“Controversy in DC”
Since I have moved to Maryland, I have collected a “list” of over 35 Judaic Interpreters in the MD/DC area. These interpreters have given their permission to have their names released to organizations in need of an interpreter.
Somehow, the word has gotten out, and many synagogues and Jewish Agencies now contact me when they are looking for an interpreter. I forward the list of email addresses and they usually send a “mass email” to the whole list.
In recent months, a disturbing pattern is emerging. Many of the Jewish organizations are looking for “Volunteer Interpreters” for a few hours during the day or for an evening program. Each time I get such a request, I explain that to find an interpreter who is qualified for the job means using a “professional” interpreter. I try to explain that professional interpreters earn their livelihood by interpreting and cannot give up several hours of paid employment in order to volunteer. It is true that qualified interpreters DO, on occasion, volunteer their time, but that is a decision that the interpreter makes on a case-by-case basis, and agencies should not assume that they can find an interpreter who will volunteer his or her time. Similarly, qualified interpreters who volunteer their time, have a responsibility to make clear that it is an individual decision and that in any particular situation, interpreters should be compensated for their work.
I encourage these Jewish Agencies to create a “line item” in their budget to cover the cost of interpreting. Once an agency makes a commitment to serving the deaf community, hiring deaf employees, or involving deaf people in their programs, they need to allocate the money for equal communication access.
Two agencies that seem to grasp this concept are the Jewish Federation and the National Hillel Foundation. Whenever they invite deaf people to participate, they know how to locate qualified interpreters, and are always prepared to pay.
This past week, a request was circulated from the Embassy of Israel, looking for several “volunteer” interpreters for a six-hour program that will be attended by many Jewish students from Gallaudet University. Again, the request went out to the list of 35. This time, however, the interpreters reacted very negatively. Suddenly, for an entire week, emails started bouncing back and forth among the group, as to the best way to respond to the request. Several groups of interpreters formed “letter writing” committees to draft letters of protest. l feel that they were reacting, for the most part, to the perception that the Israeli Embassy did not accept the responsibility for ensuring effective communication when they invited deaf college students to participate in their program.
Unfortunately, at this point, the feedback has come only from INTERPRETERS. The deaf community is not even aware of the outrage the interpreters feel. Hopefully the students from Gallaudet who would be impacted if nonqualified interpreters were brought in will have a chance to voice their opinions as well.
The immediate issue of payment for interpreting services was resolved when the Washington Hillel Office (which oversees all of the Hillel Organizations on various DC campuses) heard about the situation, and agreed to fund the interpreters, so the Gallaudet Hillel students could attend. This did not address the larger and more important question of the Israeli Embassy, or any other Jewish organization, not accepting the responsibility of paying for qualified interpreting services for deaf participants. The Hillel Office, in effect, got the Israeli Embassy “off the hook” for this event, but may have sent a very dangerous message that the embassy didn’t have to pay for the services in the future.
What are YOUR thoughts? Please reply to [email protected]. Till next time . . .
