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Understanding Respect Towards the Deaf LGBTQ+ Community

Christopher B. Bialas

Department of Sign Language Interpreting, Augustana University

INTR 301: Interpretation I

Professor Christa Gunderson

December 1, 2020
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Abstract

Sign language interpreters need to express neutrality to all clients while in a professional

setting. Biases and judgment are meant to be removed and not shown during assignments to avoid

discrimination towards any individual. A newer group, the Deaf LGBTQ+ Community, is emerging and

individuals are learning how to express themselves and how to teach others how to respect them. As this

community is not new but finally being allowed to express themselves freely, a lot is still to be learned

about this community and how interpreters should use pronouns, expressions, and learn new vocabulary

the community goes by. It is to be understood how biases are formed and the disrespect if an interpreter or

other individuals enforce and show bias. The oppressions of different communities and how it affects said

communities is shared. Finally, how to express respect for all communities is taken into consideration and

explained of how to begin with understanding that every individual is different and asking for clarification

is always respectful. The Deaf LGBTQ+ Community is a minority community as a whole but all

individuals still deserve access to equal opportunities and communication, as well as the ability to freely

express themselves in their own ways choosingly.

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Understanding Respect Towards the Deaf LGBTQ+ Community

As the profession of interpreting can be described as a pre-professional career, it is

important to know the term of use and what it means for individuals in the career field. A

pre-professional program can be described as a continuation of learning and development of the

field of study. Technically speaking, an interpreting career is not based as a pre-professional

program; however, after a deep analysis of the profession, a sign language interpreter has a

section of a continuing education.

Specifically, a section interpreters have to maintain knowledge of is the culture of the

Deaf Community. The focus of research is the professionalism of interpreters to all clients but

specifically those that are within the Deaf LGBTQIA2S+ Community, also referred to as the

Deaf and Queer Community. A deeper respect of knowledge in language, culture, and history

should be required, as well as, a continuation of learning as the culture changes and evolves;

similarly, as how interpreters maintain knowledge of the Deaf Community.

The Deaf LGBTQ+ Community is a small section of the broad Deaf Community and

needs more politeness given and presented to have clients feel comfortable, safe, and respected

with their equal access to communication. Interpreters need to provide a better respect for their

clients; specifically, identifying and understanding biases within assignments to be neutral,

acknowledging oppressions these minority communities have faced, applying the rid of biases

and expressions of neutrality, learning the use of appropriate terms and signs to provide allyship

to those within the community, and recognizing and empowering clients to change others’ views

to learn to respect those in the community.

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Interpreter’s Neutrality

Interpreters Interaction

Within the profession of sign language interpreting, students of the field are taught to

create a neutral environment between the source information and the target audience. The

interpreter is not speaking one’s individual thoughts or opinions but interpreting the concept

between languages. Simply, interpreters should not omit nor alter the information nor include

personal information nor opinions within the interpretation. By including personal opinions and

bias, the information is changed, expression modified, and the same feeling will not be portrayed

from a person getting the information within the same language. This issue is what researcher

Melanie Metzger (1999) in her book Sign Language Interpreting: Deconstructing the Myth of

Neutrality calls ‘interpreter paradox’ or the role the interpreter plays within the assignment. The

interpreter’s role in an assignment does have presence. The information comes from one client

and the interpreter processes it with adding a culture change to make the information

appropriately understood for the other client. The interpreter has a presence in all assignments.

However, interpreters are human and humans are still learning to respect all communities in a

professional matter; but, one needs to educate themselves on how to achieve that goal.

Interpreter’s Bias

Interpreters are bound to have bias and opinions. Interpreters are humans and humans are

raised with certain affiliations that have impacted their life. One way that humans understand

situations is to relate them to personal experiences or ‘put one in one’s shoes’ as the saying goes.

The interpreter's role in communication access is presenting information accurately, a

responsibility that holds great power. Metzger (1999) clarifies that an interpreter has power in the
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setting as ‘regulating turns’ between clients; this interaction allows the interpreter to ‘alter

contributions’ (p 23). This interaction can be perceived in two different lights: the appropriate

way of adding contextual applications for the different clients to understand or negatively in

omitting information, applying one’s own opinions, or not providing the same emotion to the

target client. Of utmost importance is for interpreters to provide accurate information in bias free

ways without expressing one’s own opinion.

It’s impossible to simply get rid of all biases to become neutral. A book report was done

on Metzger’s writing by Frank Harrington with other research involved showing “interpreters

cannot simply act as conduits [...] rather, their very presence has a real effect on the interaction”

(2004, p.110). This research states that interpreters will have a bias with certain situations (e.g.

law cases, medical appointments, educational meetings and decisions) thinking of what they

personally would decide in the situation. However, within the professional setting of interpreting,

the Code of Professional Conduct (CPC) has issued guidelines to guide through these ethical

dilemmas. An important guideline interpreters are to follow in all settings is expressed within

Illustrative Behavior 2.5 under Conduct stating one should not give advice, opinions, or consult

within the assignment. As well as Tenet 3 will instruct interpreters to decline or remove oneself

from an assignment due to certain conflicts of interest (NAD-RID, 2005). Interpreters are to

remain neutral within the assignment as much as possible. Although Harrington’s research states

one cannot simply have no bias as they interpret the interaction, understanding and

acknowledging one’s bias will help remove it from the situation. Before one can remove bias that

may appear in the setting, the development of bias must first be known.
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Development of Bias

An article written in Harvard Business Review dives deep into analyzing one’s own bias

and how to work with it. Authors of “Outsmart Your Own Biases” took to the scientific matters

of how the brain creates a bias and then how humans continue to apply them in certain situations.

Soll et al. use the term ‘System 1 thinking’ defined as “automatic judgments that stem from

associations stored in memory” to define how humans create a bias (2015, para. 3). One example

would be swerving before hitting a car. The brain knows to avoid hitting cars because that would

be dangerous. System 1 thinking also explains how people create biases towards a set group of

people; there are two ways for System 1 thinking to develop.

The first is explained with the brain development of growing children. An educational

magazine, Teaching Tolerance, has an article “Reflecting Upon Our Own Biases: All Ages” that

discusses the impact our biases can have on raising children and how they see bias. Teachers and

parents do not need to necessarily say certain things; children perceive facial expressions, eye

gaze, physical actions and tie it to their own thought of prejudice and bias towards a certain

being or thing (2005, p. 48). Specifically, when a child grows up with racist parents or parents

who are oppressive towards people who do not look like the family, the parents' views will show

in the child’s development; the parent is the child’s role model at all times. Subconsciously, the

child will slowly learn from their parents the same biases and develop the same prejudice

towards certain groups.

The second development of a bias is based on one’s experiences. One bad experience can

unfortunately group a whole category of people together. This development is backed by System

1 thinking. When an experience with a certain individual went wrong, terribly unexpected, or
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caused one to get defensive, it creates a memory that the person will apply towards the entire

group of people. They will create a bias and discriminate against a whole community. System 2

thinking- cognitive limitations or laziness- can enhance System 1’s thinking of then expressing

these biases again onto a new person but from one’s own experience (Soll et al., 2015, para. 3).

Biases will stay marked within a person’s mind until they are taught a new way or see a new side

of that group. Unfortunately, many individuals choose not to educate themselves and pass along

these biases with generations; this phenomenon, in turn, hurts groups and communities that are

not the majority by oppressing them.

Oppressed Communities

Deaf Community Oppression

Oppression towards the Deaf Community has transformed over the past 100 years; from

denying signing and forcing lip reading to ignorant biases based on the community because of

lack of knowledge. Biases towards the Deaf community are described by the word ‘audism.’

Researcher Tom Humphries (1975) developed this word from the Latin word audire -to hear- and

defines audism as “the notion that one is superior based on one’s ability to hear or behave in the

manner of one who hears.” Audism oppresses members of the Deaf community by labeling them

to a hearing standard of how well one can speak, hear, or act like a hearing person. This notion

degrades Deaf people to how they are viewed by the outside world.

Audism has taken over the minds of many uneducated hearing people. Those hearing

people develop biases on Deaf people making them viewed as unintelligent or incapable of doing

certain tasks. Hearing people degrade them as humans thinking they can’t drive, they can lipread

so hearing people need to talk slower, or if one can lipread or a hear a little then they must be
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more intelligent than a Deaf person. These biases, remember, are then taken to every situation

that involves a Deaf person. It is important for people to rid these biases and educate themselves

with Deaf culture if one is to be experiencing the Deaf community often enough. Audism is a

degrading term that needs to disappear. Deaf people need to be given honorable respect within all

situations. Specifically, interpreters need to know these biases and be an ally for the Deaf

community and advocate for a change and development of respect towards the Deaf community.

LGBTQ+ Community Oppression

The LGBTQ+ Community (Queer Community) is a developing community; some may

know it still as the LGB or LGBT Community. The acronym stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,

Transexual/Transgender, and Queer with the plus signing meaning to include all of the other

terms individuals use to define themselves. Within the last five years, the Queer community

finally adopted the Q term, Queer, and the plus sign symbol (+) to include all of the members of

the Queer community. This community is still developing, because past and current oppression

has stunted development. Fifty-one years ago, the event “Stonewall'' took this nation by a storm.

This event was a protest for the rights of the Queer Community. The true shock of this event is

how recent it took place showing those who are uninformed that the Queer community is still

developing and finding their identity.

Oppression has hurt this community in ways that the individuals are still fighting for their

rights (e.g. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964: it is illegal to deny or fire a person from a

job for being in the Queer community). The act of oppressing individuals in this community is

called homophobia; this term is described as having a prejudice against gay people. As the

community has grown, so has the terminology. It has included the term Trans as a descriptor to
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the community, which in turn, transphobia- to have a prejudice towards those who are trans- has

also developed. Many uneducated people have continued to create their own biases towards the

Queer community, causing a difficult process for the Queer Community to fully develop and

express itself within its own ways.

As the Queer community continues to prosper, many people need to be informed of the

culture this community has and become an advocate for their rights. Many of their rights have

been challenged recently, which projects an essence of the Queer community to be inhumane and

not deserving of simple rights of getting married and adopting children. This community

deserves these rights as any other community does. Respect is deserved to this community as

well as the Deaf Community. And it begins with informing oneself of the culture and how to

respect individuals within the communities.

The Oppressed Deaf LGBTQ+ Community

Many view both the Deaf community and the LGBTQ+ community as something that

needs to be fixed, “it isn’t normal,” or not the norm. Uneducated individuals are creating this

mindset that is then oppressing these communities. This oppression by an uninformed majority,

however, can severely impact mental health and hinder their opportunities to express themselves

in ways they want to while being accepted into society. When an individual is a part of the Deaf

and Queer community, their culture differs from the majority culture: use of unique language,

description terms that are still being developed, and rights- to be treated equally- the community

is still fighting for. This under-developed community has numerous biases to face. Unfortunately,

this barrier is not allowing the community to fully form to educate the outside community.

In addition to external pressures, the community has also developed internal oppression.
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This internal oppression can psychologically confuse individuals making them also feel they may

not belong. When it comes to the Deaf component of the community, many classify this

oppression as a new developing term within the Deaf community: elitism. Deaf elitism is

described as a social hierarchy. A Deaf individual who grew up with Deaf parents, attended a

residential Deaf school, and was constantly exposed to sign at home and in school views

themselves higher in the social aspect than one who did not have these privileges. These

privileges have impacted the way that the elites then treat others who do not fit ‘the norm.’ The

“top tier” is described as White Deaf Elites while the rest of those who are not white, straight,

middle or high-class, Deaf folk are viewed less than on the social hierarchy (Player, 2020). Not

only are they viewed less but their privileges are extremely limited with finding jobs and getting

respect from members in and out of the community simply because they lack the knowledge or

ties to the Deaf community.

Unfortunately, the same goes for the Queer Commuity when it comes to internalized

oppression. There are two different types of internal oppression within the Queer Community -

one is another social hiearchy and the other is mentally created: elitism and internalized

homophobia. First, elitism looks the same for the most part in the LGBTQ+ Community as it did

with the Deaf Community. A social hierarchy is developed based on how one classifies in the

LGBTQ+ Community. Lesbian and Gay people are given more of a respect in the community by

outside community members becasue it is the most populous identifications and possibly “easiest

to understand.” The same goes within the community because they are the one’s given the rights

and privileges making them more elite. Bisexual people are degraded with common biases of

“it’s just a phase” or “just pick gay or straight.” Trangender people, unfortunately, can be awfully
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treated by the in community and outside community through transphobia. Furthermore, many

identifications are not in the label of the community so many uneducated people do not know of

them (e.g. asexual, pansexual, non-binary, demisexual, etc.) As terms are still being developed,

the community must be given respect and allow their voices to be heard with their own

preferences of identifications. People must remember that the point of the Queer Community is

to be an accepting and safe place for members to freely express themself and find a family within

the community.

The second type of oppression within the Queer Community is classified as internalized

homophobia. Researchers Frost and Meyer help describe this phrase using two simple situations;

“Internalized homophobia is further characterized by an intrapsychic conflict between

experiences of same-sex affection or desire and feeling a need to be heterosexual” (2009). In

clarification, internalized homophobia cognitively sits within members of the Queer Community

because of lack to have a safe, loving connection with another human or because of the constant

engraining phrase told to individuals that “they are sinful” and “not correct.” Many individuals

concede in thinking they will never be happy being Queer and can mentally and emotionally

abuse themselves for the rest of their lives.

In review, many face oppression in these communities and that hinders the individuals to

succeed and portray themselves comfortably and safely in public. Many people outside of the

community create biases against them and teach them to future generations. The biases and

oppression of these communities needs to resolve and a new idea of how these individuals are

humans also must rise in everyone’s mind. People must give respect to all communities and

specifically, interpreters within the Deaf Community and during assignments must rid their
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biases and give respect to their consumers. These individuals deserve access to equal

communication and opportunities without being discriminated against. A general respect needs

to be given to these communities and an equity needs to be set.

Respecting the Community

Ridding Bias

Previously stated, one cannot simply get rid of all their biases to become neutral, rather

one has to accept their biases to have a clear thought and remind themselves to remove them

when interpreting. But, if an interpreter cannot take control of their biases, CPC suggests one

should remove themselves from the situation completely, allowing a new interpreter with a

different mindset to offer communication access (NAD-RID, 2005). This first option builds a

form of respect not only to the client for being honest to them, but to oneself, knowing the client

deserves someone with a less biased perspective.

The second option is the development of new experiences and not assuming a situation.

HBR’s review may not solve the problem of ridding bias, but it does help. It explains how one’s

‘overconfidence’ in making personal decisions- thinking they are always the right one- may

cause bias. Overconfidence misguides a person’s views and people then have “trouble imagining

other ways of framing the problem or working toward a solution” (Soll et al., 2015, para 35).

When one has a bias, they assume that all situations are going to react or play out in the same

way. One becomes clueless and forgets there may be other solutions to handle situations. The

appropriate decision is to not assume an assignment is going to develop in the same way just

because you have worked with someone else.

Both these options are under review of how an interpreter respects their clients and
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themselves. All people deserve a right to self-expression as well as access to equal

communication and the interpreter should respect and allow each client to such expression. The

interpreter needs to respect the client and give appropriate equal communication and the

interpreter needs to respect themselves by leaving their own thoughts and opinions out of the

assignment.

As previously stated, when in assignments, interpreters are to maintain a professionalism

of respect to all clients. And according to 2.1 in the CPC, interpreters shall provide the service

regardless of any intersectionalities the client defines themselves. This Illustrative Behavior

informs interpreters to respect all clients based on their appearance, race, sexual orientation, etc.

(NAD-RID, 2005). The goal of this guideline is to give every individual respect, while

interpreters perform their job of providing equal communication access in an appropriate

manner. For example, a client's language preference, not omitting information, not showing bias,

and staying neutral are the correct behaviors in an assignment. Other preferences of the

community should also be asked with engaging their culture in an appropriate manner. The

application of these professional acts must be applied into a specific setting, as well as, a

development of knowledge must be continued within the Deaf LGBTQ+ Community.

Creating a Respectful Environment

Oppression is happening in this world and biases are being formed; but ridding bias to

create a respectful environment is also being researched and presented to interpreters to perform

as well. To rid a bias or at least stay neutral is a right step for interpreters before, during, and

after assignments. Creating a respectful environment creates a comfortable interpersonal

relationship between the clients and the interpreter. When this situation happens, the client can be
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more comfortable to express things with the interpreter. For example, this situation is a demand

when a Deaf client sees a therapist. Confidentiality is important just as much as a respectful

environment where the Deaf client does not have to worry about what they say because they

know they will not be judged by the interpreter. In the medical field, the Deaf person should not

have to lie about their sexual partners because the interpreter might be homophobic or have a

bias against LGTBQ+ individuals.

The interpreter’s role is not to influence, guide, or insert opinions within an assignment.

The interpreter must stay neutral and give respect to the consumer while providing equal access

to communication to all clients. This neutrality will create a respectful environment for all clients

and hinder putting oppression on the community. To create a respectful environment and make

clients feel safe and comfortable is still being shared from these communities on how to fully

respect them. However, questions can be asked in a formal setting if the interpreter is not to

know the correct answer. Furthermore, the best approach to beginning to respect this community

is to educate oneself.

Educating Respect

Through continuing certification for interpreters, interpreters are required to earn eighty

hours of continuing educational units through training and workshops within four years (RID).

Luckily, as the Deaf LGBTQ+ Community flourishes and develops, some interpreters are

creating workshops to maintain the knowledge of these communities. Although it is a few years

behind, workshops on proper pronouns, sign developments, and respect for their culture is being

picked up and taught to interpreters around the nation. However, to understand this knowledge

can be a barrier as many interpreters are from previous generations. Growing up, as previously
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mentioned, can impact what biases are formed. Observing some workshops on learning about the

Deaf LGBTQ+ Community, one realizes the impact the community has made within the last five

to ten years. Before that, this topic was not discussed and now it must be discussed and shared so

interpreters are informed. Checking one’s state chapter to find workshops on improving

knowledge is a correct way to start.

Technology developments have also become a new tool for interpreters to use within the

last years. This tool has allowed interpreters to reach more places around the nation and world

with finding more workshops to educate oneself with. With this advancement, many people are

allowed to post and share information on sign developments with the new vocabulary. This lingo

is something new to that of the Deaf LGBTQ+ Community and signs are still being created. With

that information, interpreters must also continue to update their lexicon and stay in the know

about new signs as they are created. This interaction is important for educating respect to all

individuals and giving them their right to present themselves the way they please.

Showing Respect

Learning appropriate signs, staying knowledgeable about the Deaf LGBTQ+ Community,

and having discussions and workshops that involve the community’s voice are all simple ways to

show respect as an interpreter while with clients. Pre-assignment controls are another

opportunity to include the client's preferences for the assignment. If an interpreter may not know

a sign or forgot from the last interaction with the client, in a professional manner, one can ask the

client for clarification. This interaction builds trust with the interpreter and shows the client that

the interpreter respects them.

Unfortunately, not every interpreter can or is willing to put aside beliefs and biases to
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either educate themselves on these issues or give the appropriate respect to the client. However,

there are options for professional interpreters to respect the client in remembering the client

should have equal access to communication without being discriminated against. For example, as

mentioned, the CPC advises interpreters to decline assignments if respect requirements cannot be

met (NAD-RID, 2005). If an interpreter cannot mentally handle or may be against a certain

viewpoint of the client, as a professional, one should still give the respect to the client and drop

the assignment for a more educated interpreter to take. Following these guidelines, even if the

interpreter may not agree with the client, they can still act professionally and respectfully to give

the client equality.

Empowering the Community

Some say the interpreter is “the voice” of the Deaf community, however, the Deaf

Community has their own “voice.” With growing communities all around the world, humans

have understood privilege and how it should be shown. A person with a lot of privilege should

not always be speaking up for the minority, but rather empowering the community by standing

by their side, otherwise known as: allyship. MJ Bienvenu (2016), a member of the Deaf

LGTBQ+ Community, presented on the importance of sign language interpreters in allyship for

the Deaf Community. She highlights the word allyship rather than ally because allyship is the

verb meaning- to act as an ally. Allyship is shown by the growth of knowledge and the act of

expressing respect for the community. Interpreters are accountable for being knowledgeable of

all communities within the Deaf Community. To be an ally is to advocate for rights of the

community. Allies show respect for the community and educate others within given

opportunities. The final importance is to be an ally and have an allyship with these communities
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to give them the respect they deserve.

Conclusion

Expanding the Knowledge

Minority communities have been marginalized for quite some time and frankly, far too

long. A change has been made in the time of the new decade and individuals are receiving the

rights they have deserved this entire time. As a professional who equates communication with

two different cultures, an interpreter’s job of allowing all clients to express themselves fairly

without discrimination being expressed from the third party is an important aspect. An interpreter

should continue to obtain knowledge in different aspects and subjects of possible assignments.

Interpreters should also know the cultures within their clients as well whether it pertains to their

knowledge background, ethnicity respect, or sexual orientation respect.

Overall, an interpreter should understand the formation of biases through individual self

and through assignment’s demands. After understanding the oppressions of all the minority

groups involved within the Deaf Community, an interpreter will be able to respectfully interpret

for all clients in a professional expression. Furthermore, the interpreter will be able to understand

bias and then rid bias to stay respectfully neutral. Finally, the interpreter can respect the

community by continuing to educate oneself in an appropriately timed manner to understand

culture, new signs, and forms of expression for all clients.

Interpreters have changed from a mechanical expression to a professional interpersonal

expression. Interpreters understand they are a piece of the interaction and play a role in the

assignment. With that being said, interpreters have to remember the key component of staying

neutral and providing equal access to communication for all individuals. Respect everyone’s free
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will to express and advocate for a positive progressive change for all minority communities

searching for equity.

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References

Bienvenu, M. J. (2016). Bridge to allyship: Understanding accountability as sign language

interpreters [Video]. StreetLeverage.

https://streetleverage.com/live_presentations/bridge-to-allyship-understanding-accountabi

lity-as-sign-language-interpreters/

Frost, D & Meyer, I. (2009). Internalized homophobia and relationship quality among lesbians,

gay men, and bisexuals. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 56(1), 97-109.

https://doi.org/10/1037/a0012844.

Harrington, F. J. (20014, Jan). Research resource review [Sign language interpreting:

Deconstructing the myth of neutrality by M. Metzger]. Interpreting, 6(1), 109-113.

https://doi.org/10.1075/intp.6.1.10har.

Humphries, T. (1975). The making of a word: Audism. Unpublished article submitted for

CLC2001 Readings.

Metzger, M. (1999). Sign language interpreting: Deconstructing the myth of neutrality. Gallaudet

University Press.

NAD-RID. (2005). Code of professional conduct (CPC).

Player, D. (2020). White deaf elitism: Privileges and oppression. WordPress,

https://whitedeafprivilege.wordpress.com/white-deaf-elitism-privileges-and-oppression.

RID. Certification maintenance program. Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, Inc.

https://rid.org/continuing-education/certification-maintenance/

Soll, B., Milkman, K., & Payne, J. (2015, May). Outsmart your own biases. Harvard Business

Review, https://hbr.org/2015/05/outsmart-your-own-biases.
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Williams, D. (2005). Beyond the golden rule. Teaching Tolerance Magazine.