There are a few of trending in the Deaf community, one of them is about a problem that is going on around in the Deaf community about American Sign Language interpreters with conflict of interests, and by American Sign Language interpreters conflict of interests, I mean the American Sign Language interpreters who are already biased due to conflict of interests but went ahead to accept the interpreting job. Biased American Sign Language interpreters are often in violation of the code of ethics, especially through the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID). If you visit the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID) code of ethics page, before getting to the full versions of their code of ethics, you would see one of their tenets number three (3) it says that interpreters conduct themselves in a manner appropriate to the specific interpreter situation and also under seven (7) it says interpreters engage in professional development. But further, it would be 3.7, which it says disclose to parties involved any actual or perceived conflicts of interest. Suppose that American Sign Language interpreter happens to have a conflict of interests. In that case, these are examples of codes of ethics that they violate. Still, it is not the only code of ethics required to follow as there are others, whether it be one from its own American Sign Language interpreting agency or a state agency/organization that serves the Deaf community with American Sign Language interpreters.
If American Sign Language interpreters are offered or assigned to a task that would be a conflict of their interests, then they should and can decline the offer or request to give the assignment to someone else that does not have a conflict of interests or at least has a clean record where they do not openly demonstrate something that would show they have a conflict of interests.
You can read some code of ethics here –
Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID): https://rid.org/ethics/
National Association of the Deaf and Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf Code of Professional Conduct: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-_HBAap35D1R1MwYk9hTUpuc3M/view
What prompted me to write this article is, yes, I have been observing the Deaf community’s reaction toward that American Sign Language interpreter with conflict of interests on a worldwide television for a country’s executive government. In that case, I am referring to a recent outrage from the Deaf community because there was an American Sign Language who have a conflict of interests due to openly expressing her political view on social media and who openly opposed the executive head of the country took the job to interpret in American Sign Language on a worldwide live television knowing that she has openly spoken negatively about the new executive head of the country. By now, some of you now get an idea who and what I am talking about. Yes, I am talking about that American Sign Language interpreter who took a job to interpret for the United States of America president Joe Biden for his press briefings on January 25th, 2021. The name of that American Sign Language interpreter who took the job to interpret for the press briefings under United States of America president Joe Biden administration is none other than Heather Mewshaw. By now, if you don’t watch Biden/Harris administration press but do know who Heather Mewshaw is, then you should already know right away that she has a conflict of interests while taking the job to interpret for the Deaf community in Biden/Harris administration press briefings.
There are a few articles on large news outlets talking about this already. Here is one of them by Time: https://time.com/5933592/white-house-sign-language-interpreter/
Now to my thought about this outrage in the Deaf community, there is a divided reaction in the Deaf community as there are some who agree that there is a conflict of interests in Heather Mewshaw taking the job was wrong. Some people support Heather Mewshaw with their defense, stating that what Heather Mewshaw did was not a conflict of interest taking the job to interpret Biden/Harris’s press briefings in American Sign Language. They also defended, stating that some other American Sign Language interpreters interpret politicians with a different political view, such as David Cowan for Georgia’s republican governor Brian Kemp and Kelby Brick for Maryland’s Republican governor Larry Hogan. Which side am I on, you ask? I am on the side of the Deaf people who agree that it is a conflict of interest for Heather Mewshaw to take a job to interpret for the press briefings for the Biden/Harris administration because there are some of the things that they are very right about. You cannot compare her to David Cowan or Kelby Brick, who interprets politicians who have a different view. Because David Cowan and Kelby Brick did not go out in public to share their political view, they are more professional than Heather Mewshaw ever will be because Heather Mewshaw basically put herself up as a billboard as a Trump supporter by wearing the MAGA apparels. You will not see David Cowan wearing anything that would show he support Stacey Abrams and frequently share negative opinions about Brian Kemp, which goes the same for Kelby Brick with Larry Hogan. By public, I mean social media where they would publicly share their opinions about their political view and against the candidates who run against the candidates they like, which is what Heather Mewshaw did – again, in public, the keyword here.
This is all about professionalism; if Heather Mewshaw had followed David Cowan and Kelby Brick’s examples on social media, this would be a different story. Before Heather Mewshaw accepted the job to interpret for Biden/Harris administration press briefings, she passionately interpreted many of the news that falsely paints Donald Trump and the republicans as if they are good when we know better. She even created more than one group on Facebook dedicated to delivering far-right misleading news in American Sign Language. David Cowan and Kelby Brick did not back then, and they still have not to this day. So, to ask why it is ok for David Cowan and Kelby Brick but not for Heather Mewshaw is moot. First, it is all about professionalism, to begin with, wearing MAGA apparel and passionately translating the misleading far-right news in American Sign Language while knowing that everything they said is far from being true. She knows that she has been seen by the public wearing MAGA apparels and translating far-right news in American Sign Language but then taking the job to interpret for Biden/Harris administration knowing that she has been translating far-right news that was dedicated to former president Donald Trump while wearing the MAGA apparels – conflict of interest. She should have declined the job from the start; maybe she wouldn’t cause the outrage in the Deaf community, especially where the language is from and for once to be a professional, which she failed due to conflicts of interest. Every American Sign Language interpreters know that if they were to be American Sign Language interpreters, then they should not posting something in public that would reflect them unprofessional, not just on social media but everywhere as well and they know that they have the power of accepting or rejecting the assignment or job that would be a conflict of interest of theirs. The best analogy I can think of this for everyone to understand why it is a conflict of interest for Heather Mewshaw is; a prosecutor would not accept the job to defend a person who the prosecutor prosecuted before.
Heather Mewshaw had the audacity to go on the news, conservative news (surprise, surprise!) to complain that she was “canceled out” by the Deaf community. There she said: “Because I am a trained, professional interpreter, I am required by my certification to maintain neutrality,”
Really?! Trained, professional interpreter and is required by certification to maintain neutrality? Apparently not, otherwise, she would not wear the MAGA apparels and actively creating groups such as “Hands of Liberty” and others, but she did. Therefore, she did not maintain neutrality; she violated the code of ethics via the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID). She does not look like she has been trained otherwise; she would have known not to do just that. There is no but, and there is no bush that she can beat more. The bottom line is that she violated a few codes of ethics; she was not neutral because certification required her to be as she has been seen wearing MAGA apparel, supporting former president Donald Trump and translating conservative news in American Sign Language then creating a few groups on Facebook for them. That is that. Like I said, if she had followed David Cowan and Kelby Brick’s example, which is to not display that they are biased, such as in supporting a candidate of any political party in public’s eyes, especially in the Deaf community, then I would not see any issue for her to interpret for Biden/Harris administration because she would not have publicly said anything that supports a candidate or a political party. When a person decided to be in a professional career of many things, their social media would be one of the first things that their employers would be taking a look at to make sure that they don’t say anything that would go against their standards. Since she is an American Sign Language interpreter guess who controls her employment as an interpreter? The Deaf community. No, don’t tell me an interpreting agency or an organization because they know that they heavily rely on Deaf people to keep their business flowing by hiring their interpreters.
Heather Mewshaw went on to news to say that she has been canceled out, well then she should not have to do anything that would do so – say, like openly supporting a candidate or a political party then accepting a job by someone who has a different political view than she openly advertised online. It is a shame, and that is all I will say, but this is on her wholly as she knows that what she did was against the code of ethics whether she wants to admit it or not in public. Plus, I believe that she has broken the trust that she has from the Deaf community. Whenever she is hired to interpret for them somewhere, they will remember that she translated far-right news that spews nothing but misleading information. She is the perfect example for all interpreters NOT to do if they want to be in American Sign Language interpreters in the future.
Joshua “Joshie” Sullivan.
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