Introducing Victoria Rodriguez-Mitchell: Part II
Here’s the conclusion of our interview with Language Services Associates (LSA) ASL interpreter Victoria Rodriguez-Mitchell, M.A., NIC. Recently, we learned about Victoria’s early personal experiences with the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community and how it led to an unexpected career in interpretation and three decades spent eliminating language barriers, advocating for the community, and championing the rights of individuals with disabilities.
We discussed the layers of support that go into signing national anthems for large crowds, early technology to support the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community, trilingual interpretation, and more.
Here’s the rest of our conversation where we further discuss Spanish Sign Language, video interpreting, the impact of social media sites like Tik-Tok in the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community, and more.
LSA: My understanding is that Spanish Sign Language isn’t really a straightforward form of Sign Language. There seems to be many types or variations of it depending on where somebody’s from. So, you were doing the Mexican National Anthem, and when you’re signing, you’re doing it in ASL, but are you also signing for Spanish sign language in some way, and is that extremely complicated, or do you not even think about that portion of it.
When I was young, I went to live in Spain and I was like, I’m going to become the first international sign language interpreter. I’ll do BSL (British Sign Language), and sign language from Spain and Portugal. When I went to Spain I would travel around and meet deaf people everywhere I went. I found out that in Spain their sign language is very provincial because sign language was banned for a long time, so it kind of went underground. Depending on what province you lived in you developed the sign. I was like, Oh hahaha I might not be the person for this. I also went to the university of Durham to learn BSL and then was recruited to work in New Zealand. Sign language in Mexico compared to the Dominican Republic compared to Peru, wherever, is going to be vastly different. I do my best to give it in ASL because I’m in Philadelphia.
LSA: Tell me a little bit about interpreting with the Philadelphia Union. Do you have any favorite experiences or highlights you can tell us about?
VRM: My favorite experience is getting to hang out with Ashli Rice Allen, the designated singer for the National Anthem. Not only is she a beautiful singer, she’s a beautiful soul. I come in there and I’m completely nervous and she’s been doing this for eight years. She’s saying it’ll be fine, don’t worry we’ll do this together. She walks out and she’s waving to all her fans and I’m all nervous my first time. So again, on the shoulders of giants. She’s one of those giants that just brought me along and shared every moment. I’ve worked with a lot of artists and sometimes they get very territorial, but she’s like nope, we’re a team. Everywhere we go it’s like Ashli (clapping hands) and it’s warranted because she’s probably one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. That’s my favorite experience and everybody at the Union has been amazing.
LSA: How do you feel about the impact of video conferencing on American Sign Language? Has it affected your work, and does it make your work harder to do?
VRM: I think it’s kind of like a double-edged sword. In some areas it’s been amazing because you can do work in California or overseas. You get to learn more, like what’s that sign you’re using in the south, or in Oregon or wherever. Some of it has been wonderful and other times it’s been detrimental. I’ve had friends that have gone to the emergency room, and they set up the screen, and they’re in a vulnerable or intimate place. Let’s say they’re giving birth or something and they’re here trying to navigate with the screen. I think it has its pros and cons and I think we just have to listen to the consumer and what they need in that moment. If the consumer is saying hey, I need a live interpreter, then I think it’s best to provide a live interpreter versus saying well we have this, just use it. This is our idea of accessibility, and I think accessibility is very individualized and it needs to be driven by the consumer.
LSA: Absolutely, I feel like video’s a good option if for some reason someone’s about to give birth and there’s absolutely no ASL interpreters around.
VRM: Right and I think that’s the thing, like we don’t have anything else, at least we can communicate with you. But also, some will say hey we have this, take it, or leave it.
Did you know?
LSA: Right, like they want to save on cost.
VRM: Exactly, now we have to hire an emergency interpreter which might be more expensive. But in these moments, anybody else would have full accessibility to the nurse, or full accessibility to what’s going on around them – as interpreters we don’t just interpret what you’re saying to us, we interpret the whole situation, ‘oh I hear this person saying this and this person saying this,’ and you’re trying to give them all the information so they’re getting accessibility like anybody else. That’s always the goal, at least for me.
Image provided by Philadelphia Union.
LSA: What are your thoughts about Tik Tok and ASL? It has become popular for people to sign songs on the platform but there seems to be a lot of either fake or just plain wrong signing.
VRM: I think it’s a really interesting situation. You have the deaf community filled with brilliant individuals who are experts in their own language who are passed over because there might be an influencer or somebody that knows how to kind of maneuver the system on Tik Tok a little bit better. They’ll show up on that “For You” page, and you’re like oh, that’s awesome. But I think it’s the marginalization of the deaf community that concerns all of us. There are plenty of deaf people to learn this from, why are you learning it from a teenager that’s not doing it correctly?
There are a lot of deaf performers, like what we saw at the Superbowl, Justina (Miles), Matt Maxey, Warren (Snipe), so many wonderful deaf performers that you would want to spotlight, because they’re experts at what they do. It’s a lived experience for them. And I kind of agree that you really want to learn ASL from a deaf person and when you’re looking for ASL content, look for ASL users whether they’re deaf or longtime interpreters, as long as you’re looking at people that are experts in the language. I can say with the word “run,” if you’re running in a track meet this is the word run (signs), if you’re running a machine, this is the word for run (signs), if you’re running an organization, it might be this (signs), if the refrigerator is running it might be this (signs), so a new user isn’t going to know all those things about how to interpret it correctly.
As interpreters we need to continue to advocate for our deaf community and say hey, this is the reason we’re here, this is the reason that you get to see this, this is the reason all of us are fighting for this – this beautiful deaf community that we want to elevate, and just have some equity and access for.
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About LSA
Language Services Associates, Inc. (LSA) offers a full suite of language interpretation solutions to help optimize the experience of limited English proficient patients and customers. Providing native language support improves the efficiency and productivity of staff, raises customer satisfaction levels, and builds loyalty. For thousands of clients worldwide, in hundreds of languages, LSA provides a competitive differentiator in the healthcare, government, financial, banking, insurance, entertainment, hospitality, and manufacturing industries.
