Why’d you decide to be an interpreter?
(Also, hai! I saw you followed me :D)
Hi👋
I love signing, but also, I have experience with disability from both sides (chronic pain and working in assisted living). To me, serving a community you identify with just hits different. I know many Deaf people don't identify as disabled and I've never really been deaf, but I think there are a lot of parallels between my experiences facing inaccessibility as well as the pride and assumptions that come with being trans and the experience of many Deaf people I've met.
I'm also immersed in the Deaf community. Like I said earlier, it's important to me to be a part of the community I serve, but that's not the reason I interact with the Deaf community. I genuinely prefer socializing in ASL. People used to think I was an introvert, but now I go to social events at least weekly and often multiple times a week because I go to every Deaf event open to hearing people. So really it's more because I'm a hearing person in the community that I want to be an interpreter than the other way around.