Sunday 26 June 2016

Inspiring People, Inspiring Plays.

A poster was put up in Benson Halls, where we are staying on Gallaudet University advertising a film created by Michelle Banks, entitled 'Reflections: Of a Black, Deaf Woman'. We thought 'why the hell not?' and decided to go along because it might be interesting to see the minority within a minority viewpoint. I was not expecting a one woman show that was for sure, Michelle Banks taking centre stage with her on stage god mother/ interpreter coming on stage for scene intervals and narrating the whole thing. God knows how. 'Reflections' was a pure and beautiful example of all that sign language can offer, showing the vivacious production of emotions and role shift from one character to another. I watched Michelle Banks turn from a lecherous old miser into a spritely young child, with the help of a few costume changes. I have never seen such good acting. It would be an insult to even compare the signing to English. No English structure was used, it was a show of sign language in its most unadulterated form, mixed with Michelle Bank's unbelievable acting skills, the two merging together to create a fluid, dynamic piece, smooth as silk and eye wateringly visual. 

It made me wish that I had immersed myself in American Sign Language sooner, cocooning myself in visual pieces of artwork, training my eyes to the alien movements found in this different language so I could piece together more parts for myself, understanding the beauty of the pictures created and acting, rather than rely on the lacking voice over or captions. Watching a BSL piece similar to this, I would grasp the majority of what was said but I felt like an outsider looking in as the deaf audience around me giggled at something that the captions hadn't quite moved onto yet, leaving a few second delay. Giuseppe Giuranna, the VV specialist who I briefly met at DeaFest this year, once told the mixed audience that hearing people could only understand eighty per cent of signed visual performances, whereas the deaf could appreciate it fully. This is something I would like to test to see if correct, but for 'Reflections' I wish I had full access. I knew something beautiful and powerful was happening but did not fully grasp the language enough to understand what that thing was. 

Michelle Bank's performance could have made up a series of stage shows and her pieces ranging from the hilarious to the viscerally heart breaking. She spills her imagined creation onto stage through dance, sign and acting, showing the audience a imagined life where the character suffers discrimination both through her race and through her deafness. The character's deafness was little talked about in the show, only referred to when she expressed attraction to hearing men or how she didn't find friends in a mainstream school. This changed when moved to a school for the deaf, a common theme with children fluent in sign language who use sign at home. 

After the show itself, Michelle Bank's came on stage to answer questions and it soon became clear that she is a woman with a strong grounded belief in her tri- identity, sure of herself after half a life  of living, confident in her own skin. During the Q and A, I grasped about half of what was being said through her skills as an actress incorporated into her signing and the combination of both, pointed me in the right direction. The show moved me, gave me moments of disbelief, of  confusion and there were points where my face split into an involuntary grin. It gave me a look into a world, both extraordinary and interesting. A world that that I could never access first hand, as far from my own experience of life as could be. 

The second production seen at Gallaudet was no less brilliant but in a different way. 'Miser' was a triumph and the only show I have seen where sign language is incorporated into the script itself. The interpreters sat dressed in black, set back from the stage as if seated in the walls of the house, under the captioning board.  Some of the funniest parts were when the actors themselves, like in Disney, interacted with the interpreters. At one point, one of the more physical actresses creeping over the stage right interpreter whilst the interpreter sat stone faced as if she didn't have a pantalooned and masked actress sliding over her legs. She carried on as if nothing had happened as the audience howled. Other actors also came stumbling across them, the character of Harpagon falling over them and yelling 'WHO ARE YOU?' incredulously and then mumbling that the thieves were taking over the house as the interpreters nonchalantly signed his words. Pure comedic gold. 

When two of the characters wanted to speak privately, they signed to each other, whilst their father went of on a spoken soliloquy on the other side of the stage. The characters slipped into sign seamlessly when the deaf character came on stage, interestingly the Miser himself did not understand sign and when he was interacting with the character of Mariane, another cast member interpreted as if in real life. Whole scenes were conducted in sign, with the captions expressing what was being signed, the actors and actresses obviously practicing their lines in sign and some seeming more natural than others. Through careful polishing it worked incredibly well, the deaf character seeming like a normal fixture in theatre as should be. 

For the most part, I did not watch the interpreters, too distraction by the endless motion on stage and the loud dialogue and action, choosing to use my ears to access the action. The genre of Commedia dell'Arte is possibly the most visual genre of theatre, the characters forever moving and shouting, a over animated, over accentuated portrayal of movement with impressive acrobatic acts throughout the dialogue. YouTube it, I can't describe it. This made for very hard interpreting, with sometimes a long delay between the speech and the sign translation. The ending was a hilarious mess of colour and noise and movement and I believe it was one of the best and most accessible piece of theatre I will ever see. An added bonus was the one and only Roberta Cordano, the first Female Deaf President of Gallaudet University sat in the row in front of me, an arms width away. Cue: controlled fangirling. 

Deaf Dawn

Washington DC not only has the only university catering for Deaf students but also has a unique service for deaf people who have suffered from domestic abuse. There are very few services of this nature in the world and even fewer that serve the Deaf community. Dawn is a very rare and very inspirational non profit organisation run by an all deaf team based in a quiet corner of DC. At first look, you could miss it, if not for the registered address on the front of the purple painted building labeled with 'healing services'. It is situated on a very quiet road, with a few metro stops, right next to a Police Station. On first arrival, it reminded me very much of a doctors waiting room, with hand drawn art on the walls, pamphlets and translations of services into different languages. The building is shared, with Dawn taking up the majority of the office space.


Shazia Siddiqi, the Executive Director, of Dawn came to meet us and she gave us the run down of the organisation and what their work consists of. She explained to us about the company, the services they provide and also about the abuse they encounter. She only finger spelt abuse despite their being two signs for the word and explained that the visuality of the signs could trigger upset in the survivors. Finger spelling the word conjures up no images other than the English word and is therefore, a safe alternative used by the staff. Their services included workshops for the outside community, aiming to spread awareness and educate both the hearing  and deaf worlds on the forms of abuse that can happen to a survivor. The women are not named as victims, which has connotations of negativity and vulnerability but survivors, a positive reminder that they have overcome.


Dawn works closely with Gallaudet University as the biggest group of deaf people in the area, especially since those at university age are the ones most at risk of abuse. They also educate the male gender on how to identify abuse. One in two deaf women and one in six deaf men will be victims of abuse at some point in their lives, a figure that shocked me. Dawn is obviously a service that is greatly needed and has a high turnover of people who contact their services- around one hundred people a year.  As for the actual services that they provide, Shazia answered that their motto is 'person centered support', meaning that whatever the survivor needed or wanted they would provide Sometimes, the person just wanted to talk or other times they needed help from the police or in a court setting. One of their main policies was a 'safety plan', where the survivor would leave a packed bag with money, clothes and supplies with a relative or friend, so that if she needed to escape or took the decision to leave, there was a back up plan.


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The office had posters of this displayed on the walls as well as a multitude of children's toys stashed away under the table. Before walking into the office, I had expected that the topic of the meeting we were about to have was not to be a happy one. The wheel pictured above details the forms of abuse that a person, more specifically, a deaf person can suffer. The interesting aspect is the section termed 'hearing priviledge' stating the possible abuse that a person could suffer linked to their deafness and language choice. Shazia explained that Dawn is a deaf led service for people who use ASL as their preferred language, all the staff are deaf and use ASL as their first language. This made me think about the deaf people who do not use ASL and I asked Shazia where the oral contingency turn to. Shazia answered that their services are open to anyone whether they signed or not, showing nothing of the divide between oral deaf people and a big D Deaf. Most of the information given surprised and shocked me. We found out that there are two types of abusers, the Pit bull which is the typical image of an abuser: a macho man with the big muscles and then the Cobra: the sly man who manipulates the women he abuses through various means. She did not mention the one in six deaf men who could potentially be abused in their life time. Out of the two types, the Pitbull constitutes fifteen percent  of the abusers whereas the Cobra makes up the remaining eighty five percent of men that commit the abuse. 



The Cobra is by far the most dangerous, cutting off ties the victim has to the outside world, slowly isolating her from her family and loved ones, and destroying her confidence and belief in herself. Seventy five percent of the women who are abused by the Cobra either commit suicide or are killed by the abuser. I asked who are the abusers,  hearing or deaf?  The answer came as both: roughly half the abusers were hearing and half were deaf. Shazia also accentuated that the survivors come from all walks of life, contradicting the popular belief that only those who are abused come from poorer backgrounds. This was not true, with people in high positions in society both falling victim and committing the abuse themselves. 


Only photo we have,
shame it is blurry! 
It suddenly occurred to me how hard it must be for someone to support the survivors and come across all forms of abuse on a daily basis as their job. It made me wonder why someone would choose this as a career path.  Shazia's answer was both interesting and harrowing. She had trained in Community Public Services at University and went on to do a Masters in medicine graduating as a doctor, she reported that she felt the need to give back to the community and found the job at Dawn. She recognizes that her job is difficult and said that the charity has a high turn over of staff because it takes an emotional toll on the staff and after around five years, it gets too much. She said it is also very low pay as the charity is exactly that- a charity, one that relies on the unsteady flow of money from patrons and the government. We got into a conversation about how small the deaf world is and how difficult it must be to remove yourself from a partner. On the odd occasion, she would go to a social event and meet an abuser or a survivor and act like she doesn't know them, doesn't know the horrific details of the case and carry on with a straight face, bound by confidentiality. This must take a mammoth amount of internal strength and professionalism. 

The team were very welcoming, supplying us with lots of information about the organisation and the staff team and after we were saturated with information. we got chatting about  the difference between the Deaf Community here and in England and about BSL, Shazia knowing some herself after spending a year in England. We left the office with a promises of further contact from Shazia, a goodbye hug and information about another charity in Rochester that is similar to Dawn. But what stayed with me the most and will continue to stay with me for a very long time is the the inspiring work of the Dawn team as they try and reduce the shocking number of deaf people that suffer abuse and continue to support the survivors. The Dawn team are truly inspiring and we need more charities of this sort not just catering for the deaf but across the board, advocating for and supporting the diverse range of people that make up the human race. 

Link to website and source for images:
http://www.deafdawn.org/

Sunday 19 June 2016

Welcome to Gallaudet.

There are deaf people everywhere, which would make sense because the majority of the students here are deaf and use sign language as their preferred language. Everywhere you look people are signing, the people on reception, the men unloading their vans in the car park, the baseball players on the field. I can't get my head around it. After being in a world where the majority language is speech and back ground chatter of random voices is a constant, being in a place where you look round and notice the couple walking next to you are not speaking but signing is pretty mind blowing. There are still voices to be heard but they are rare and I pick them up easily in the calm quiet. Here, the tables have turned, I am the minority group of the 'normals' as the hearing people on campus used to be called. I also can't speak the majority language all that well but try to use it as much as possible while I am here. Campus is quiet because we arrived in the limbo time between the full term ending and the summer schools starting, so there are not many people wandering around. Despite this,  is easy to feel the vibe of the place. 

Gallaudet is steeped in quiet history after more than 150 years running as a university designed for the deaf. This can be seen through the statues dotted around campus. The first President of Gallaudet University, Edward Miner Gallaudet sits proudly on the grassy embankment named the Mall in the centre of campus and the statues of Laurent Clerk outside Fowler Hall reminds me that I am currently stood in the middle of a deaf history lesson. I am surrounded by it. The Deaf President Now campaign is still visibly a source of pride for the university, exhibitions on it alone standing in the museum and visitor centre. 'Ole Jim' the powerhouse for the influential campaign stands as a constant reminder of what was achieved during the week the world heard Gallaudet back in March 1988, the building holding memorabilia from the event and the old merchandise from the 1980s. It felt like a privilege to be stood in the room where so much history developed. Some of the buildings from the original campus are still standing, refurbished to their historical prowess and scattered around the leafy campus. Our dorm is not one of these building, it feels like I have been transported back to first year in my old halls in Preston, only with deaf space. There are flashing doorbells and lights above the doors, there is open space to see your roomie and every where is light and airy. I wonder why there is a mirror against a water fountain set against the wall and then realise it is because the people here can't rely on sound to know when someone is approaching behind them so need to be able to see the space behind them. On the third day, we are infested with ants across our window sill, makes me feel like I am back in crappy Preston again, I suppose uni halls are uni halls, no matter what the country.


The Bison tour gave us an insight into the history surrounding Gallaudet, showing us the separate historical buildings such as 'Ole Jim' but also the newer elements of the campus, like the newer accommodation built in the 2000s. Gallaudet seems to be a mixture of the old and new, each part entwining to create the feeling that it is a power house in the deaf world, a entity that knows which direction it is heading towards and what it wishes to achieve. We also got to go into the Presidents Office which was something quite incredible as I didn't realise we were going there until our tour guide, Conrad, told us that the first deaf and female President of Gallaudet was in the next room, holding a conference behind the giant polished wood doors. I could hear the interpreter. I tried to suppress my nerdy excitement and move on to the next point of interest, which was what looked like a lectern with a handle sticking out the front. Conrad pulled the handle and I nearly jumped through the roof. Inside the lectern was a weight that went thudding to the floor when you pulled the handle, making the floor vibrate and my eardrums want to recede into my head. It was an old fashioned door knocker, which instead of relying on sound, caused the floor to vibrate so the deaf people inside the room, knew when someone wanted to gain entry. I politely declined pulling it again. Conrad also showed us the Sorenson building which was designed as deaf space. There were wide staircases so people can easily hold a conversation whilst walking upstairs, open plan space so you can see everyone and everything in the building and it was light and airy so vision isn't restricted. The rooms had misty panels so that you could see if there was anyone in there but not who or what they were doing, allowing for vision to be the main stimuli in this area. Glass elevators and panels on the floors above with rounded walls. The concept was fantastic but most of Gallaudet is designed this way.


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What suprised me most here is that, yes you see people signing around and on campus as well as the odd few speaking but off campus and in the surrounding area, deaf people are an obvious part of the community. They are stood on steps on porch fronts chatting away, waving to friends in the street and more astoundingly, you can go into a shop and people understand signing. You want rice and finger spell it to the person behind the counter, they get it straight away and give you your order, no problem. In England, you would need three interpreters, a degree in mime and gesture and a handbook on beginners finger spelling for them to comprehend that you want a Carlsberg and you would still end up with a diet coke. The people in the surrounding area are used to signers and know how to communicate with them, they don't look like a fish out of water and don't look to me, they just get on with it, no problems. In a dream world, this should be everywhere. America puts England to shame.

Along side the bison tour, there has been two other events we have gone to whilst in Gallaudet, one of which being a 'ArtSigns' ASL led tour in the Smithsonian Art Gallery. One of the security guards was quietly finger spelling to himself in his booth, mouthing and spelling out the words S-M-I-T-H-S-O-N-I-A-N A-R-T G-A- then he realised he was being watched  by two bemused tourists and bashfully lowered his hands as if he had been caught doing something he shouldn't have. We asked him where the tour was and he replied in the next building straight over. Look another hearing person that understands sign, it's a miracle! The tour consisted mostly of hearing students that attended Gallaudet, studying the interpreting module, who came over to speak to us before the tour started. It was clear that the tour was aimed at their level for the tour guide signed slowly and deliberately so the interpreting students could understand. It was led by two deaf women who explained the meaning behind three important paintings in the gallery, doing exactly what a hearing tour guide would have done but in sign.

We were invited on facebook to a event named 'Deaf Vigil for Orlando' and decided we wanted to pay our respects. We quickly spotted the group on the Dupont circle in Washington DC, easily noticeable because they were a large group of signers. They had a banner painted with the I love you ASL handshape in rainbow colours- a perfect tribute to an awful event, this one symbol showing solidarity between the deaf community and the LGBT community. We joined the group and the tributes started, the presenters signing to the crowd. I was too far away to hear the interpreters and couldn't see or really understand so Alison translated for me into BSL. This caused the people around us to  clock onto the fact she wasn't signing ASL and then stare at us suspiciously for a little while, as if we were speaking voodoo. Around me groups of people were holding conversations with each other, hailing friends that they haven't seen for a while, taking selfies and ignoring the individuals addressing the crowd. A deaf pastor got on stage, explaining how he is ashamed to be a part of a religious organisation that does not condone relationships between same sex couples, urging the deaf community to stand united with other minority cultures. I was moved by this but seemed to be one of v few in a crowd of people carrying on their own conversations whilst people signed tributes to the horrific event that had taken place. If I had no prior experience of the Deaf community, I would be very taken a back by the behaviour of the crowd at this event. 

Thursday 16 June 2016

Communication Centre for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

Looking for more experiences of the Deaf world in Florida, I found a organisation online called the Communication Center for The Deaf and Hard of Hearing (we found most of our contacts this way- same as Waving Hands), I contacted them and they replied that we could come meet a Deaf Advocate and gave us a time and place. That was it. I emailed for more information, they sent me the address but I didn't hear from them again by email. 

With no idea what to expect or who we were even meeting, we arrived at the meeting to be greeted by a hearing receptionist, we waited in the office awkwardly and then we were ushered into a small office. I knew instantly I was going to struggle to understand. The lady we met signed something as we came into the office and I didn't even pick up what it was linked to. We sat down and introduced ourselves and then sat looking at each other like 'what next?'. She asked why we were here, I only know this because I understood Alison's response in ASL. Alison explained we were here on a trip to research ASL and the Deaf community, the signs for this explanation I had seen before and understood because they are relatively similar to BSL. 

I could see a lot of questions hanging over Tanya's (for that was her name) head, debating who we were, what we were doing here and whether we were hearing or deaf. I was most obviously hearing, sitting there stumped as can be, not having the vocabulary to express myself in a language I barely knew and cannot fully understand. Finally, Alison asked a question on the mental health services they had here and Tanya politely explained that this was not the department for mental health services and that she was a deaf advocate. The deaf advocates are a service that provides help and support for deaf people, whether through explaining something in sign language, providing interpreting services, legal aid, ASL classes or by providing a link from the deaf person to the hearing world. Alison went on to ask about the Deaf community in America, explaining that in England, there are instances of discrimination, both inside the Deaf community and between hearing and deaf individuals. Tanya explained that in America it was different but it many cases it depends on the person. She explained that because America is such a diverse place, many people are more accepting towards personal choice and language preference. The people within the Deaf community choose to respect other people's decisions but some may group off and choose not to mix with others. At one point, she referred to both of us of hearing and after we clarified that I was the only hearing person in the room, whenever Tanya referred to hearing people as a whole, she pointed to me for reference, which I found slightly uncomfortable. We then got onto the topic of cochlear implants and Tanya explained to us that cochlear implants used to divide the Deaf community but now the fighting has died down as time has gone on, she explained that some people still have issues with CIs especially if they choose to have them in later life. Cochlear implants are a rare thing in America, I have seen very few of them and I think there is far more cases of implantation in Britain because they offer it through the NHS, whereas in America they have to pay. 

One thing that Tanya did express to us about three times over during the meeting, was the Gallaudet University had laws of its own and told us that people are very much radically Deaf. She accentuated to me that I had to sign over the period that I was there and needed to switch of my voice, I couldn't miss the insistency in her manner and this made me very apprehensive for when we arrived. She said that the people at Gallaudet University would not hesitate to point out that I was speaking and ask me why I was doing so. This I could understand, Tanya herself had studied there so had the right to warn me. Gallaudet University is a university that has one of the highest number of deaf students in the world, the majority language is ASL, most of the staff are deaf and those that are hearing deliver the lectures in sign language. It is complete deaf space so you can understand why people would get upset if a hearing person came in and decided to speak at them. We learnt a bit about Tanya herself: that she was born fully deaf in a hearing family, grew up speaking and signing and then her family moved to Puerto Rico where she learnt Spanish and the native sign language for Puerto Rico. I was very much struggling to understand her, picking up a few pieces here and there and distancing myself from the conversation because I had no idea what was going on. I tried to ask a question on interpreting services in America, failed as I did not have the vocab to fully express myself and then turned to Alison, who kindly interpreted the question for me after I stuntedly explained in BSL. They have interpreting services everywhere in America, Tanya showed us footage of the news announcements after the Orlando attacks being interpreted in ASL and told us that the access to interpreters was pretty good, almost all public announcements have ASL interpreters present. There are certain laws put in place stating that a deaf person must have access to all public services such as hospitals. If a deaf person wants an interpreter the standard pre-booking time is two weeks, however last minute requests are usually met. If an ASL user is taken into hospital they will have immediate access to a remote interpreter who will assist until someone can arrive at the hospital. She explained that most or all hospitals in the USA have access to remote interpreting with a screen that can be wheeled into a patients room. This is not the case in Britain, a deaf person is rarely supplied with an interpreter and the deaf person is left to guess what is happening to them. The staff have no deaf awareness and do not understand how confusing and frustrating it is to be badly ill with no language access. 

It seems clear to me that Britain is very much behind America when it comes to deaf services, there are specific laws that relate to deaf people and access to services, their interpreting is obviously much more reliable and you don't have to book a month in advance. There are not many services like CCDHH floating around in England that I have seen. Deaf advocacy is a brilliant service to have, it revolutionizes the traditional system we have had for years of hearing professionals trying to support a deaf person when they have no idea what deafness entails. The whole concept of deaf advocacy means that deaf people have access to services in their own languages and with a person who has experienced the same thing and can sympathise on a cultural and linguistic level. 

Tanya wanted us to come meet the other people in her team and see the main area where all the action happens. The room next door was a deaf hub, the desks of the people working there facing each other with a section to film announcements behind a green screen. We met four more men. who worked in the separate sections of the team, all deaf apart from the one interpreter who was held in very high regard by the others because he choose to voice off the full time he was at work. We introduced ourselves and explained why we were here and they explained more about the organisation and the services they provide and seemed intrigued when we signed BSL together. I was a silent observer but my confidence was increasing as I panicked less and began to understand a bit more, I did not ask much but watched and joined in with the jokes, when I understood them. By the end, we said our goodbyes and I felt a bit less like a dunce because I either hid the fact I didn't understand, or cottoned on to what was being said through the few signs I knew and the body language of everyone around me. I suddenly realised that I was the minority and that I was experiencing what a deaf person must feel when surrounded by hearing people. 

For more information, go to:
http://ccdhhfla.org/

Wednesday 15 June 2016

How Not To Interpret, Reflective Captioning and Goodbye Florida.

I have been posting like crazy lately so I will keep this post short.

On our travels through Disney, we met another interpreter. She didn't introduce herself, which is standard fare when an interpreter meets a new deaf person they are interpreting for, which immidietly didn't bode well. She interpreted three of the shows we saw, two of them co- working with Brian and one on her own. Literally no introductions but we already knew Brian because he interpreted on the Jungle Cruise back in Magic Kingdom. They did not work well as a team, Brian as usual, was engaging, animated and a beautiful signer, personifying the Beast in 'Beauty And The Beast' perfectly. This other lady was not a fantastic signer and was not well rehearsed, she did not mix well with Brian and this was clear that there was no friendship between them. At one point, they portrayed the actors dancing which was just cringey to watch: she stepped on his toe, they spoke during the dance and both looked awkward beyond words. There were a lot of actors during this show and the blonde woman (as she will hereby be known) did the majority of the role shift between characters, swapping between the characters of Lumiere, Cogsworth and Mrs Pots. To do this, she took on different poses when she was not using her hands. The result was something like a weird version of 'I'm a little teapot'. It didn't work, she didn't use her whole body to show the different characters like Brian did, she didn't sign with different mannerisms or characteristics, it was flat and dull. She didn't have a specific pose for Chip, so the woman handled his dialogue by saying 'Chip just asked me' when she was portraying Mrs Potts, which was not true to the action onstage. It was lazy work, she choose to simplify the characters to make less work for herself. Very unprofessional.

The interpreted live action show of Frozen was confusing, the woman had very strange lip pattern meaning that the dialogue got skewed. She tried to mouth along the words to Frozen whilst signing something completely different, which was especially confusing. There were a lot of puns in this show, which again didn't quite work and because it took longer to explain them, the interpreters were lagging behind and struggling to keep up with the fast paced jokes. The blonde woman didn't have any facial expression or any noticeable acting skills so the jokes fell even flatter but she didn't even try to make the jokes accessible. The deaf members of the audience sat stumped or missed out on the punch line.

The next show was a Indiana Jones themed stunt show and this poor woman was left on her own to interpret the whole thing, which she definitely shouldn't have been. Her signing was peppered with mistakes and she missed out A LOT of information, she couldn't quite pick up the names of the volunteers when they went up on stage and froze before finger spelling. What was worse, she was half way through interpreting when the woman presenter cracked a joke, before relaying the information to the deaf watchers, the interpreter giggled. This is highly unprofessional, the interpreters one and only job at this point is to be a tool for the deaf people to use to access information, they do not have an opinion or emotions. Of course they do, they're human beings but at that point in time, their one job is to relay information, that is what they are paid to do. The woman then proceeded to give a quick summary of the joke which wasn't funny to try and cover her mistake. I have been in her frenzied position where the information is coming at you thick and fast and your struggling to keep up, when you're fighting a losing battle and your hands turn to bricks. I sympathise with her but I do not believe, after seeing the standard of the other interpreters that she shouldn't have been hired.

So anyway, enough ranting.

Disney was a day of firsts for a lot of reasons and this was the first time both me and Alison came across reflective captioning, which isn't as space age as it sounds. Both of us are Star War nerds and we walked into the theatre where they were showing a short movie on the legacy of Star Wars and loaded up the devil machine. Yet again, it didn't work, so I sat through the movie learning about the wonders of Star Wars whilst Alison looked at some nice pictures of people talking. At the end, I noticed a weird screen at the back of a room with backwards writing on it and thought 'Huh. That's weird.' but then again Disney World was full of weird space age things. I then noticed the word 'Reflective Captioning' written backwards underneath. I nudged Alison thinking she would know what it was but she didn't so I went and asked an attendant, who politely explained that it was for people who couldn't hear to access the speech. Well, that was news to us. Half an hour later, after fangirling over Star Wars memorabilia, we went back and watched it again and this time asked for the captioning. The attendant had a slight panic, asked some people to move and then handed Alison what looked like book stand with a plastic screen attached to it . We attracted a few weird stares but that was okay, kinda used to that. The stand had a stem that you could twist so you could see the captions reflected onto the plastic screen. Clever and hurrah! No devil machine! The only downside was that you had to look from plastic screen to the actual movie, so missed a few bits and pieces. Deaf people should have been born with two sets of eyes.


Later that night, we set out to meet some members of the Deaf community in Orlando, who we were put in contact with through a friend in Miami. We met two deaf signers who were both very interested in learning more about BSL signs and finger spelling. It makes me feel a bit better to see fluent ASL signers struggle with an alphabet I can produce. I can tell that my ASL is improving because I understood more and was able to produce signs clearer, my finger spelling however stayed at a stubborn NOPE whenever someone finger spelt at me. There were also two interpreting students there who we chatted to and a learnt a few new signs from, such as 'champ', which is not a thing in England but means awesome or cool. I also learnt a very old and slightly racist sign for England. We had food, chatted about random things, swapped signs and left.

Tuesday 14 June 2016

Deaf Disney (Part 2).

The next day we returned to the wonderful place of guest services after arriving in Animal Kingdom this time. We had high hopes of having a problem free day but this was not going to happen. There were three interpreted shows that day, one a bird show named 'Flights of Wonder', one interpreted performance of 'Finding Nemo: The Musical' and another named 'The Festival of The Lion'. We picked up the captioning box- there were no problems there as we knew the drill by then and set off into the park filled with the hope of a new day. 

After the interpreters we met on the first park, I had high hopes for the interpreted performances that day. There seemed to be a Disney standard, all the interpreters seemed to be taught to sign the different elements of the performances in certain ways. For example, the welcome speech was interpreted by one person in a very formal manner with more English word order, the songs were also similar, and depending on the mood, they had the same tone. At the first interpreted performance we met two new interpreters, named Jessie and Corey. They were interpreting a bird show, where some of the park's birds were brought out and did little tricks to entertain the audience. The two interpreters shared the characters brought on stage and even interpreted the voice of a speaking parrot, using a clawed hand shape to indicate it was the bird that was speaking. Clever. When two interpreters are stood next to each other co- working, it is hard not to analyse their performances and it was easy to spot the strengths and weaknesses that each of them held. No two interpreters sign the same. Jessie was a very fluid signer, but I think this came with a lot of practice with her co- worker, and she had the ability to act what was happening on stage with vivid facial expression and very accurate posture and body language. Corey's strength lied in his signing skill, he signed beautifully and purely but he was missing the ability to portray the feeling and emotions of the characters on stage. At points his signing came of flat and emotionless, meaning the deaf members missed out on the feeling of the performances. 

This was also similar for the other two performances, Jessie making a fantastic ditzy- headed Dory in 'Finding Nemo: The Musical' but Corey severely lacked in acting ability for the show. Remember the part where Nemo is taken by the diver? Y'know, the really heart
wrenching scene in the movie, where Nemo's Dad is screaming for his son? Well, the interpreting looked like he was calling him down for supper. There was no urgency or emotion and it failed to give across the same feeling as the original show. Quite disappointing really. However, the interpreting for 'Simba's Pride Festival' was a work of art and an absolute joy to witness. The two worked as a very close pair: Jessie playing up to her strengths by bouncily interpreting the songs with so much energy, I was nearly sweating just looking at her. Corey droned his way through the dialogue, again failing to portray the energy and emotion found in the characters voices. But, it was the songs that were interpreted  by both of them where my jaw hit the floor. The songs from the Lion King are beautifully emotional but when interpreted in ASL, this became a whole new level. It had never occurred to me that you can display vocal displays visually through dance. When the singers were showing off the vocal talent, the interpreters had a little dance off, this was a hilarious add on that kept the tempo going. I was also wondering how they were going to interpret 'Hakuna Matata'. Finger spell it really fast? No. They used the ASL signs for 'chill down' or 'chill out' which worked really well. I just thought they were dancing. 'Can you feel the love tonight?' was also mind blowing, the interpreters standing side by side, hugging each other with one hand and signing one handedly, in perfect unison as if they were two bodies conjoined. I can't describe how incredibly clever and well rehearsed that performance was. I also liked the fact that the interpreters were a part of the performance, chatting with the performers during lulls in the music, not just two unacknowledged people in the corner waving their hands around.

We started off the day with more problems with the devil box. We got on a safari through the African themed part of the park, the driver wore a headset and narrated the trip, telling the audience interesting facts about the animals and pointing out what animals that could be seen. I knew this but Alison didn't. The captioning box loaded up fine and then refused to give out any information for the whole of the safari trip, meaning a lot of information was missed. Alison could cope with this, because it was a visual experience, spotting the animals in the surrounding landscape.  Then we got on the dinosaur ride which was probably my favourite ride, zooming through the dark with dinosaurs leering out at you, light flashing and the operator yelling dramatically that: 'You need to get out now! There is a meteor strike coming!'. I got off the ride breathless with exhilaration, decrying that it was fantastic and amazing and I wanted to go on it again and then we came across the picture taken during the dramatic finale. I was looking like a big girls blouse, shrieking away from the camera with a face that looked like I was about to poop myself. Alison looked bored. That's when I realized that we had very different experiences of the ride due to the fact the caption box had yet again not worked.

I was a bit devastated, the ride was awesome and the reason it was awesome was because the hype was caused by the voice over. I could access this but Alison couldn't because her technology had failed on her. We found an attendant, who, after ringing a manager, told us that the ride did not have captions, except for the safety announcements at the start. I got quite mad at this, why didn't it have captions when all the other underground rides we got on had them? We stomped off to guest relations yet again, this time with the intention of kicking ass. We asked for an interpreter again and didn't even get a friendly staff member with a little bit of sign this time. We got a attendant who couldn't care less, who slouched over the desk and wasn't interested in the fact that my friend had just completely lost out for a stupid reason. He unhurriedly handed over a comments card, not even a complaints form and said he would pass over our comments to a higher staff member. At this point another staff member came over, triumphantly sporting a schedule of the interpreted shows as if it would make it all okay, the attendant told her that 'this lady is upset because she hasn't received the access she was expecting' in a voice that completely showed he couldn't care less about our problems. That's when we both got really mad. Alison asking the man to step into her shoes and try to understand what it must be like being fully deaf and having to rely on a small plastic box for access. The man FINALLY looked slightly sympathetic and realized he was going to have a scene on his hands unless he did something quick. That's how we got free Park tickets for the following day  but this by no means made up for the lack of access on the park, especially after the fiasco the previous day.

So, once again, Disney failed at providing appropriate access for deaf people. However, there were some small positive elements that sort of made up for the lack of access. I have to commend Disney on their interpreted shows and some of the staff were helpful upon learning that Alison was deaf. One lady we met at the Rainforest Cafe, found out Alison was deaf and then immidietly went voice off, gesturing frantically and going 'Toilet, toilet, toilet, its over there!' and hi- fiving us both. She was immensely proud that she knew the sign for toilet, and it was nice to meet someone who didn't ignore or patronsie but simply accept and try and use the language. We met another lady whilst we were visiting a monkey enclosure, we were having a conversation in BSL on how we would love to be able to be that lazy when we both became aware we were being watched by one of the staff that worked with the animals. She lifted her hands
and started signing in blunt sections of American Sign Language explainging about how the monkeys would eat so much that they would just fall asleep. We both stared in half shock for a minute and then Alison asked how she learnt and the staff member replied that she had started learning in school but without use, she had lost the ability. She now signs to visitors who are deaf and know sign language when and wherever she meets them. These two staff members were a breath of fresh air in a park where, except for the interpreters, there was very little sign language or deaf awareness.