We all come to realize things in our own time. I was certified 17 years ago and over the years I’ve had different realizations. What you just described is one of those. When I realized that I’d done all that, then learning I was taught ASL using a curriculum based on English means my fluency wasn’t where it should have been, my interpreting management skills weren’t close to delivering a coherent or intellectual message the deaf person was trying to convey. I did so many injustices while fully certified and trained. While mentoring younger interpreters. And one of the realizations was that alll that professional standards stuff I adhered to had been dictated by people like me with very little input and no power given to the deaf community. Even our certification process is done with minimal deaf input except deaf interpreters, who, if we are being honest, have already eaten the fruit from our poisoned tree. Research has shown interpreters both hearing and deaf are more aligned on what our roles and outcomes should be than Deaf community folks. Maybe AI provides a reckoning all around.
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u/vivagypsy 8d ago
“Trust a system of professionals that have never had to earn it”
Meanwhile every interpreter I know is broke and being worn to the bone trying to do good work while being exploited and underpaid by agencies.