New York – Opening up my Facebook profile this morning, I was met with a long stream of posts from upset, offended, and outraged friends. They all were about the impostor of an interpreter that appeared on the television screen at the Nelson Mandela memorial service in South Africa yesterday, who pretended to translate the weighty words of world leaders into sign language. The problem was that nobody had a clue what form of sign language he professed to be fluent in.
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As a Deaf person myself, I was also taken aback at the fact that at one of the most significant world events in recent times, a phony interpreter was chosen to represent the Deaf community. It is not just that Deaf people were left to decipher a mumble-jumble of random signs; it also serves as a message to the Deaf community that the world still does not understand us. For if the people responsible for hiring that interpreter would have had a better understanding of sign language and Deaf culture, they probably would have seen through his fraud. As it was, almost nobody noticed anything till the South African Deaf community expressed its anger.
Imagine if a French-incompetent someone was pretending to translate a speech into French. How long do you think it would take before someone — even a person with no knowledge of French — would catch on? Perhaps a minute or two. Yet this interpreter was allowed to stand on stage for hours. We did not understand him, because we have yet to be understood.
But I wish you understood us. I wish you would be able to differentiate between an obviously incompetent interpreter and a fluent communicator of sign language. It should not take an angry cry of protest from the Deaf community to call your attention to this “clown of an interpreter.”
The sign languages of the Deaf community (yes, there is more than one sign language!) are our most precious treasures. It is through the silent voices of our hands that we are heard loud and clear. Thoughts that find awkward expression with our mouths are beautifully expressed with our fingers. It is difficult for me to describe the beauty of sign language to someone who has yet to appreciate it; it is equal to the challenge of describing the taste of chocolate. Let me suffice with the words of the legendary Deaf leader of the early 20th century, George Veditz: “[O]ur beautiful sign language [is] the noblest gift G-d has given to Deaf people.”
I have been part of the Deaf community for decades now, and when I take a look at our leaders, I am proud. They are the people who have expanded the horizons of the Deaf community into farther realms. Their hard work and progress has made all the difference for the Deaf community. Every step forward they make proves to the rest of us that it too is possible for us.
Within the Jewish Deaf community, I have also seen the amount of work invested in building a home for Jewish Deaf souls. Since the mainstream Jewish community doesn’t provide that home, we have to create it ourselves. And create we have. A national Jewish Deaf organization was founded, in addition to many other organizations, programs and initiatives, all of which have worked in tandem to provide Jewish experiences for Deaf individuals for years now. Working as a rabbi, I am humbled to be able to contribute to this effort.
But if you don’t know anything about Deaf people, you have been missing out on all this. You have been clueless to the beauty of our community and language. Our admired leaders and their successes are unknown to you. Our rich history and culture are all Greek to you. I’m so honored to be a proud member of this community, but I also feel bad for you.
That’s why I think the greatest tragedy of yesterday’s interpreting fiasco was not that Deaf people got a lousy interpreter. It’s that the world still does not understand us. It is more your tragedy than ours.
Luckily, it’s easily rectifiable. Just start learning today about us. Discover the hidden gems of the Deaf world, and become knowledgeable about what it is that makes us special. Learn what sign language really is all about. Be sensitive to the Deaf experience.
In other words, understand us.
Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff, is an ordained Rabbi, born in Los Angeles, California, is a second generation member of a Deaf family. He currently lives in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, NY. Among his many projects is a premier website for the Jewish Deaf community, called Jewish Deaf Multimedia (http://www.jewishdeafmm.org), which provides a wealth of videos, blog posts, and resources for the Deaf Jew. His work takes him around the world, including Moscow, Russia, where he runs a summer camp program for Jewish Deaf children. He can be contacted at [email protected]
The above article was first published on Huffington Post, republished with permission
Kol Hakovod. While the hearing world still doesn’t fully understand the non-hearing world, we are trying. Give us a chance.
I was lucky enough to be a classmate with Shua when we learnt for smicha. He’s every bit as smart and fantastic as his article would make you think. Keep up the good work!
Boohoo, The South African government is incompetent and all of a sudden it’s everyone’s fault and the world doesn’t understand them.
If he pretended to know sign language, why should any official handling that (not knowing the language) assume he is bluffing.
but in honest I wasnt watching the signing, i was watching obama…
It is commendable for a shomea to learn sign language if he so desires. But the rabbi sounds almost like he has a problem with good Jews who don’t. And I in turn have a problem with that.
There are many Jews who don’t know our languages, Ivrit and Yiddish, and don’t have enough a working knowledge of loshon Arami to be able to learn. So for Jews like that, especially men, what should be a higher priority, learning a sign language or learning languages that would enable them to learn Torah and thus become better Jews?
A word about deaf “community.” It is not perfect (I know – what is?).
There is an increasingly commonly available technology known as Cochlear Implants. It used to be made available only to patients with nearly complete hearing losses; today it is available to any patient with a severe hearing loss.
The results are dependent on how long the patient has been deaf or severely impaired, and at what age impairment happened (in other words, how well was a patient able to speak before the onset of deafness or severe impairment).
But it works for everybody! In that it improves the quality of life even of the patients who’ve been deaf since very young age. (Of course, the latter category have to train hard to recognize sounds and to learn to speak.)
But certain activists from the deaf “community” treat the patients who want to avail themselves of this relatively new life improving technology as traitors who want to leave the “community” and join the hearing majority. The worst consequence being that many impaired, under pressure from such activists, often their own parents or siblings, hesitate or outright refuse to consider the wonder that will vastly improve their lives.
Rabbi Yehoshua, thanks for bring out Deaf awareness. To number 7. I appreciate that you brought up cochlear implant, I am deaf and tried to get a cochlear implant at one time but failed the “test”. I function too well w/ my hearing aids BH. Having said this, it isn’t perfect science or art the cochlear implant and not every person adapt to it well. Yes, it can be a debated in the deaf community for some, but in general I think ppl have moved on now and are trying to stay positive w/ future out look. The newest thing now is giving a person w/ cochlear implant two options, the cochlear implant or a hearing aid. I think this option leaves an open door for the person w/ a cochlear implant to choose what they want that day depending on circumstance. Cochlear implant isn’t for everyone some deaf benefit more from signing and some from from both. It is really abt listening to the deaf individual and figuring out what is best for them in terms of intergrating into the community and it may mean using sign for one and a cochlear implant for another.
My grandson, who can hear, started learning sign language when he was just a few months old. He was quickly able to indicate that he wanted milk or crackers or whatever and that he was “all done” long before he had matured enough to speak. This saved a lot of frustrated crying and parental guessing games about what he needed/wanted. When the time came, he had no problem learning to speak, and now just turning four he has exceptional verbal skills and is beginning to read, write, and spell. Learning to sign is a worthwhile endeavor for even the youngest infant, whether deaf or hearing.
I don’t understand, if the supposed interpreter was deaf, how did he supposedly hear voices?
I think this fits perfectly