Page 19 - Reading Between the Sign Intercultural Communication for Sign Language Interpreters

4 Reading Between the Signs

craft and one of the founders of our profession, who also shared
my theatrical ambitions.
The moment I really got hooked, however, was on a hot, sticky
night in a packed high school auditorium. I was still a novice signer.
Another of my early sign language teachers, Joyce Groode (now
Linden), had heard that I occasionally performed mime pieces
and had invited me to participate in a “Talent Show,” where most
of the performers and audience members would be Deaf. I had
accepted, not realizing what august company I would be in. (One
of the other performers that night was Dorothy Miles, the gifted
poet and actress and former member of NTD.) When it was my
turn to appear onstage, I began to perform my mime piece about
a witch who changes herself into different forms. Almost immedi-
ately, I felt bathed in a wave of warm, appreciative energy coming
from the audience. What struck me most was their responsive-
ness. It was as if they noticed every tiny movement, even the
scrunching of my eyebrows!
After that I began to meet Deaf actors, like Julianna Fjeld, who
were fighting for opportunities for Deaf performers in Hollywood.
Opportunities to act in movies and TV were a lot less available in
the 1970s than they are today. Although my signing skills were
hardly fluent, I felt welcomed by the Deaf actors I met through
our mutual love for theater. I acted in a few Deaf plays, then de-
cided that since I wasn’t making a living in theater and was be-
coming fascinated by sign language, I would try to become an
interpreter.
After several years interpreting in colleges and universities in
the Los Angeles area, I moved to the San Francisco Bay area and
became a freelance interpreter, enjoying the variety of assignments
plus the exciting yet anxiety-provoking element of the unknown,
which freelance interpreters encounter daily. Years later, I suc-
cessfully completed the six-week legal training program back at
CSUN and now include legal interpreting in my freelance mix of
medical, business, and occasional performing arts settings.
I have always been interested in different cultures. As far back
as I can remember, I would gravitate to a voice with a foreign
accent in order to gain some perspective on my world by looking
through other eyes. I discovered intercultural communication while
working on my master’s degree at San Francisco State University.
Prior to my first class in that subject, I had always assumed (as I
believe some sign language interpreters still do) that our profes-

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