Page 186 - Reading Between the Sign Intercultural Communication for Sign Language Interpreters

The Interpreter’s Role and Responsibilities 171

power relationship in which we are intimately involved and over
which we may exercise some control. I am referring to the rela-
tionship between interpreter and Deaf consumer. In “Who’s in Charge
Here?: Perceptions of Empowerment and Role in the Interpreting
Setting,” authors Marina McIntire and Gary Sanderson (1995) ex-
amine how the distribution of power has shifted with the inter-
preting field’s shifting models.
In the days of the helper model, interpreters took over the
situation, thereby withholding power from their Deaf consumers,
who were seen as incompetent, powerless, and in need of their
help. The machine or conduit model was an attempt to swing the
pendulum strongly in the opposite direction, so the interpreter
essentially gave up the responsibility for getting the message
across. With the advent of the communication facilitator model,
interpreters began to take back some responsibility by empower-
ing themselves to request things (such as adequate lighting) to
make their job easier. In the current bicultural mediator model,
consumers are seen as equals “who have both the rights to and
responsibilities for their own destinies” and “interpreters bear the
responsibility for successfully managing and negotiating the com-
munication event” (100).
One result of interpreters’ ever-shifting views of their role is
that Deaf consumers have no way of knowing what to expect from
us. Will we take no control or total control? Forestal observes that
this confusion and the resulting lack of trust in interpreters has
left many Deaf consumers angry. By deciding what role we will
assume, it still seems as if we have all the power. To remedy this
situation, Forestal suggests that we take our cue from our Deaf
clients and follow their lead regarding our role in the interpreted
setting. Even though we may wholeheartedly support the bicul-
tural mediator model, if a certain client prefers a straightforward
conduit interpreting style, that is exactly what we should deliver.
Oppression. A deeper issue than the power residing in the in-
terpreters’ and Deaf consumers’ roles—and one more resistant to
change—is the power wielded by the hearing majority over the
Deaf. Deaf culture, although similar in many ways to Japanese,
French, and other national cultures, differs in one striking fea-
ture: deaf people as a group are an oppressed minority.
Charlotte Baker-Shenk (1986) introduced this important con-
cept to our profession more than ten years ago at the 1985 RID
convention. It is still true, even though in the ensuing years many

07 MINDESS PMKR 171 10/18/04, 12:02 PM