IW 122: Interview Alex Laferriere Part 2: What to Take from Trailblazing CODAs

I see the trail. I put on my blazer. Does that make me a Trailblazer?

According to Alex Laferriere, we're all trailblazers and we make that trail as we go. Alex continues to fill us in on his journey to understanding his identity, as a CODA, a gamer, a media producer, and more. His journey reflects how we all learn as we too blaze our trails.

As talked about in episode IW 123, here is Alex's ASL signing on his YouTube gaming episode: https://youtu.be/TA3qC98jm9o?si=gkFb5rHzHUZrRG0J&t=1533

LINKS mentioned:

• IW Community Discount until Dec 31, 11:59:59pm.
  • 10-50% OFF workshops, seminars. Earn CEUs, CPD, and professional development hours.
  • And much more.
• Sharon's new book! (Use promo code IWCurry for 10% Discount.)
  • Give a note to ask for a signed copy!

Transcript

IW 122: Interview Alex Laferriere Part 2: What to Take from Trailblazing CODAs

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[ROCK INTRO MUSIC STARTS]

00:00:02 Tim

Good morning, good evening, good afternoon. Wherever you are, this is the Interpreter's Workshop podcast. I'm Tim Curry, your host. Here we talk everything sign language interpreting the ins, the outs, the ups, the downs, the sideways of interpreting. If you're a student, a new interpreter, experienced interpreter, this is the place for you. If you want to know more, go to interpretersworkshop.com.

00:00:28 Tim

Let's start talking... interpreting.

[ROCK INTRO MUSIC ENDS]

00:00:34 Tim

And now the quote of the day by J. R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, the book, The Fellowship of the Ring.

00:00:45 Tim

“It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.”

00:00:57 Tim

We all take a road, we start our journey and along the way, the people we meet, the roads we turn to, the places we stop, they all teach us something, but it's still our journey. We are the ones making the path. Today we talk with Alex again, the CODA who is not a sign language interpreter.

00:01:19 Tim

And we learn more of his journey on what it really means to be a CODA and how he evolves, and how his road intersects with many other CODAs of different ages. And they inform his journey and create new paths for him to take.

00:01:37 Tim

Alex is proud of where he is and the stories of his journey can help us look at our own journey, see where we've been, what we've learned, who we've met, and how we too can be proud. So, let's… get started.

[SHORT TRANSITION MUSIC]

00:01:56 Tim

As you're learning about yourself as a CODA [Alex: mm-hmm] and realizing what your experience growing up in this family, what do you think people get wrong about CODAs? Like if you go back to the lady who came into Starbucks, and her awe about you as being a CODA. And then there are people who have a different viewpoint. What is it? What is it about that that is maybe wrong?

00:02:23 Alex

Yeah, the awe… So, I feel…

00:02:28 Alex

Like anything, there are many different aspects to anyone thing, so the notion of CODAness is, is a CODAs journey, and everyone's view on it can be XY or Z. [Tim: mm-hmm] I just think it's valuable to be self-aware.

00:02:42 Alex

There and to take that self-awareness to contrast it with others like yourself. So, to see and be aware of other CODAs that are awesome professional interpreters. Ohh wow. I never thought of it could look like that. Or the job could entail that. Or even I want to have aspects of that in my life.

00:03:02 Alex

Not the job, but the way they perform it, the way they execute it, the way they think about it. Ohh little tips and techniques and we can get into some of those that I use in my life to this day [Tim: yeah] where it's like oh those are valuable that I never thought about. And in fact, it eases the mental strain. Or it clarifies both parties’ understanding and intent and your position and role on it.

00:03:24 Alex

So quick one before I forget, is…

00:03:27 Alex

“Oh, client says this.”

00:03:29 Alex

Is an actual thing that an interpreter might say, and this is. This is probably ignorant me because I've never gone through an ITP service or whatever, but to hear it and see it in action, was it like?

00:03:40 Alex

Oh, that's a good thing to say. To clarify if when you're just talking and talking and who's saying what, say who's saying what. I, it's just those little things that I was like, oh, that's a nice pick up [Tim: hmm] along the way and probably ignorant me, I should probably go through an ITP program. ‘Cause like that American Sign Language class did it help me historically but also helped me grammatically, vocabulary, and all [Tim: mm-hmm] of these things in terms of…

00:04:02 Alex

Ah great, now I can pick up more information that I have been lacking to this point. And so, what do... What do people get wrong about CODAs? Maybe they start learning about them and thinking that they are one way.

00:04:14 Alex

And that that's not the case as well and maybe they aren't specifically signers, maybe they aren't specifically from a good Gallaudet University educated upbringing, maybe don't even know they're CODAs. Maybe they're not even from the US. You know, this aspect to it starts get going bigger and bigger. And so, I think identity politics have a position in our modern world. [Tim: mm-hmm]

00:04:35 Alex

But if we start poking and prodding at it, things can breakdown really easily and really quickly where there's not some monolithic, same for Deaf as well too. But I think there's a nice aspect of idealized...

00:04:46 Alex

And I'm not saying everyone needs the same, to share that same idealized notion. But to look at and this is sort of getting into a lot of my media making, mythology making what is the idealized notion, selfishly or personally, but that we can all sort of look up to and say this is a CODA throughout time, whether that's through the millennia.

00:05:05 Alex

And here's are the instances that they engage with, and here's the, the, the, the philosophy that they carry around or walk away from [Tim: mm-hmm] in all of its many shapes and forms, and the same thing could be said about the interpreter.

00:05:15 Alex

A CODA could be an interpreter. An interpreter doesn't have to be a CODA, though. [Tim: Yeah] So, there's that notion that feeds into the idealized notion of an interpreter. Whether it's a sign language interpreter or vocal interpreter, whatever. But that notion, I would imagine for yourself and your listeners.

00:05:28 Alex

What is the idealized version of an interpreter that we all, theoretically, want to subscribe to? [Tim: Yeah]

00:05:34 Alex

And maybe people get it wrong in a number of ways. Uh, they're lying cheats, and they're never gonna show up for the job, OK or they're super engaged and, and they only wanna help and they have a heart of gold, OK… 

00:05:46 Alex

OK, maybe [Tim chuckles] it's something in between too that has this. You know, we're all human at the end of the day, but to be aware of those two extremes.

00:05:52 Alex

We, you know, we get to see. Ah, this is the perspective that has been distilled down over time. That famous joke of the interpreter and the deaf person getting robbed. And the interpreter doesn't tell the deaf person or tell the, the robber where the gold is or whatever. And then the deaf person gets killed and the interpreter comes back and gets the gold later. Ah ha ha ha.

00:06:10 Alex

But there's some instances where there's some truth in there that we all need to subscribe to and say, ah, I don't want to fall victim to that lying, cheating interpreter. [Tim: mm-hmm] And I'm sure there's other instances as well, too so…

00:06:21 Tim

Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

[SHORT TRANSITION MUSIC]

00:06:27 Tim

You were learning more and more as an adult about being a CODA about being in this world or these two worlds.

00:06:36 Tim

How did you realize your language was? [Alex: mmm] Did you start seeing your language differently? Like ohh, my English is this, or my ASL is more like this, and I, I, I realize now I'm making mistakes, or I use it differently than other people?

00:06:51 Alex

100%! That film project in 2012 was pivotal in meeting young deaf signers and having those conversations in depth and I still carry around certain instances that these people have told me, and I carry with me to this day. One of them being, I want you to go back home to tie it back to how you went back to and talked with your parents. I want you to go back home and have these really robust conversations with your dad. [Tim: hmmm]

00:07:20 Alex

OH, like wow, that is, that is so true. OH I, you know, I want you to carry this like with pride, because XY and Z. And then personally being like, “Oh man, my own limitations have been this.”

00:07:32 Alex

SIMComing or sloppy execution or wrong vocab and that's a big one along the journey as well too. The wrong sign for the wrong thing. Is that a home sign? What does that mean? It means ice cream. Ice cream? No, no. This is ice cream. You know, this is a US, American Sign Language, ice cream. [Tim: yeah] You know and, and kind of being ashamed of certain things of like… [Tim: hmm]

00:07:52 Alex

Oh, wow. OK. And identifying these are home signs, but there's probably a correct way of doing things. A correct way in a certain community to execute it, to pronounce it, to say it. Ohh. OK. And that's, that's sign language stuff in a hyper contextualized sense.

00:08:08 Alex

Well, there's a large hearing world out there too. So, if I were to contrast everything I've learned with the hearing world, that means… and we start getting into deaf culture and deaf, you know, [Tim: mm-hmm] operational procedures and attitudes and stuff. Well, then I want to learn how to navigate these better. And, you know, sometimes you always are hyper vigilant on yourself…

00:08:29 Alex

In terms of afraid to mispronounce, afraid to miss sign, afraid, you know, like fear [Tim: mm-hmm] is a, is a huge driving factor. But if anything, I've taken a lot of this to say…

00:08:39 Alex

If not me, then who? And I will do my best because there's a, a trail being blazed behind me and someone can use it for good or ill, [Tim: mm-hmm] but here I go. And let it, let it shine and ring true. [Tim: Yeah] And that has, has allowed me to correct my American Sign Language that has allowed me to correct my English expression that has allowed me to better understand each of the domains.

00:09:04 Alex

Because no one has out and out just said it. And not to say it needs to be very blunt and direct, but maybe that's how I need it as well too. And to better execute each of those instances appropriately or more, or more succinctly, or more skillfully. And that's the big one, too. Do it skillfully with pride and with, without, without ego, but do it because it has been born to us. You know we are born to it so... [Tim: hmm]

00:09:31 Alex

And I think that could be said the same thing about interpreters too. You know, to take on the mantels as well, too, for whatever way shape or form.

00:09:37 Alex

To do it skillfully, to do it with pride, to do it with, you know, everything I've just said at this point, and it doesn't have to be... And I personally don't think it’s cultural appropriation or, or, you know, overreaching your bounds.

00:09:49 Alex

And maybe it's because of the doctrine in the past 10-15 years that I've ingested is Sign Language For Humanity and expanding the world.

00:09:57 Alex

And I understand there's a sordid history behind it, but I think we all succeed if we all ingest this appropriately, without overstepping and overreaching our bounds and growing together. So…

00:10:08 Alex

That's what I want.

00:10:09 Tim

Yeah. So, let's go to that film project in the Midwest in the US. Let's talk a little bit about that because that seems like one of the other pivotal moments for you.

00:10:20 Tim

What was it about and why were there deaf there? Etc.

00:10:24 Alex

Yeah, this was actually, I was one of two, three hearing people on a set of 30 that could hear, [Tim: mm-hmm] and this was a deaf lead production, deaf director, deaf cinematographer. You know, death everything. And it was a sign language film.

00:10:42 Alex

A film done in sign language with the soundtrack and music and everything. But as I was going through this, it was sort of like, Yep, Yep. Yep, Yep. OK kind of. You know, I understand what's going on here, but at the same time being like,…

00:10:55 Alex

How is any of this happening? This is like the amalgamation of everything that I want to do in life, but I never imagined it in this specific scenario, with these specific pieces of something that is totally unique to me in this period in time.

00:11:06 Tim

Mm-hmm.

00:11:08 Alex

And that, that, this film, and a project, and movies can be very commodified, but this film and everything to me is so enriching, and it's like a once in a lifetime, who knows I'm not dead yet... but like a once in a lifetime opportunity to, to be involved in, and it was so pivotal and changing the trajectory of my life focus. [Tim: mm-hmm] 

00:11:30 Alex

Because I got to see these, a deaf director leading a deaf team and all, and the whole production was done in sign language and, and that was cool. I've never thought about making films that incorporated sign language or was produced in sign language, and I saw many benefits to it. And I, I want more of that, you know, [Tim: mm-hmm] and I've been on a, on a, on a quest ever since to kind of do that.

00:11:50 Alex

And I have in, in various aspects of my own life as well too, so to kind of see it bubbling on the mainstream, Ah, it's like.

00:11:56 Alex

Is, is a Hollywood is a mainstream, ready for next sort of, you know, coined this signed cinema type of aspect. [Tim: mm-hmm] And deafness is great but it's there's way more stories to be told with sign language as well on top of deafness. I'm not underplaying it I'm not undercutting it. [Tim: mm-hmm] I just think there's we always tell the same “should this deaf child speak or sign.”

00:12:16 Alex

That's such a classic story that I don't… I think is, is rudimentary and we, we should get beyond that and there's way more beyond that. And we've only started to see that too.

00:12:25 Alex

Shape Of Water is another one I point out. Without, you know, it's obviously a monster and we could say, “ohh, you know monsters use sign language.”

00:12:31 Alex

Well, no, but...

00:12:32 Alex

It's like a notion of signed language in a movie that is totally about not deafness related stuff.

00:12:39 Tim

Yeah. Yeah. It's part of that, that utopia of, well, he knows sign language he will use sign language. It's just another language.

00:12:47 Alex

Right, exactly. And so, Sign Language For Humanity…

00:12:51 Alex

…can be looked at, at the policy level of getting it into schools, but it could also be looked at, you know, a largely of… Everyone, you know, the, all these non-signers getting jealous of the sign language stuff over there. Well then let's incorporate it into our lives and, and elevate it to be alongside spoken English here in America or you know, spoken Czech, or wherever else in the world.

[ROCK TRANSITION MUSIC STARTS]

00:13:13 Tim

Thank you so much for incorporating this podcast into your world. Now, don't be selfish. Tell a friend and colleague about the podcast. Share with them this podcast and the many stories from sign language interpreters around the world. Thank you. Now let's go back.

[ROCK TRANSITION MUSIC ENDS]

00:13:30 Tim

So, after that project what did you start? I'm assuming at that point you were excited and you're like, I need to do something with this. What was that next step?

00:13:40 Alex

Yeah, well, when I came back and it was sort of like my head being spun around, [Tim: hmm] total 360, did I find employment opportunity in Providence, RI, at this university that I knew nothing about. And it became a very hyper academic world and I would pursue my masters and sort of a second collegiate experience that I, I dubbed my CODA school.

00:14:01 Alex

Because I was very focused on…

00:14:04 Alex

…anything CODA, I'm going to go out there and find it. CODA conference. CODA camps. I went to a bunch of summer camps, and they were very enriching cause I got to see the younger generation and it was very emotional being 27 and seeing someone 13 and being like, “I was there at this point [Tim: mm-hmm] and I'm going to talk to this kid with all this stuff that I've just filled my head with and, and set [Tim chuckles] him or her or them up for the next generation trajectory.” Now, little would I know that I would go to these camps with these kids that have gone 2, 3, 4, or 5 years and I was the one that would be learning from the kids [Tim laughing] in terms of…

00:14:38 Alex

Their empowerment and their knowledge. So, it just speaks to the, the strength of the CODA camps out there that are doing amazing work. And I, and I support that in a number of different ways. [Tim: Yeah] I would make short films at these summer camps on deserted desert islands with my laptop. [Tim chuckles] And, yeah, very renegade filmmaker that was fulfilling these itches. That was again the right place, the right time.

00:14:58 Alex

And, and you know the, the gorilla filmmaker…

00:15:01 Alex

And trying to show off my stuff, but like do it for the kids and I have all these artifacts in my, my bag of tricks that I that I carry around to this day. So that was sort of the immediate 2014, ‘15, ’16, ‘17 years of my life.

00:15:14 Tim

Yeah, yeah. And what was your masters in then?

00:15:17 Alex

Public affairs. And it was, you know, I had an undergraduate degree in Multi-, Multimedia, Interactive Media and game design. [Tim: mm-hmm]

00:15:26 Alex

And it was night and day compared to doing a government sort of focused policy brief, masters at a liberal arts school versus a game design degree from an engineering school. And I think that speaks to my two-world aspect too, where I went to an engineering undergrad but a liberal arts master’s school and it was the perfect sort of synthesis of my understanding and mindset.

00:15:47 Tim

Yeah. Wow. Well, you went from focus on fun early years to that utopia mindset of policies and so forth.

00:15:56 Alex

Yeah, the world that is drudged down in bureaucracy and bloats.

00:16:00 Alex

And so, I've sort of pivoted back to media making because I don't know. It's fun and you know, you know, viral videos or whatever is to me, perhaps maybe very near sightedly able to make immediate impact versus long winded debate and policy that may or may be shuffled around and and buried within the annals of law. [Tim: yeah]

00:16:21 Alex

But again, probably an ignorant statement because we live based upon the laws that were made decades ago, so I see what's going on here, but I don't know. I think if with enough resurgence or enlightenment through media, could we expedite the process [Tim: mm-hmm] or at least enjoy it. Enjoy it along way.

00:16:37 Tim

Yeah, I think in, especially in the US, we're very influenced by the media, by the, the movies, TV shows. So that may be one Ave. that like you say could set the spark, in other words, bringing awareness faster.

00:16:54 Alex

There's many facets to that gem. You know, it's going to need it all at once.

00:16:59 Tim

Yeah, all at the same time. That's the difficulty. You need the policies on a grand level, and you need the grassroots effort within the communities.

00:17:08 Alex

I think the media sculpts it, though I think you need to enlighten people on the inside first through the internal messaging, through the, the belief system, through the empowerment and that carries them throughout their own life through the ups and downs of political turmoil. And you know, social debate. But if you don't have that strong internal... mythos…[Tim: mm-hmm]

00:17:31 Alex

…you're not going to be able to withstand the storm. And I speak that broadly. You know, whether that's empowering CODAs or even interpreters as well too. Again, to focus in on your audiences, finding that media that makes you enriched. Ah, that movie made me want to be an interpreter. That song makes me feel like I have a place as an interpreter.

00:17:51 Alex

Whatever that might be in any way shape or form. [Tim: mm-hmm] And, and there could be great joy in that, and as a CODA going to CODA conferences and seeing amazing interpreters…

00:18:00 Alex

You've asked me earlier how come you're not an interpreter professionally? Well, I'm not, but there are times that I do get great joy out of finding myself in an interpreting situation, whether that's called upon to be one, whether that's right place, right time and standing up and doing the role and moving on.

00:18:15 Alex

But I feel once I have to pursue it professionally, it changes that psyche, where all of a sudden I'm trying to manipulate it for professional gain, or a title, or highest rank, or whatever, and it's sort of like manipulates the purity of it all. But again, I'm probably a romantic in all this and that speaks to my creative side.

00:18:34 Tim

That connects to the CODA interpreter, Gerry, that I just interviewed from Holland from the Netherlands, where he said it seems to be, especially in the US, he sees that the whole profession is becoming more of an industry, more of a business model and…

00:18:50 Tim

That's what you're speaking to now. It does change the mindset when we become an interpreter or any, I guess, profession that we pursue, we start looking at it in the academic level or on a certain business level. And that changes… (like you... That's a beautiful word.) that changes the purity of it. Yeah.

00:19:09 Alex

Well, that's, that's the American way. Capitalism, baby! [both chuckling]

00:19:15 Tim

[sighs] Aaah, yeah.

00:19:15 Alex

Not to say that's a good thing. It's just nice to hear the international CODA's perspective on it and destroying the purity of it [Tim chuckles] is, is the driving force. But I can understand the systematization of it, the refinement of it, the, the capitalization of it, because, I don't know, if it can't sustain life, [Tim: right] then it can't sustain life.

00:19:35 Alex

You know, and that's the engineering side of my mindset and I'm trying to find that ever balance of, you know, how do we make money from this versus like what's the purest form of, whatever, and it's like, well, what's, what's, you know, the, the middle ground?

00:19:48 Tim

How do you get past that point where you said we got to stop talking about the basic things? Well, should the child sign, or should the child get a cochlear implant? Or should they, you know, how do we get past those basic debates?

00:20:02 Alex

In media or in policy and abroad?

00:20:06 Tim

I'd say in a broad sense, because we can probably only speak to one country because every country is at different levels, [Alex: right] and laws, accessibility. But how do we get past that? It's, it's kind of like if we analyze it over and over and then we have people in society that are still ignorant and they're like, “But you mean deaf people can drive?” [Alex: hmm] You know, that mentality is still here. How do we get rid of that? Or can we?

00:20:34 Alex

Well, I, I feel like it's like a rite of passage. You need to have those basic fundamental conversations in order to get beyond it.

00:20:43 Alex

But once you have them, I do not think you need to dwell in them, or you should not dwell on them. Revisit them because there's always a new generation. Do, do not forget them because we'll fall victim to it, [Tim: mm-hmm] but constantly be trying to advance the conversation internally and immediately around you. And I think media does that and I think pointing to certain films in my mind, summarize the aspect of…

00:21:07 Alex

Watch And Your Name Is Jonah, 1979 for the, you know, initial conversation of having a deaf child and the internal struggle that a mother goes through and the benefits of why sign language is key. That's a very agenda-based perspective because I guess I'm of sign language manualist enthusiast. [Tim: mm-hmm] But here's the counter argument to it all.

00:21:28 Alex

Watch this movie for this reasoning and see the result of that and you know it's like… And I think And Your Name is Jonah has both sides of the camps instilled in them oralist and manualist. So, it summarizes all of these aspects in an hour and a half conversation.

00:21:42 Alex

OK, now that we're beyond that, we, we've saved you a whole semester of [Tim chuckling] you know, the, the basic conversations. [Tim: Yeah] So, to constantly move beyond that, again, it's media, it's stories, it's pointed these things that exist and have not existed for millennia [Tim: mm-hmm] and only now are being solidified in literature, and movies, and the conversation. So…

00:22:02 Alex

Let time do its thing, I guess, but yeah, to be blunt about it, I guess just saying, can we give on beyond these conversations? [both chuckling] …in the circle that you're in.

00:22:13 Tim

Yeah, yeah. That perhaps is something interpreters need to also think about. How do we advance the conversation when people are asking us these basic questions, these ignorant questions?

00:22:25 Tim

And we tend to answer them quickly with the answer that I've had for the last decade. Here it is. [Alex slightly chuckles]

00:22:32 Tim

But it doesn't advance the, the learning process for those individuals and I think we need to add something to that basic answer, which then steps it forward.

00:22:42 Alex

CODAs get those conversations too. Those questions, “How did you learn how to speak?” type of thing. [Tim chuckling]

00:22:45 Alex

You know, and this, and again you, you, you need to always have some level of pride even in moments of, you know, furious attitudes [Tim: mm-hmm] because you are faced with a unique situation that only you can address.

00:22:58 Alex

This hasn't ever been brought up before, so you can either go one of, not everything's a binary, but one of two ways, and if raging at it is your response, that might not be helping long term.

00:23:11 Tim

And that goes for everyone, I think.

00:23:13 Alex

Yeah, yeah, interpreters and everyone else. [Tim: Yeah]

[SHORT TRANSITION MUSIC]

00:23:21 Tim

My audience may be wondering how I got to you as a guest. I was watching a YouTube channel where some people were playing a game that I love, similar to Dungeons and Dragons, and during that episode I saw someone using American Sign Language or I thought I did. I had to…

00:23:40 Tim

Repeat it and said, “Yeah. Yeah, that was American Sign Language” because at first it just it came into my mind, and I understood it. And then I realized, wait a minute, that was sign language. And it was. He switched from English to American Sign Language because you know, because I know American Sign Language and I was listening to it. It didn't even dawn on me that you had changed mediums or languages. But I had to go back and say…

00:24:04 Tim

“Ohh hey this is interesting. This is overlapping my interest with gaming.”

00:24:09 Tim

I have very few friends in the world who know a sign language and our gamers as well. And so, I reached out, why, how, whe- Wh-??…

00:24:21 Alex

So, Alex, why? How? [both laughing]

00:24:22 Tim

Yeah, exactly. So let me segue into that…

00:24:26 Tim

Why? How did you get into gaming? Why are you doing a YouTube channel and, and why do you put in aspects of ASL?

[SHORT TRANSITION MUSIC]

[ROCK EXIT MUSIC STARTS]

00:24:39 Tim

Well, we'll just have to find out next week why Alex does what he does. Let's look back at this episode at the beginning where Alex says be self-aware, know who you are. Everyone is different and we learn aspects from each of their lives.

00:24:59 Tim

CODAs don't all sign. They don't all know about their culture, their heritage. Alex didn't realize that his language was basically inside his family until he went abroad, met people his own age, met CODAs, Deaf using signs that weren't the same as what he was used to.

00:25:20 Tim

Mingling with others outside our language group, our language comfort zone can help expand our own language use, our vocabulary, our understanding of what it is we're doing, what it means when we say the deaf community is diverse. It is not a homogeneous group who all have exactly the same path that they’ve blazed.

00:25:45 Tim

And each of us learn from each other while walking our own path.

00:25:51 Tim

And we should be proud of what we are doing, what we have done, because that gives us the confidence to learn from others, to see where we are different, where we can learn and understand how it connects to where we were and where we are, and possibly where we can go.

00:26:10 Tim

Alex and I talked about the basic answers that we give people when they ask us things based on their own ignorance of who we are as sign language interpreters or who CODAs are, he said it very nicely, it’s a rite of passage.

00:26:25 Tim

People have to go through the learning process on their own while we still give them the basic answers to those basic questions. It's their journey. They're learning from us. It's not that they're going in circles because they are an individual walking their own path and picking up the tidbits of information along the way.

00:26:47 Tim

If we can give them a few seeds to plant so that they will grow more knowledge about the communities we serve in our own community as sign language interpreters, it's better for everyone.

00:27:03 Tim

Even though we will have to help someone else pass through their rite of passage later on, perhaps even tomorrow. Alex has summarized bits and pieces of his journey, developing his own identity as a CODA.

00:27:19 Tim

We all have similar journeys. We all start from our own door. We take that first step and the road is leading out in front of us and we go if we can. Our starting points are different.

00:27:33 Tim

Our beginning knowledge is different. The language use is different, and our journey creates our sign language interpreter identity as well. It's different from others, and yet we all can be proud of where we are, where we've been and where we're going.

00:27:51 Tim

So open that door. Take the road and let it sweep you away.

00:27:56 Tim

Until then, keep calm. Keep interpreting the journey. I'll see you next week. Take care now.

[ROCK EXIT MUSIC ENDS AT 00:28:42]