Insight: My interpreter is not your Rockstar (BSL)

As a deaf concert goer, I am really appreciative and thankful for the amount of shows I am able to see with sign language interpretation. Living in London we seem to have lots of options when it comes to watching accessible shows or gigs and I’m really proud of this.

The quality of sign language interpretation is always incredibly high and interpreters often stay behind after the show to mix with a few of the deaf theatre goers to gain feedback and have a chat, which is always really nice as they really care about the quality of their job.

One of my favourite theatres has a group of deaf customers that it consults with to make sure deaf peoples experience is a positive one. They ask us questions such as whether the interpreter is placed in the right area, if the lighting works for us and if the experience of buying tickets is a smooth and easy one. As a thank you for working with the theatre on this we get discounted tickets and freebies, which is great.

Not many theatres do this initiative of working with its deaf customer base and I personally think it really works as we feel encouraged to come back to the theatre and give our feedback and know it will be listened to. These are all really positive things.

However there is one issue that has been bothering me lately and I’ve noticed it more in the last few weeks. Recently I was lucky enough to go to Windsor Castle to watch the Coronation Concert and the performance interpreters there really were incredible.

At the weekend I also tuned into the signed interpretation of the Eurovision contest and it was pleasing to see a mixture of deaf and hearing interpreters on the screen translating the songs. It would have been good if we could have had BSL access on the TV without needing to log into BBC iPlayer for it, but its small steps in the right direction.

What worries me though on social media is I see so many comments about the interpreters, with hearing non-signing people commenting on how ‘amazing’ or ‘awesome’ they are. I don’t disagree that they do a great job but I feel like the main point of these interpreters is to raise awareness that there are so many of us who require BSL access and they’re working hard to provide this.

I’ve been to gigs where hearing people take photos or videos of the interpreters and post it online, fawning over them. They treat it like an amusing novelty, as though it’s a trick that the interpreters are doing, and it’s not a valued language that they’ve studied and worked with for many years.

There are currently so many headlines online about ‘sign language interpreters rocking it out’ or ‘interpreters that stole the show’ and it makes me sigh in exasperation. My interpreter is not your rock star. They are there providing valuable access to the deaf signing community.

You wouldn’t listen to a person speak a foreign language and giggle ‘oh it’s so cute, it’s so fun!’ while completely discounting what they are actually saying. Similarly, you shouldn’t turn any kind of translator into a Saviour for the community they are translating for.

When you put an interpreter on a pedestal as being a saviour for the deaf community, you’re confusing what the purpose of their job is. They’re not ‘helping’ us, they’re translating one language to another. They aren’t support workers or carers, it’s completely different. They do an incredibly valuable job but it’s only because the majority of society do not know sign language or how to communicate with a deaf person.

What also happens a lot of the time is hearing people will go up to interpreters and talk to them and say they’re amazing, but they won’t make any effort to come up to us deaf folk or to even learn sign language.

Most of the interpreters I’ve seen and had interpret for me have been truly brilliant at their jobs and more importantly, they really respect and value the deaf community- that means a lot to me. They’re our allies

But sadly you do still find the odd interpreter who gets swayed by the attention they enjoy from those who say they’re ‘awesome!’ and they get a bit too big for their boots. I also find it sad when I see interpreters promote their ‘side job’ on social media but without any captions or BSL. It’s like they pick and choose when they’re going to be accessible, whereas most interpreters I’ve seen will always have access at the fore front of their minds when sharing things online.

This is not a negative post towards interpreters because I am so grateful for them and a few of my closest friends are interpreters too! But I feel sharing videos of them with headlines that refer to them as nothing more than cool, awesome performers is just offensive and discredits their whole purpose and the deaf community too.

Please stop disregarding signed interpretations as a bit of fun or novelty. If you like them that much, why not learn to sign!

This blog has been written anonymously as part of the Insight series – where readers are invited to share their story or news about their interesting job with The Limping Chicken. If you have a story to share please email rebecca@rawithey.com 

Image courtesy of i-stock photos.