One of the most frequently asked questions I receive is, "How/Why did you learn sign language?" or "What made you want to become an Interpreter?"
Allow me to tell you about my journey...
When I was a young child living in Bay City, Michigan I had a very good friend who just happened to be profoundly deaf. We communicated well with each other even though I didn't know sign. She was an excellent speech-reader and neither of us allowed her deafness to stand in the way of our friendship. It was a very sad day when I left Michigan to move to Florida, my friend and her mom stood at the end of the driveway and waved good-bye as we drove off to our new home in a new state.
Many years have gone by and I never dreamed that I would one day become a sign language interpreter. When I enrolled at the University of South Florida my major was psychology and like everyone else I had to take a foreign language. I had learned that American Sign Language was being offered and since I knew the alphabet and a couple of signs I figured hey, this should be easy, so I registered for ASL I. My teacher was a hearing woman and a lot of fun. I really enjoyed the class and when the semester ended I had an A. Let me tell you, it was a hard earned A. Remember when I said that I thought learning ASL would be easy? I was so wrong... who the heck knew that ASL had it's own structure, syntax, grammar and that the deaf community had their own Culture? What's a classifier, a manual marker, facial expressions... you mean I have to raise and lower my eyebrows? That was one of the hardest things for me to learn, facial expressions that is. I have to admit my face was normally blank, expressionless, it felt awkward to me, honestly... I felt stupid. As you know or are learning, ASL is a very animated language and it takes time to get use to body gestures and facial expressions.
What helped me was interaction. Integrating into the deaf community outside of school was a finger twisting, hair raising, hands shaking experience and I mean that literally. I'm very fortunate to live in an area with a large deaf community and many Deaf/ASL functions. My first experience with the deaf community was at a local silent dinner. I sat in the corner and just watched, captivated by the swift movements of hands and the gracefulness of the signs. I couldn't bring myself to join them, I was too afraid and to embarrassed, but, a young deaf man who is now a very good friend of mine saw me in the corner and pulled me into his world and I haven't left yet.
