Today it’s being reported that the Sign interpretation services provided at Nelson Mandela’s funeral were completely fake. That makes me sad and embarrassed.
I used to work in the Deaf community for a few years. I still have very warm memories of the first time I held my own conversation from start to finish in Sign, with no interpreter. At my best I was a long ways from fluent. No one would — or should — ever ask me to interpret. But I always smile when I see ASL or SEE being used. We have a sign interpreter at my church. Sometimes I get distracted, watching her and trying to catch phrases or words as I remember them.
Sign interpreters — real ones — are not impossible to find. Not by a long shot. And though the cost of a fully trained and certified interpreter might be intimidating for many small businesses, it’s not even noticeable by government standards.
I don’t know what happened. I could understand zero Sign interpretation if there were no request for it. But requested or not, your choices should be between real Sign interpreters or zero Sign interpreters. I don’t know how “fake sign language” ever got onto the menu of choices.