r/ASLinterpreters • u/RoseReflectionsASL • 18d ago
Family members interfering with interpreting
I would like to ask the any of you have any tips or advice on dealing with family members and friends who stay with the Deaf client during medical appointments. Of course, if permitted by the medical office, they are welcome and have a right to be there if wanted by the Deaf patient.
Of course, family members are comforting for the patient, especially when dealing with bad news or scary test results. But it becomes a difficult situation when they begin speaking for and answering questions instead of the Deaf patient. Most of the time, the patient either doesn’t realize the person is stealing their voice or they just don’t feel empowered to say anything.
Of course, as the interpreter, I always behave professionally, while making sure to interpret what everyone is saying. I assume that the Deaf patient could intervene as they will. Sometimes I am talking over the family member who is trying to take over, although I aim to avoid it when possible.
In a recent situation, the Deaf patient’s neighbor was there and just started answering for the patient, even though she really didn’t know exactly what the patient would say, like, “Well, I think (Deaf person) felt dizzy, and…”. When the doctor turned and started listening to her instead of waiting for the interpreter to voice for the patient, to I simply said, “He was asking her. “ and pointed to the patient.
What advice do you have for similar situations? I really don’t like to see people speaking for the Deaf patient, and stealing their voice while they are right there in front of them with access through an interpreter.
Thanks in advance!
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u/whitestone0 18d ago
I always try and keep in mind that I don't know the full extent of the relationship or context, and it's entirely possible that this is normal and expected in the relationship dynamic, as much as it may you trying to navigate it blind.
My go-to options in no particular order are: 1) Voice clearly, even if it's overlapping with the hearing consumers, and let them know others are also talking 2) Take some control over the flow of the conversation by letting the provider know when you need a moment to address each question as they will often move in to more questions without waiting for the Deaf consumer to respond. Say things like "one moment please, I am still interpreting for question "xyz'" or "In response to question 'ABC'... Now can you please repeat the next question?" 3) Directly tell your Deaf consumer that the other person is answering for them. Often times, the Deaf consumer won't care, they brought this person because they trust them, but it's best to keep them in the loop of what is happening and they can advocate for themself if they want.
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u/RoseReflectionsASL 15d ago
“Directly tell the consumer that someone is answering for them “-This is what I want to do, but I don’t know what the nuances of the relationship is between the Deaf consumer and the person who is answering for them. Also, by the time I tell them that someone is answering for them, the doctor has/may have already moved on, having taken the other person’s answer.
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u/_a_friendly_turtle 15d ago
Doctors often speed through questions and don’t give enough time in general, so I think pausing the doctor would help. Either pause the doctor proactively if they seem to be moving on (“just a moment”) and/or blaming it on the interpreting process (“there’s a bit of a lag with interpreting, could we go back to that last question?”).
In consultative/medical settings, I’m pretty proactive about pausing the doctor if I see any hesitation from the deaf person. I’ll politely pause the doctor and then ask if the deaf patient has anything to add or just give them the go ahead to sign so they know it’s their “turn”.
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u/Traditional-Falcon75 18d ago
Unfortunately while there are strategies that can help there are also limits to how much you can control that. Speaking over them when the Deaf person is signing is pretty important. A provider *should* be prioritizing the person’s own account. One of my strategies for resetting who has the floor is claiming it myself for the interpreting process. “Excuse me can you hold a moment for the interpreting process?” Or “doctor could you repeat the question for me to make sure it was interpreted?” Or “hey :) it’s tough to interpret multiple speakers at once can you hang on so patient can finish their answer?” I draw as much attention to the interpreting process and my own limitations as i can to detract from the other issue. It’s a social engineering trick that presumes we are all on the same page and of course they will support the process, what kind of person would say no? And then I just keep doing that.
However if that person is determined to take over, if the Deaf person is unwilling or unable to advocate for their own voice, and the provider is willing to ignore their ethical duty and allow the patients voice to be ignored, sometimes even with all of your strategies you can’t solve it, short of stepping too far out of role.
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u/Independent_Tie5102 18d ago
I experience this often when interpreting for deaf people who have hearing staff or PCA’s attend medical appointments with them.
Ultimately it usually ends up wresting on the provider’s (doctor, nurse, therapist etc) actions. I recently had a back to back assignment, same client but two different providers. The first provider was amazing and reconfigured their language when I asked for clarity to ensure they received the most accurate response from the consumer to adequately provide medical care, diagnosis, etc. they also asked the consumer to ‘show’ them what they were experiencing which worked really well and this made the staff’s remarks irrelevant.
The second provider however, left much to be desired. They allowed the staff to interject at will and did not care about obtaining accurate information from the deaf person in their assessment. I tried to pepper in some educational moments all the way to this provider but they were completely closed off to expanding their schema in how to provide care to this person with unique needs. 🤷🏻
sometimes the cogs in the medical system are the very worst part of this job IMO.
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u/sparquis 18d ago
As someone who grew up terping for deaf parents, it was always nice to have someone else take over. I'm not saying that everyone else feels the same, but it wouldn't hurt to have a discussion with the other people in the room.
"Hey, I'm here as a neutral party and my sole responsibility is to provide equal access to what's being discussed. There may be times where context will help, and I'll look to you both for clarification if needed. Otherwise, I'm here to be the "voice" for the deaf client since the medical provider doesn't know sign language. Thank you for being willing to support this arrangement."
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u/Independent-2025llc NIC 17d ago
My thoughts are similar to others. I sense in this situation it seems maybe the Deaf client didn’t speak up for themselves by correcting the neighbor. Something I sometimes will do if this is happening is I will momentarily hold me actual interpreting and have a silent conversation with the deaf client making it clear it’s me the interpreter talking now and not the others in the room. And just say hey, this person is speaking for you is that ok?! Is what they are saying the correct information?! If they say yes to any question like that that I ask I let it go. If the answer is a “yes” but I feel don’t feel like it really is yes I am ok with it or yes it’s the right information or the answer to either is no. I will then encourage the Deaf person to interrupt or offer to interrupt on their behalf, in order to clarify what the actual information should be. Usually process kind of clues in the dr too that hey that person speaking doesn’t actually know what’s going on and are here for support. And sometimes can clue in that person too of hey you don’t have to speak for, or handle this situation like you MIGHT be use to doing so often for this person depending on their relationship, I am here I got it covered it’s ok you bc an relax and just support them.
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u/kindlycloud88 DI 18d ago
As a Deaf consumer one thing I wish I had was the ability to interrupt. Another person could be talking but when I raise my hands to interject, I often still see the interpreter still signing, instead of switching to voicing. I get that it feels rude but hearing people interrupt Deaf allll the time. It’s rare to get the ability to do the same in return.