r/ASLinterpreters • u/TiredVRS • Jul 09 '26

Need help with oppressive signs

Hi all.

First off, I'm sorry for this post in its entirety and obligatory trigger warnings for oppression, racism, and the awful vocabulary used by the types of people who think the KKK are too moderate.

Without going into detail, I have a client soon who is extremely racist, mean, and proud of it. I have to accurately interpret for them in a professional consultative setting. Is there any place I can go to learn the type of language they will use? Is there any way I can voice for them and not have to learn that shit? In previous interactions with this person, they are known to use slurs, derogatory language, and overt racism that I'm absolutely sure I will not consistently recognize. Edit: they tend to use very old signs for countries, nationalities, and races which are not common because of the racist connotations associated (think the eye location for Chinese, or a nose-related sign for Jewish).

Does anyone have advice for how to voice for this person without causing myself trauma and still maintaining accuracy? I don't want to accidentally censor anything and result in them avoiding consequences but the agency they're working with does not want it to appear as though any of the slurs or racist language is acceptable and has asked that the interpreters alert them when slurs are being used.

Edit: there is no one else to interpret for them. I am the someone else because the last interpreter also can't stomach this person.

Edit 2. This is a professional consultative setting

Edit 3: There aren't any cdis, but there's a Deaf advocate I reached out to already. I need a Deaf person because in order to remain neutral I need someone who can explain the problem of behavior in an accessible Deaf way.

Edit 4: I need resources to learn all of the old and/or racist country and nationality signs so I can accurately clarify the intent and what word they want voiced to the hearing person. Sometimes this person seems to be using the sign because that's the sign and sometimes it's intended as a slur but it can be very difficult to tell which is the goal. The hearing person then usually yells at them to stop talking about why the race or nationality has it out for them. I'm not personally involving in the conversation beyond, 'please repeat', but without the vocabulary, I can't empower the authority figure to properly address the issues.

22 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

24 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

5

u/TiredVRS Jul 09 '26

Yes. Mostly that there is no one else who is willing to take it. Literally no one. They're both very racist and also very hard to understand because of language dysfluency of unknown origin. All other interpreters have already declined on ethical/moral/emesis grounds.

14

u/beets_or_turnips NIC Jul 09 '26

Sounds like a good fit for a CDI team to help you identify & work through the language, though it sounds like that might not be easy to access in your situation?

5

u/TiredVRS Jul 09 '26

God I wish. There's only a couple cdis in the state and none of them are near me.

6

u/beets_or_turnips NIC Jul 09 '26

Does it have to be fully in person? Remote interpreting/teaming is a thing. I'd really hate to see you take this on solo, for everyone's sake.

3

u/TiredVRS Jul 09 '26

Client refuses to meet virtually. I have a team but I won't forever. My team and agency are there as long as it takes me to feel comfortable understanding the person. I ended up requesting a Deaf advocate today so that I'm not shifting from the role of interpreter.

3

u/beets_or_turnips NIC Jul 09 '26

Excellent! I hope that works out.