The Fight for Accessibility

I am beyond exhausted.  Phew.  The past three weeks I had been fighting with the interpreter coordinator at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center for better accessibility... namely quality sign language interpreting services.  Yesterday, he finally agreed to change.  By the end of day yesterday, I learned that I will be working with some of the top interpreters in New York City for my pre-op testing, surgery, and hospital stay.  I felt relieved.  Then I crashed early feeling exhausted.

Having cancer takes a lot of time and energy.  Seriously.  A friend who survived breast cancer sent me a note in the mail, "Fighting the cancer is exhausting; emotionally, physically, and mentally.  Give yourself plenty of rest." 

What rest?  Now on top of it all, I had to fight for quality interpreting services.  In the past, I would get interpreters for my medical appointments.  Sure sometime the interpreter was not too great but I got an interpreter.  Now with my cancer, I have had to fight!?!  Bizarre.

The first appointment with Dr. Diaz-Montes, I got slapped with a VRI machine which crashed. No interpreter.  The second opinion with a local oncologist-- they wanted to use VRI but I said no way.  They insisted on VRI.  I insisted on an on-site interpreter.  The hospital agreed to send an on-site interpreter out of their budget but the office still refuse to request an on-site interpreter.  My third opinion or as we also call bias-free second opinion with Dr. Jewell-- we got a Spanish interpreter? Oops... then they tried to make VRI work which did not.  No interpreter.  A friend called via FaceTime to interpret.

The interpreter coordinator at MSKCC apologized for their blunder at my first appointment at MSKCC and promised they would do better going forward.  I have had to fight for the past three weeks for better quality interpreting services.  For my second appointment, they wanted to go with a foreign language interpretation agency, Just Interpretation, and assigned a non-certified interpreter.  I did not know who the assigned interpreter was.  I asked my local New York City interpreter friends if they knew her.  Nope.  I tried to find any information about her online but could not.  I decided to try something new.  Post her name on Facebook and see what information I can get.  Social media can be a powerful tool!  And it indeed proved to be that night.  Nobody knew that interpreter.  I was able to track down her email address and asked her the questions listed below.  Any Deaf consumer should ask any interpreters those questions. 

1. How long have you been interpreting professionally?

2. How many of those years have you done medical interpreting?
 
3. Have you done interpreting for oncology appointments?

4. Have you taken the NIC written exam yet?
 
5. What are your plans in getting nationally certified?
 
6. What are you doing to maintain your professional development? Are you involved with the local Deaf organizations in New York City? What about the local RID chapter?
 
7. How do you feel about your voicing skills? Will you please give me a honest assessment? I ask this because I will be talking quite a bit and fingerspelling some medical jargon. 

I was truthfully impressed she did respond to my email in detail.  She also said she had to give the job back because she was sick.  I replied making suggestions on how she can make herself known in the Deaf community in New York City.  Get involved in the Deaf community by attending events and meeting Deaf people.  Get involved with MetroRID to network with other interpreters.  One interpreter suggested that she establishes a web presence.  I passed that suggestion along.  From her email, she sounded like she had potential to grow into a wonderful interpreter later on.  It is up to her to make herself known.  I certainly hope she does. 

So what's my beef with foreign language translation agencies?  A lot.  First, foreign language interpreters/ translators are a whole different group from sign language interpreters.  Those companies know that profession but do not know anything about the sign language interpreting profession.  For starters, most spoken language interpreters grew up speaking the languages that they interpret later in life.  Most sign language interpreters do not.  Many of them learn sign language at an interpreter education program which usually last only two years.  Thus, in two years they learn American Sign Language PLUS how to interpret either consecutively and simultaneously.  Quite frankly, that is not enough. As a result , many sign language interpreters do not have strong language foundation before they interpret.  As a consequence, Deaf consumers suffer.  Now what do RID certificates mean?  If an interpreter gets certified by RID, it just means that they have fulfilled the MINIMUM requirements.  Remember, tests are just snapshots of the moment they took the test.  I have seen numerous interpreters who do not do well in the profession excel on the test.  I call them adept test takers but not qualified interpreters.  I usually ask for certified interpreters so I can get some kind of minimal performance but I prefer to aim higher- a qualified interpreter who can elucidate information from spoken English to American Sign Language and vice versa. 

I totally understand why MSKCC might find contracts with Just Interpretation and similar type of agencies appealing.  It means one-stop shop.  One bill for all interpreting services.  Convenient, eh?  BUT it is at the expense of Deaf consumers' accessibility.  Foreign language translation agencies are catching on quickly that there is MONEY in the American Sign Language interpreting and they want in.  Sadly, they know NOTHING about the profession and about the Deaf community.  In fact, I have filed complaints against those companies because they usually send interpreters with poor skills.  Why? They do not know anything about the sign language interpreting profession and how to ensure quality assurance.  

My first experience with a foreign language interpretation company was with Language People who conveniently created a subdivision of their company called Sign Language People to make themselves seem credible.  I was in the ER at Kaiser in San Diego and they sent an interpreter that I have never heard of.  I was living in San Diego and working in the sign language interpreting profession long enough to know many local interpreters.  She arrived late.  She ran up to me in shorts and flip-flops.  She put her hands on me while I was laying in a bed.  "Are you okay???!!!! What happened?"  One would have thought she was a friend of mine being overly concerned.  No, she was supposed to be my interpreter.  Luckily I had a Deaf friend with me who could speak well who helped ensure communication access was there.  She was not certified.  She was certainly not qualified.  I contacted the company to express my disappointment.  They ignored me.  I have made additional complaints for other interpreters they sent to my Kaiser appointments.  They ignored me.  In the end, they accused me of violating the RID's CPC Tenet 5.0: Respect for colleagues.  They felt that as a certified interpreter, I was not respecting my colleagues.  Huh?  I was utilizing their services as a Deaf consumer NOT as an interpreter. 

From that experience, I knew I had to stay far away from those companies.  If I find they are being used for my medical appointments, I would insist on going with a sign language interpreting agency.  For the past few years, I have been lucky in convincing my doctor offices to go with sign language interpreting agencies.  I was not as lucky with MSKCC.  I decided to see if Just Interpretation was unique.  Nope.  They're as bad as others.  

I am an administrator of a sign language interpreting agency.  Our company and similar companies value the relationship with the Deaf community.  We know our Deaf clients very well and their preferred types of interpreters.  We also know our sign language interpreters well and what they are capable of.  I can tell you off the bat which interpreters my agency should send to medical appointments and which not to.  I can identify which interpreters would be better suited for educational settings.  Keep in mind not all sign language interpreters can do ANY job.  It's about finding the right fit.  A good sign language interpreter is the one who is involved with the professional community as well as Deaf community to keep up with skills, training, and language development.   

Foreign language translation companies like Just Interpretation do not take the time to know each of their interpreter individually to determine appropriate assignments. Nor do they allow for dialogues with Deaf clients about their preferences and non-preferences.  They are really in it for the money.  Sign language interpreting agencies do have that level of relationship with the Deaf clients.  In fact, I tried to call Just Interpretation before my 3/12 appointment to see if I could talk with them about the type of interpreters I prefer.  They would not take my call and said that they only deal with the paying customers, namely MSKCC.  That was exactly what Sign Language People said to me.  Ugh. 

After learning that the assigned interpreter gave back the job, I immediately contacted the MSKCC interpreter coordinator to ask who they were sending next.  There was silence for two days. Ugh.  Finally, someone else replied saying that they had a certified interpreter assigned.  It was not clear if the interpreter was coming from Just Interpretation or a sign language interpreting agency.

The 3/12 appointment came.  We found the interpreter coordinator and the SAME Spanish interpreter in the waiting room.  I met the assigned interpreter and asked which agency sent her.  Just Interpretation. Ugh.  I was concerned about the quality.  In fact as a result of my Facebook posting, a top interpreter in NYC volunteered to interpret the appointment if we needed her.  She said she refused to work with Just Interpretation but wanted to ensure I had access.  I appreciated that offer of kindness and to this day, I wish I had taken it.  The communication was fragmented during the testing and the consultation on 3/12.  I was frustrated.  It was clear that the MSKCC interpreter coordinator and the Spanish interpreter told the interpreter about what happened at the first appointment because the interpreter was a nervous Nelly around us.  It frustrated me.  Mike decided to talk with her and tell her that we won't bite.  She insisted she was not nervous.  She missed a lot of information.  She struggled to understand me which compelled Mike to voice for me.  I felt so bad for Mike because he was supposed to be there as my partner and supporter NOT as my interpreter.  

I learned that the MSKCC interpreter coordinator assumed that I was happy with the interpreter when we all met in the waiting room.  I told him that this was a terrible assumption on his part.  I never told him about my level of satisfaction until after the appointment.  I just nodded at the interpreter coordinator to confirm he has done his part in assigning an interpreter.  Coverage was there.  I needed time with her to assess her skills.  Mike and I agreed that she is not a good fit.  She definitely needs additional training to be an effective interpreter in medical settings.  

As a result of the MSKCC interpreter coordinator's bad assumption, the same interpreter got assigned for my pre-op appointment on 3/27.  I said, NO!  I needed a sign language interpreter who was capable to interpret both ways without forcing Mike into a position to interpret.  I told the coordinator that it was time to stop working with Just Interpretation for all of my future appointments and to work with a sign language interpreting agency.  I learned from local Deaf people and interpreters that MSKCC does have an ongoing contract with Mill Neck Interpreter Service.  An interpreter told me she got assigned a job at MSKCC for a different patient.  I decided to use the ongoing contract as my argumentation and kept on pushing and pushing.  Yesterday, the interpreter coordinator finally caved in and agreed to go with Mill Neck.  THEN I contacted Mill Neck directly to develop a relationship with them.  I explained to them that I am an out-of-towner and I did not know many interpreters in New York City.  I described what type of interpreters and the skill sets they should have.  Their scheduler, Lindsay Byrne, is amazing!  She took the time to work with me via email to assign interpreters for my pre-op appointment, surgery, and hospital stay.  She gave me the names of assigned interpreters and told me I could check them out by consulting my interpreter colleagues in New York City.  All assigned interpreters are among the best in the city.  Lindsay also asked me for preparation information for the interpreters.  That kind of relationship is not found with foreign language interpretation companies.  

One way to drive those foreign language interpretation agencies out of the sign language interpreting business is for Deaf consumers to refuse to accept interpreters from them.  And sign language interpreters need to stop taking work from them.  I know interpreters need to earn money but... there are a lot of work that need to be covered by sign language interpreting agencies. 

My interpreter friend in the city sent me a text last night: "Mill Neck is telling interpreters you are a strong client and are expecting quality, so that's why you are now getting the top names. Go Naomi!" Phew.  What a fight that was.  I did not deserve that.  Let's see what happens the next few months with MSKCC interpreter coordinator.  I hope I do not have to fight anymore for accessibility at MSKCC.  For some reason, I have this feeling I would have to.  Ugh.