sign language is beautiful let me tell you and the interpreting process is absolutely cool but interpreters are not performers interpreters are an important part of accessibility and inclusion and think about the deaf people that are there they're the ones that requested the accommodation but they rarely get the same attention in those kinds of spaces being an interpreter is not glamorous it's actually very very very hard work and just as much as it is our job to provide our skills to the deaf Community it is equally if not more important for us to work alongside hearing people like yourselves who do not know American Sign Language and often need crucial information from deaf or heart of hearing people a doctor needs to know exactly what's wrong with their patient a teacher needs to know that their student comprehends all lectures and homework an interpreter in those situations is given a lot of trust to facilitate all of those Dynamics effectively de people as a cultural identity are richly diverse and today they are making strides in every field developing new medical advances and inventing new technologies they are lawyers and CEOs and political candidates and they are revolutionizing the idea of universal access but if certified qualified interpreters are not provided alongside other forms of accommodation then there's an issue a hearing interpreter strives to neutrally and judiciously facilitate both cultural and linguistic intent between deaf and hearing parties we are not just dealing with words but the intent and emotion behind and around those words we do not give a word for word or a water down summary of what someone is saying but actually s sign language inter interpreting is mostly done simultaneously so as you can see on stage the interpreters are producing a linguistically culturally and dynamically equivalent message in American Sign Language live with just a few seconds of lag time American sign language is Rich with its own culture and grammar and Regional accents and it uses the face and the body to create richness and context that would otherwise be just a simple hand movement it changes and flows with the culture around it and in the case of simultaneous sign language interpreting there are two processes happening in the brain Visual and auditory according to studies there are literally too many complex processes in simultaneous interpretation for even the world's best supercomputer to run at the same time interpreters must understand context along with tone body language facial expression emotion and produce a dynamically equivalent interpretation without dis disrupting the flow of conversation no matter how intense it might get just imagine the difference between interpreting for an argument versus a boring lecture or imagine the difference of an interpreter for President Obama compared to president Trump the work of an interpreter exists symbiotically with the deaf Community because if they are not empowered to regulate and educate and keep accountable the interpreters that you all depend on then we as interpreters are not able to grow our field to match the everchanging world it is simple the best way to ensure that your work is is uh successful is to make that work accessible and inclusive and accessibility in itself is not revolutionary but again when everyone is involved I think you'd be surprised at how extraordinary it could be please don't just take our word for it go get yourself an awesome interpreter and ask the deaf Community what they're already doing without that kind of accessibility how would you ever know what you have been missing out on thank you