Greer Davidson

Philosophy of Interpreting

“As individuals, and certainly as interpreters/transliterators, we face choices that can have profound effects on other people and their lives, choices of how we will or will not act in certain situations. The choices we make, and the actions that follow from those choices, can uphold or deny the dignity of other people, can advocate or violate the rights of other people, and can affirm or disavow the humanity of other people.”

- Dennis Cokely (Cokely, 2000)

I believe that all d/Deaf consumers should have access to full and equal communication. I want to facilitate communication for the d/Deaf and hearing communities. Many of my choices are guided by a list of principles and standards which I hold myself accountable for.

• Respect is a standard I hold for myself. One example of how I will respect my consumers is by showing up on time. I pride myself on my punctuality. Another way I show respect to my consumers is by using the language preference of their choice. In addition to respecting my consumers, I also will respect my colleagues. One example of this is when teaming with a colleague I will listen to their needs and accommodate teaming in a way that is effective.
• Honesty is another standard I hold for myself. I believe that privacy is included in honesty. It’s important to not only be honest but to also keep the best interest of my consumers. With that being said, I will keep my consumers' information private. I will also implement secure business practices so that my consumers information is private as it should be.
• I can promise that I will engage in interpreting practice and improvement. I strive to learn and continue to learn throughout my whole interpreting career. In addition to practice, I hope to learn about other cultures and appropriate ways to mediate if needed. I know that this is a practice profession so with time I hope to gain skills and knowledge.

My choices are guided by my principles, standards and core values listed above. My top core values are respect, honesty, and improvement. I abide by these important core values when making decisions.

Post Practicum 1 Update

While I still agree with my previous philosophy statement, some of my experiences from my educational practicum have led me to update and add some information to my interpreting philosophy.

During my practicum we were amidst the coronavirus pandemic. That affected my practicum experience with a blended or hybrid approach during my educational practicum. It was uncharted territory for me that I had not experienced before. With that being said, I have some new principles and standards to add to my philosophy.

• Accessibility is something I want to add to my existing list of principles and standards. While experiencing a blended learning atmosphere I realized there were several needs for accessibility for the Deaf student. Alongside my interpreter, I learned how to advocate for the student. We made sure all online assignments which included videos were accessible for our student through interpretations. We decided that captioning was not accessible enough for our specific consumer. We then provided a screen recording with an interpretation included for all of the videos.
• Autonomy for the Deaf student in my practicum one is also something I gained from this practicum. My interpreter encouraged me to let the student have autonomy during their learning experience. It is important to let the student be able to make and learn from mistakes instead of an interpreter interjecting.

These were specific core values and standards added to my previous philosophy. I have learned so much throughout my practicum one experience and I hope to learn more during my second.

Post Practicum 2 Update

While I still agree with my previous philosophy statement, some of my experiences from my community practicum have led me to update and add some information to my interpreting philosophy. During my practicum we were amidst the coronavirus pandemic. That affected my practicum experience with remote interpreting experiences. I have some new principles and standards to add to my philosophy.

• One standard I am adding to my philosophy is transparency. I will be transparent during the interpreting process to my consumers. During my community practicum, it was pertinent that we were transparent with our deaf consumers. While interpreting remotely my supervising interpreter and I were transparent with the deaf consumers by giving them access to not only the message but to everything we can hear. For example, if a hearing consumer was speaking and their dogs were barking in the background we would provide that to the deaf consumer. That is important because if the deaf consumer is interacting with the hearing consumer they can use that as a way to relate.
• Another standard I am adding to my philosophy is growth. I am always striving to become a better interpreter for my consumers. I am always open to feedback and constructive criticism so I can grow and be better for future interpretations.

My choices are guided by my principles, standards and core values listed above. I abide by these important core values when making decisions.

Practicum 1

Practicum 2

Post Practicum 2