to smooth out all imperfections and create a false sense of the foreigner’s fluency in the natives’ language. Without the intermediary, mistakes come to light, and the participants are empowered to make choices based on this knowledge.

    (more…)

  • “The ADA and Interpreters” workshop review

    On April 2, SCRID sponsored a workshop entitled “The ADA and Interpreters” on the Palomar College campus in San Marcos. The four-hour workshop, presented by Darlene West, gave participants an overview of the Americans with Disabilities Act as it is written, interpreted and enforced. Darlene’s bold and animated style brought to life the five titles of the ADA covering employment, state and local government, public accommodations, telecommunications, and miscellaneous provisions. She peppered her lecture with vivid anecdotes, lifting the text of the ADA off the page and into the realm of everyday life.

    Darlene discussed how to successfully navigate some of the loopholes of the ADA, such as “reasonable accommodation” and “readily achievable” versus “undue hardship” and “direct threat,” “program accessibility” versus “site accessibility,” and “fundamental alterations.”

    She referred to section 35.104 to define the term “qualified interpreter” as required under section 35.160 (“Auxiliary Aids and Services.”) According to ADA section 35.104, a qualified interpreter is, “one who is able to interpret effectively, accurately, and impartially both receptively and expressively, using any necessary specialized vocabulary.”

    The workshop itself was made accessible to the deaf via both ASL interpreting and real-time captioning, the latter provided by the firm Words Apart, using Rapidtext Infosign.

    Darlene handed out plenty of supplemental literature and supplied the following toll-free phone numbers for those who wish to pursue more detailed information: 1-800-USA-ABLE, 1-800-USA-EEOC, and for TTY, 1-800-800-3302.

    Darlene West is the co-owner of Accommodating Ideas, Inc., an enterprise based in North Hollywood established to consult with businesses to provide training in how to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Her firm also handles the provision of interpreting services and the rental and sale of auxiliary aids. Ms. West holds a CAD level V “Master” Certificate of Competence, and is a veteran ASL interpreter.

    This review originally appeared in the SCRID newsletter in June 1994. Darlene West’s name has since changed to Darlene Geyer. Hyperlinks were added in 2012 for publication on danielgreene.com.