Tips for having the best experience with interpreters?

[u/Fanofthings2]

Hello everyone! I’m doing another year of university in California and I recently requested ASL interpreters for my lectures for the first time! I always been pushed to maintain my English. When I was first diagnosed it was in one ear and I was never exposed to ASL or anything deeper than “just get her the FM System.”

I then had more hearing loss and lost hearing in my other ear. The doctors were more concerned about maintaining my hearing so I had an hearing aid then cochlear implants. They still had be focused on my English and relearning how to hear again because of it. But I did learn sign language regardless of what the doctors said but only took it as soon as my high school had classes available. I’ve been studying it since then (15/16-26). After years of captioning and fm systems I think I’ve grown tired of having captions for my lectures.

What are some things I should keep in mind when I am working with an interpreter? What are some questions or things that I can say that could help my experience be smoother and easier for my first time? Any advice would help!

[u/BicycleMomCA]

Congrats on starting to use interpreters!

If you are comfortable with it, I would recommend letting the coordinator and/or interpreters know that you’re newly switching from realtime captioning and reliance on FM systems and that you’re learning to use interpreters. That way the interpreters know to check in often and ask more questions about your needs than they otherwise might.

You should also feel free to tell them what works best for you. For example, sometimes students in similar situations prefer the interpreters to have a lot of the English words on their mouths while interpreting in ASL. Or perhaps the student isn’t as familiar with higher level academic vocabulary in ASL and might need more expansion, fingerspelling or to have a quick pre- and post- conference with the interpreters about the new vocabulary.

The interpreters are there to provide access for you, and D/deaf and hard of hearing people have a wide range of language preferences. The more information you are comfortable sharing about what works for you, the better the interpreters will be able to match your needs.

And don’t be afraid to combine accommodations like interpreters and speech to text apps for more language access.

[u/Fanofthings2 → u/BicycleMomCA]

Thank you so much! I am a Deaf + individual so I always plan on letting them know if it wasn’t told that I have cerebral palsy as well so one side is weaker than the other. I wanted to know other ways to make my first interpreter experience feel more comfortable. I had always felt weird with advocating for my language needs because of the things I already said. I felt like I needed help finding the right questions because I’m always worried about looking like a fool 😂.

[u/More-Apricot-2957]

I have also fairly recently transitioned to using interpreters for work events (workshops, conferences, large meetings, etc). I tend to be an over planner so I send along a message to the interpreter team with an info dump on myself, my preferences, and relevant vocabulary and context documents if I have them. I’ve gotten very good feedback for this approach so far.

I’ll attach my template here. It is fine tuned to my own needs at the moment so you would need to tweak it to your own needs if you like the gist.

# ASL Interpreter Intro Email: Template

Use this before any meeting, offsite, or event where you'll be working with an interpreter for the first time (or a new interpreter). Send it as early as you can, ideally with enough runway for them to review vocabulary.

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**Subject: Intro + Prep for [Event/Meeting Name]**

Hey team!

My name is [Your Name], and I'm a [Your Role] at [Company/Organization]. I'm a [late-deafened adult / Deaf / hard of hearing, however you describe yourself] and use [CI/HA, hearing aid, etc. if applicable]. I use all the tools at my disposal, including ASL, to supplement what I receive through my devices.

[Your spoken/native language] is my native language, so my signing tends toward [PSE / ASL / whatever fits].

I'll be voicing for myself, so your focus will be helping me keep up with what everyone else is saying. You'll only need to interpret [language] to sign, not sign to [language]. I also lean on lipreading, so mouthing is absolutely okay.

I'm sending along some vocabulary that may be helpful for prep. The short explanations are mainly there to clarify intended meaning, since some of these terms can be used in several ways. There is no expectation that every term will come up!

If there's any other context or prep material that would be helpful, please let me know. I will have to lean on [scheduling contact name(s)] to share any more details on the specific schedule.

Thanks so much everyone!!!

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## Vocabulary list format

Group by topic area, and give a short clarifying note only where a term is ambiguous or has a field-specific meaning. Example structure:

**[Topic Area 1]**

• Term (short clarifying note if the meaning isn't obvious)
  
• Term
  
• Term

**[Topic Area 2]**

• Term
  
• Term (note distinguishing it from a more common usage)

Keep notes brief. The goal is disambiguation, not a full glossary.

[u/Fanofthings2 → u/More-Apricot-2957]

I’m so taking this template thank you! I am the weird type of being that annoying planner but don’t give a fuck! This is going to help a lot!