OK, warning. I’m in the middle of The Mask of Benevolence, and this is a really thought provoking book. It’s excellent.

And I can already tell I will never again take seriously any non-signing, hearing psychologist or psychiatrist babbling on the subject of deaf children, ever. Never liked ‘em much to begin with.

But in any case, the author is describing the structures of colonialism, how the whole paradigm of helping “the poor dears” winds up supporting all the non “poor dears” who have “dedicated” themselves to helping out said “poor dears.” In particular, how a peculiar circularity is set up — the “poor dears” have to be “poor dears” in order for the altruistic folks to perpetually help them out. So they never really escape their diminished status.

Well that got me to thinking about interpreters. I know that I tend to cringe on deaf related forums when I see bouncy, cheery, gushing “Hi Y’all! I just LOOOOOOVE sign language and wanna HELP YOU ALL cuz I just LOOOOOVE all this to bits!!!” message from the latest wannabe interpreter. Or for that matter, how about the folks who write in that they’re writing up a story or somesuch involving deaf people and would we please talk about our life experiences that they can snarf them into their latest book kthxbye; I’m astounded at the sheer number of hearing-gimme folks I see on some of these forums. (I’m not naming any names nor any forums: if you feel like I’m pointing fingers at YOU, then go away and think about why you feel like that; post here protesting, and I’ll probably scrub your entry. You’ve been warned.)

Sigh. I’m a cranky old grouch, no doubt. I never say anything, because after all, interpreters are needed. But after reading this section of Mask, I thought to myself, OK. Suppose I was everything I am now except that I need an interpreter. What then?

Well. Not to put a too fine point on it, but the terp would very likely be utterly useless at work because of the technical and detailed nature of the work I do. How would I discuss javascript, or mysql, or any of a dozen other things I use? Conversely, my work involves a lot of classical research terminology and foreign languages. Can the terp deal with that? I rather imagine a lot of fingerspelling would suddenly become necessary, at which point I might as well fucking pick up the pen and paper myself.

So. Could I actually use an interpreter at work? I think not. Now what does that mean? Would I be able to have this job in the first place? Does the requirement of a terp subtly require me to have a simpler job? One that the terp is able to handle?

Terps work fine when the communication is unequal, because then one person will be simplifying down for the other. So for example in a doctor/patient relationship, the doctor will already be using layman’s terms and such. But imagine for a moment that it’s the doctor who needs the terp and is trying to talk to a colleague. Will that work?

I don’t know that I’m going anywhere at all with this, it’s just that it’s a logical consequence of reading some of this and working through the implications in other areas. I don’t have any answers at all, only questions. I could very well be mistaken about the ability of terps to fill in. But I just can’t imagine one at my work which is how this whole post came about. If you are a software programmer (or for that matter a medical doctor) who uses at terp at work, I’d be fascinated to hear from you (and no, I wouldn’t yoink your stuff into a book of mine to profit off your back )