Reflections From an Old Hand COLUMNIST
Phil Giambaresi
Former CSC, LCSW (Retired)
California
I was born in 1950 to parents who have been Deaf since their birth. I have a younger brother who is also a hearing child. The influence from my mother's deaf family and my interest in being the family interpreter led to a career of being a certified interpreter. I received a BA in Psychology. At the age of 34, I earned my Master's in Social Work, specializing in mental health of the Deaf. After living in NYC for over 30 years, I moved to California and am now retired.
As a hearing person who has deaf parents and relatives, I had to adapt to my parent's sign language differences. It taught me early in my life how there was this difference between my folks in their own re-orienting to life's challenges. I've written about the "style" of various deaf people in my family and their friends. I learned to adapt my own expression and reception through re-orienting myself to each individual. A person cannot use sign language in the same way with every deaf person! There is an amazing spread of these styles of communication.
When I went from "family interpreting" to "professional interpreting" I was working with deaf and hard-of-hearing college students and had to alter my way of signing to accommodate the student's "style." Eventually, as I moved on in my career, it was important to get the chance to arrive early at an assignment to meet the deaf person(s) and establish communication. Did the deaf person use ASL or PSE? Greetings from Southern California! We interpreters have to be oriented to the best methods of I see that the theme for this issue of the Summer VIEWS our sign language abilities to be in sync with what the person magazine is "re-orienting." What this term means to me is is comfortable with regarding their expressive and receptive defined by making changes and adaptations in what one does methods. in life, work, and personal thoughts and feelings. Perhaps you have been someone who has also had deaf My "reflections" are of my experiences as an (elderly, ahem) friends with whom we would socialize? There was a feeling, retired person who recalls certain events that happened as being a hearing person who wanted to be helpful, to inwhich may relate to the present time. How well I remember terpret (for example) the hearing restaurant server's interinstances in my career that taught me lessons; and I hope action with our deaf friend(s.) It made things easier, but I my past situations will be somewhat illuminating to you and recall how important it was to ASK the deaf friend, "Would your own experiences. you like me to interpret?" 26
VIEWS Volume 3 • Issue 38
