Stop putting FAKE ASL interpreters on the news‼️ 

Your anger is JUSTIFIED.

I’m speechless. That’s heartbreaking that it’s 2024 and there’s still ““interpreters”” showing up ON NATIONAL TELEVISION no less!!! As a hard-of-hearing person, this makes me mad. Something needs to change.

People may also be unaware that when streaming there are times when captioning won't appear because ASL is being used. There are times with scripted programming where the camera doesn't show all of the signing or times in live broadcasts when an "interpreter" isn't actually qualified, and the content becomes completely inaccessible.

ASL is NOT a joke, I’m so sad that this happens, and keeps happening, I wish people would be a little less ignorant

I would be close to tears too! My friend is deaf and has learned ASL since she was three. I have learned a bit, but I fully understand her when she uses it. What that girl was saying on the news made no sense. ASL is NOT A JOKE. It’s like saying every language in the world is a joke. ASL is a LANGUAGE and NOT to be disrespected. This is just sickening. I would be mad too honestly.

I’m learning ASL currently, by no means an expert, but I saw one once (presented like this where I only knew of it from a deaf person’s channel) where the lady looked like she was dancing a bad version of the Macarena rather than actually signing anything. She was called out and researched and turns out she was a serial fraud and impersonator with multiple convictions. And she got on TV “interpreting” for a police press conference or (something like that). Despicable.

I can see the hurt in her heart. Know that you are doing a huge favor by giving the deaf community the representation It deserves. This is never ok.

She’s not mad she’s learning asl. She’s mad that this woman is being fake. She is totally justified, that is unacceptable

Ahhh you got me emotional at the end there, Liz. Keep spreading awareness that ASL is a language. It's not "English signs for deaf people" like no, it's another language. Such a beautiful one at that. I added this to my awareness playlist as well to help spread it.

I agree! I teach ASL and deaf myself teaching ASL 1. I told my students if you take interpreting jobs you going be in a huge trouble. NEVER take any interpreting jobs until you are fluent with your signing and interacted with the deaf community immersing. Also taking interpreting classes and training. How could she just squeak by and do this. It doesn't matter if it was his sister but it's not okay. The news station and the actor should make a public apology and replace that fraud "interpreter" with a professional interpreter and upload again. Since the sister is already in a PIP setting and it easy to switch out to a professional certified ASL interpreter.

im sorry liz, i get how this can be suuuuper frustrating. i wish more people actually put in effort into accommodating the deaf community. keep raising awareness!!! love you!! 🫶🫶

Never thought institutions as distinguished as the news would bring up a fake interpreter, EWW! It's honestly disgusting girl that people aren't taking this seriously. We have just restricted and excluded a whole group of people from understanding the news. We have discriminated a good portion of the population because of ignorance. Imagine the amount of backlash this girl would have received if she was instead responsible for writing subtitles for this news segment. Imagine the attacks she (and said actor) would have received from native speakers who felt offended, misrepresented and confused with the wrong captions. Imagine if she was responsible for the audio playback of that news segment, then messed up and made it go silent. She would have been ridiculed and cancelled online. But when it's ASL, it's not that serious. Disgusting. I could hear your voice cracking Elizabeth, and I know that, no matter how much I can empathize with this situation, I can never feel the disappointment and ire you must feel towards society. All I can do is support you, so, 2:35, period queen, I'm standing by you.

i'm a hearing theatre actress; it's appalling how little representation of Deafness there is across all forms of acting, and how often hearing people play Deaf/HOH characters - opportunities that should inarguably be given to Deaf/HOH actors. liz, i hope you achieve your acting goals and keep raising awareness about accessibilty. keep up your good work; it matters and it makes a difference.

U sound like ur gonna cry hun……. What this girl did is *NOT* ok. She looked like she’s never even been in a ASL class and I can’t believe she said yes to “translating”. The amount of deaf ppl that were probably SO excited to finally see their language is horrible. I hope she is held accountable for this BS

sadly some people do see asl as a joke. i was trying to learn asl a few months ago and my ex best friend (who was my best friend at the time) was constantly mocking me and saying it’s not a real language. i tried to explain to her that waving around her hands and saying it’s sign is just as offensive as saying ching chong or whatever but she refused to understand. i can’t even imagine how much worse i would feel if i was deaf and it was my main form of communication.

Interpretation is also a whole different set of skills than knowing a language!! People don't understand this enough. It's relatively at the same pace as the speaker(s) and needs to convey the full gist of the conversation, live. Languages have different grammar, phrases, and subject/verb orders which requires a lot of thinking on your feet if you're not used to intepreting. I had to interpret once, pulled in 3 minutes before a presentation despite my protests. I tried to explain that interpretation does not equal translation but I was the only one that knew the language fluently. They also wanted me to do it after a full sentence so, speaker says one sentence, I say it in the other language. 😂 I got so fed up and told them to just say the info and I'll explain it. The frustration was real.

ohhh Liz.. the wavering and shaking in your voice and passionate intensity in your signs 🥺♥️ I'm sorry you have to experience that shit. im sure it's not the first rollercoaster of emotions regarding fair and proper access, nor will it be the last..

So I am a person who can't keep their mouth shut. So whenever I'm in school and we're not allowed to talk while the teacher is talking I use my sign that I know to still say it. I do not have any trouble with hearing. This is not something that any professional recommended to me I just started learning ASL and started using it for this. In my experience living from the LA area Kids at school would come up to me and move their hands around looking like their hands are having seizure episodes (these kids are the closest thing in my school to "popular kids"). They asked me "Isn't sign language is kinda like German where it's just a bunch of sounds with meanings. I can just move my hands and a deaf person would know what I'm saying?" That just made me hate them more than I already did. Unfortunately these kinds of people call themselves masters after learning what "thank you" is in ASL and get put up with the impression that they know what they're doing bc hearing people don't know any better. It's like if braille on a sign was wrong but no one would find out bc it's not their problem.

As someone who admires ASL, and has taken classes on the language, as well as uses it to help communicate in their classroom (very loosely mind you as I’m hearing and I teach in a hearing school), this is simply repulsive. I use ASL and want my students to know as much about the language as possible but NEVER, NEVER Tell them I’m fluent or that I can interpret. If they want to know or learn a sign that I don’t know I’m always down to learn with them. But to stand in front of any group of people lie, and blatantly deny deaf and hard of hearing people the access to their language is. Gross.

She was definitely too overconfident, she looked really young. I agree with you, I think that she might’ve just started learning ASL. It’s a really bad look for that news station, I don’t know who would be at fault here, probably the girl and the news station both. I have been around news stations before and a lot of times they will search for any crumbs just too look like they have “inclusivity” and “diversity”. They thrive off of tokenization of underrepresented groups, such as people of colour, the deaf community, and the disability community as a whole, just to win the favour and the hearts of the general public. One big thing that happens in live TV is hyping up people who are subpar at this type of thing and who have really novice knowledge of the subject, just so that they can easily check mark “representation” off of their bingo card instead of searching for an actual deaf or hard of hearing professional ASL interpreter who is qualified for the job. She probably honestly didn’t 100% feel comfortable before everyone convinced her and hyped her up to go on stage.

"do some people think ASL is a joke?" As a hearing person, absolutely yes. Honestly? Of course it depends on your area and who's around you but so many hearing people grow up thinking this, and not just about ASL. Disability is always discussed and portrayed as either a joke or something to cry over. Kids will grow up mocking sign language and no one does anything about it, so of course we never grow out of seeing it as a joke. On top of that, many people don't see it as a language, either. When we think of language, we're gonns think of speaking languages, not sign language, because thats only ever brought up as a joke. You probably already know this as someone who uses ASL day-to-day but there are SO MANY people who dont even understand that theres multiple types of sign language- when people in america think of sign language they think of ASL and thats it. Even my mom thought that there was just a singular universal sign language and i had to tell her theres not, and a few years ago i thought the same thing too. And for SL being apart of deaf culture, the unfortunate thing is that a lot of people can't wrap their heads around the idea that deaf people could have a culture in the first place (despite people somehow thinking youre all connected?? Ableism is weird man) You're just seen as pitiable and cultures are supposed to have happy aspects but no one seems to see that you can be content and even happy with life while being disabled. I'm sorry you have to deal with such bullshit everyday, hopefully we'll reach a point in time where nondisabled people can see disabled people as equals

As someone who’s trying to learn ASL and has deaf and mute family that I want to be able to communicate with, that’s honestly so frustrating. Your frustration is 100% valid!!! It isn’t fair for someones way of communication to be taken as a joke. If I didn’t understand even an ounce of ASL, I’d still be able to notice she doesn’t know what she’s doing. What is wrong with people!?

I can’t even believe that is still happening!!! I just went through and Interpreter training program, and would never interpret for the news until I am much more skilled. Thanks for spreading awareness!

I have a cousin who is taking classes in ASL, I think college level. I don't know much about it, but I subscribed. Wanna learn. Langauges are cool. But also you're right, a society should pride itself on its accessibility, and if you are an able bodied person with all the works, you should still feel uncomfortable in a wolrd that doesn't cater to wheel chairs, or with braile for the blind or ASL for the deaf. Because like the Joker says, all it takes is one bad day man. So yeah. It bothers me. All the inaccessibility in the world. Oh and even like for videogames. Like its fine to have colorful characters but every color should be another shade too or paired with a tonescreen pattern so that colorblind people have a proxy so they can use the same tools the same way. And not everybody has the same number of fingers or the same range of motion. So it just irritates me that we live in a world with so little redundancy for accessibility. Like videogames COULD come with accessibility in mind, but USUALLY you have to go out of your way to get a crack team of nerds to help you be included. That enrages me. I love the nerds. I wish we didn't need some third party nerd group tho. You know? I'm not well informed but I do care, and I want people to be included and have fun and all that 💖

Also she's wearing a t-shirt with a design on it. A real interpreter would definitely know to wear a SOLID color that contrasts well with their skin tone for legibility!

Although I dont know asl and don't have any deaf family members, I have a friend whose parents are deaf and speaks asl. It breaks my heart just knowing the disabled families that can't properly watch the news because these "interpreters" make it difficult for them to comprehend the news. I agree on how asl is a language and not just "deaf people stuff" because these horrible human being "interpreters" don't understand the struggles deaf people and other disabled people face in order to find accessibility. Sad, this is just disgusting.

No you 100% are justified. If the news was in a language I didn’t understand and for a glimpse and split second I thought I would be able to be represented and understand without subtitles and the person was speaking jibberish but adding in a couple of words here and there, I’d be offended too, that more than anything. Like they think this is a game or something? Wow…

This is so sad to see and I'm so so so sorry to everyone in the deaf community it is just not fair to be treated this way, and you know what else sucks is that most high schools diplomas won't recognize ASL as a language, like you can take it as a class but it won't count as a real language and that's dumb and doesn't even make sense

doing fake sign language is like if a show just said “worbendoble nubuksalin” and called it “english”

Thanks for making people aware about this. Knowledge is power, and I'm thankful someone is out there looking out for us. 😊❤

Well put Liz. The deaf audience needs proper interpreters, not whatever she was. Try not to be too mad. Life is too short to dwell on it, but you continue your fight for the deaf community. You are a great spokesperson for them. ❤

I admire your strength to speak up about this issue. You’re right she did take away your access and many other people’s access I’m so sorry about this, I can even hear the frustration in your voice about it. Thank you for continuing to grow and use your platform for good and raise awareness on these issues. They matter. You matter, I’m so sorry. ♡

People like you and stories like yours have made learning ASL on my bucket list. I hope that our society can notice and change and become better.

I didn't even know there was such thing as a fake interpreter being allowed on TV. I thought anything like that would be impossible, to the point I never questioned it. Thank you for making people aware.

It's heartbreaking that this keeps happening. It's so hard when you feel like you're not being represented, your voice is not being heard, and your community is just being waved away. This needs to change. People need to wake up. Good on you for speaking out about it! 😊

Liz, okay wow. A lot to say. My ex-husband works in network news, I've been adjacent to this industry for 24yrs, and while I can picture exactly how this happened, I find it appalling. See, I am also a disability activist and educator, (as well as a partially ambulatory wheelchair user) and I really don't want to let this lie. If you want to chat, my contact info is in my bio...I'm relatively easy to vet because of my old job. I am fairly certain that there is a process to file a formal complaint with CBS, but I know that there is with the FCC. (I'm also friends with some really cool disabled actors you should meet if you haven't. Feminist networking at it's finest.) I know how emotionally exhausting this crap can be, I really do. It is so frustrating that we are still here. But there are tools at our disposal we couldn't have dreamed of a generation ago, social media has allowed us to all connect in a way that was never possible before. I think that's powerful. 💜

It’s good that you have passion for helping others like yourself. We need more people like you to represent a community people don’t think about at all.

I'm really sorry that you experienced this. You expressed yourself so well, though. They are taking away your access, as well as every member of the deaf community, and that's not OK. You are absolutely in the right to call this out, and I hope that your critique goes viral, so people begin to understand the effect things like this have in disadvantaged communities.

Awe. Bless your heart. You're shaking and I even thought you were about to cry from how disappointed you are. ❤ you're too real. I am glad you're making a difference in your community. So wholesome.

It's good you're calling this stuff out. Stand up for your community! And we'll stand with you ❤

I'm amazed by your skill and voice. You have a fire inside of you that most people don't have. I know you've got this, and it'll make a huge impact! 🙌🏽

you should be angry! the people who say you shouldn't obviously don't care about the representation of the deaf community. I'm glad you posted this because, at least now there's one less fake interpreter who is getting away with the things they do

Wow! That is shocking! Thank you for sharing your feelings in such an articulate and logical manner. I am particularly grateful that you pointed out the negligence of the brother and sister who squandered an opportunity to advocate and educate others about the importance of ensuring they use qualified interpreters. I used to be an ASL interpreter and hoped to reenter the profession when my youngest started school. I was accepted into the four year degree program that is now required for all ASL interpreters but I fell and injured my wrist and the doctors advised against it. I am now training to be a mental health counselor and regularly ask questions about interpreters and other accessibility concerns that nobody even knows need to be asked. I know that many providers, including mental health counselors are required to pay for interpreters if the client requests one, and I was shocked to learn that medical facilities allow Deaf patients to provide their own “interpreters” without verifying their credentials. I understand not wanting a stranger in the room, but even if the family member is certified, it is an ethical and legal nightmare for the clinician. My instinct is to refuse to work with a non-certified interpreter, but the conversation would be very uncomfortable and there is the risk of being accused of discrimination. I cannot imagine how difficult it is for hearing people who are aware of the ADA but unfamiliar with interpreters to tell a Deaf person that they cannot use the “interpreter” of their choice. TV shows generally rely on captions to satisfy the ADA and only use interpreters when interviewing a Deaf person. Are they required to provide/pay for interpreters rather than use captions for this type of interview? I ask because if they satisfied the law, the television station needs education but they will not be fined or face discipline unless the law requires an interpreter. I am not defending anybody. I just want to understand it better. I appreciate your focus on the two people who “should” follow proper protocol, and am trying to think of ways to help educate hearing people who are afraid of being rude or insensitive towards the person in front of them that the interviewee’s preferences do not alter who has the right to stand in that box. I am sorry for your pain and want to do my part to improve access, understanding, and connection.

For the hearing people out there, with all interpretater needs, please look to your local Regulatory of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID) to ensure they are certified and know what they are doing.

Thank you for sharing about this- this is absolutely terrible and you being vocal about it is helping move our world into a better place. Thank you.

The FCC needs to start fining these actions as aggressively as it fines Super Bowl performances. If you are going to use an ASL interpreter, their skills should be proven beyond being somebody's sister. Now we got Nepo ASL. 😠

I can hear your voice shaking. your feelings are so justified this is despicable to see. people like her just want her 15 minutes of fame at the cost of others. I fully support your journey to become a deaf actor

I love your passion and that fact that you are bringing attention to this matter!! I think it’s very sad that some people do not seem to take ASL and interpreting ASL as seriously as they do a spoken language. If that woman was translating English into another spoken language more people would be in an uproar that her “work” was incorrect. Sadly since non deaf people don’t understand ASL they do not realize the damage being done!! I hope to learn ASL so I can have to option to use it in my career.

Woah I didn't even know this happened, thanks for shedding light on this. I recently graduated from an interpreting training program and have been signing for a few years, but I'm not claiming I'm an interpreter yet because I'm not certified yet!! It's crazy how people with little-to-no respect towards the Deaf community and the interpreting profession can simply get up there *especially on the news* and claim a title that many individuals work so hard for.

This is mad funny i hope they keep doing that because i had a blast listening to the proper translation

Seeing your passion and anger gave me goosebumps. I hope accessibility gets its due. Access is so important, and i hope people at large come to realize this.

i love your videos!!! i am so excited to learn more ASL because you got me so interested and hooked!!!!❤❤❤ im taking ASL in high school and im so excited to have it as my minor in college with my major being teaching!!! ily sm🩷🩷

Your anger and sadness is completely justified. Seeing that makes me sick, and I think it's awesome that you're taking a stand to help your community and educate others about ASL. As a young actress myself, I can't wait to see you in some big acting gig, and I admire your hard work and dedication not only to your craft, but to your community.

I absolutely agree with you & your feelings. My cousin gets upset if he goes to the hospital & they push in a tv monitor. He wants someone live or he would rather try to read lips. I wish I would of learned this & I think it’s about time I do for people like yourself

Your voice here breaks my heart! 😭 I just thought you’re sick at the beginning, now I understand how hard it is to see people disrespecting others like that, by lying and faking! I hope these people learn their lesson

I hope she learns her lesson. I totally agree with you. ❤

This seems more like virtue signaling than any genuine attempt to provide accessibility. I wonder if this was just a spur of the moment thing, it seems like networks should know by now to vet their interpreters.

I totally agree with you. I am not deaf and only know very little ASL, but i can understand your frustration. I couldn't imagine being so happy that you are finally being recognized and appreciated and then you find out its all fake. I just wish others could be considerate of other people and realize that sign language is not a joke, it is a beautiful language like all the others and it shouldn't be made fun of whatsoever.

Bro I am literally LEARNING, L E A R N I N G ASL..I would NEVER EVER EVERRRRR do that. Who the actual HELL would: 1. Claim that they are an interpreter. 2. Claim they have the SKILLS to be an INTERPRETER. 3. Go on THE NEWS.. where more then BILLIONS of DEAF ppl are WATCHING, and fricking not even interprete properly?? This is honestly making me rlly angry, cause I'm learning ask and I would NEVER EVER in my WHOLE LIFE, even if I GOT A CHANCE TO..do ANYTHING similar to this or this itself. I'm sure that girl must've been happy, but maybe she would be even more happy if she had the skills and other ppl would also be happier (deaf ppl) seeing the deaf community representation. I'm sorry if this came off a bit harsh, but I let it come off as much as I felt abt this situation. I don't do that normally. I'm genuinely upset about this. My fam- *clears throat* dad. My dad makes fun of it sometimes if he sees me practicing and he starts moving his hands around and then says "What? I was just talking to ___!" Or "What? I was just telling ____ to ____." .. Like bro..just stop. U ain't only not taking it srs.. you're trying to bring me down abt something incredibly AMAZING and EFFECTIVE (in a good way) for others (deaf community) and myself. So I hate hate HATEEEE when ppl don't take sign language srs. Like learn it if u want, but don't do stuff like this. It's straight up rude and disrespectful.

This is so upsetting. To have the mere audacity to do this. Imagie someone going on National television for something important and they start speaking in Simlish and call it English and everyone's praising them for it and they're getting paid while you're sitting here feeling absolutely confused and played with. ASL IS AS IMPORTANT AND VALID AS ANY OTHER LANGUAGE. I have been severely unilaterally deaf for years now.. that itself is such a struggle. I can't even imagine how bilaterally deaf people feel in these situations.

I'm so sorry this happend. I can feel the saddnes of your video and it's heart breaking. 😢

She is so inspiring 🥲

What the heck?? Totally agree ASL is a language and an interpreter plays a vital role in bridging the language barrier. Thanks for sharing this unacceptable behavior and busting them.

Anyone saying you're just being mean is ignorant. You're anger is completely justifiable, thank you for bringing attention to this. I didn't realize there were people who pretended to be interpreters, that's insane. You're completely right that an entire community's accessibility is being taken away. ❤

I personally have never learned asl or know someone who uses it, but your anger is absolutely valid. This is so many people’s way of getting to know what’s happening in the world! Whether it’s important or not, everyone has the right to know what’s happening in their community. And this is just sad, because this is national television and so on.

I am part deaf and asl has been my first language. It is sad to see this still happen with access for the DHH taken as a joke and not seriously.

That's heartbreaking!!! So frustrating that deaf people are still having to deal with that and so many other bizarre things!!!

ASL is so so so so so not a joke 😡 I totally understand u. I am not deaf but a teacher in my school learned asl she inspired me a bunch and I thought it's super cool to be speaking fluently in a super cool language. I love the asl community with all my heart and I actually have a hard of hearing deaf cousin.

my heart broke by the end of the video, its awful how people think asl isnt a language when many rely on it to communicate 😊😢😕😔

My dad and younger brother are hard or hearing and your anger is 100% valid. I am taking an asl class this summer (starts today!) so I can learn more about the deaf community and also for my family knowing sometime in the future I will most likely need to learn some I am going into highschool and I feel like maybe they should ask a deaf person to sign it like off a paper or ask a deaf or hard of hearing person to nominate someone they trust. But this is so sad that this community is still so far behind knowing there have been deaf people for hundreds and hundreds of years and we still have this type of “interpreter” Sorry if this does not make much sense just kinda ranting 😢 Love your channel and I am so glade I got to find your channel and you will do great in acting!

man that must be so annoying, I’m glad you are speaking out

I’m tearing up..ur anger is justified!! That’s so disrespectful. I mean an interpretator is there so the recipients who’s only access it is to understand what is being said…

Im hearing but grew up LOVING THE DEAF COMMUNITY thanks to an accident that landed me in the hospital as a young child and my child roommate was a 12 year old deaf girl that had the longest and pritties hair. So we became friends because i was about 4 and wanted to brush and play with it... And she would try to teach me asl. As i got older i meet more people that were deaf and i decided to self teach so i could communicate with them because i felt like they had so much to tell me. It breaks my heart that people don't take it seriously and get away with this shit. Ty for calling her out, Liz. You're amazing

It's so crazy to me that the us doesn't have this type of inclusion and accesibility as a BASIC right. In my country they always have deaf people signing the news and festivals transmitted through tv and there are so many capacitation options that the only barrier is the people's indifference, but not the government's. I really pray for every polititian and brainrot millionare's downfall so y'all can start having people with human empathy in the powerseats, I'll just have faith in God that things may change for good sooner than later. sending my support from Chile💙💙

Not only was it closing off an entire group of people, but to make it worse: I feel like it was done so his sister could have her moment? I could be wrong. I just can't understand the logic here? Absolutely terrible that this happened, and there should have been checks/clears done on her right?

You’re right to be frustrated! I’m hearing, and sometimes I have auditory processing issues. I can’t imagine not hearing at all and having accessibility taken away.

Good job, Elizabeth. You can do it.❤

i just filed a complaint with the department of justice given your comments in the description that this violates ADA. here's what i wrote: "I believe that K-Cal News did not follow the guidelines for effective communication with Deaf and HOH individuals as outlined on the ADA website. On their broadcast in early June 2024, which was later uploaded to their RU-vid channel on June 7th (i put the link here as well), they introduce someone as an "interpreter" for the segment. However, this person is clearly not someone who is qualified according to the standards set by the ADA above. They clearly don't sign everything the people speaking say and also clearly do not have a grasp on ASL grammar. To me and others, it appears to be someone who may have taken a few ASL classes, not someone who has been trained and certified. Additionally, the provided captions for the RU-vid video are incorrect. This means that despite advertising this as an accessible broadcast, the Deaf and HOH communities are not able to access the content of this broadcast."

that's so fucked up, i can geel the pain in your voice it sucks that our society still isn't accessible enough for people with all kinds of disabilites, as an audhder im here for you!

I understand why this disturbed you. I studied ASL for a year and fully understand that I am not qualified to interpret. I’m better at siglish. in an emergency, I might try to assist, but I would never think I was qualified to sign for the deaf community. You deserve better.

As a college student learning ASL: I stand with you and your sadness lil sis. 😢

I know nothing about ASL, however, I've wondered about this many times. It is absolutely *despicable* that this would be happening in today's world. Utterly shameful this occurs and is allowed to occur. I wish you much success with being able to help balance the scales.

2:19 i feel so bad, i can hear your voice change, im so sorry for you and for other people who struggle

OMG, YES at this point ur just speaking facts

I understand. Trust Is what it takes. 💯 ❤

For people who don’t understand, explain it like this: This is like an american TV show bringing on a girl who says she speaks spanish but really she doesn’t so all she is saying on the screen is utter gibberish. It’s mocking the language. Vice versa if I were to watch mexican TV and they have an english “interpreter” yet all they are saying is a bunch of random english, some not english, words. We gotta do better and hire the right people for the job.

Don’t ever apologize for speaking out. You deserve access and representation. End of story.

It's like someone who took 1 English class translating another language for us. Your anger is 100% justified, you can't be an interpreter if you're not fluent in the language.

People don’t realize how crucial language is especially in this day and age. You have a right to your anger. ASL isn’t a joke! And to those who say to just turn on subtitles… If deaf people wanted to read the news, they would have bought a newspaper! Subtitles especially don’t communicate shit on emotion.

ASL is not a joke. If the roles were reversed and someone was supposed to be an English speaking interpreter who was not fluent, English speakers would be infuriated that they missed out on knowing what’s going on and would riot. Your anger and sadness is valid, it breaks my heart that these people aren’t certified or tested at all. I can see why this is so frustrating, disappointing, and infuriating. Y’all deserve so much better than this, and I’m so sorry 🖤

And that's why we love and support you. I'm sorry to see you hurt and mistaken by a fool like this. It's a shame.

It is wild every time I see it. Like how do they work their way to that? Just completely bs’ing their way to that job is so crazy to me.

This girl probably didn’t mean to hurt anyone, and she may have had good or innocent intentions. That doesn’t negate the harm she caused, or excuse her ignorance in claiming to be a point of access for a marginalized community when she was not qualified to do so. Everyone responsible for this decision, her included, needs to seriously check themselves and their organization, and take a look at what led them to think this was a good idea.

This is so disappointing regardless of her intent. I really am so confused how asl isn’t more readily available in our current society. I hope you can bring that representation one day, thank you for bringing these issues to light

Beautiful

Gosh, as an ASL learner this makes me mad, so I cannot imagine the anger you are (rightly) feeling! I had the honor of poorly interpreting ASL for my deaf coworker at a meeting because my job didn't hire one and I'm the only one who has taken the energy to communicate with my coworker. He asked me to interpret. I did the best I could. I felt so honored to be his interpreter, even though I'm still learning and didn't know all the words. And yes, people do think ASL is a joke, sadly. I see this with people around me. They do mock signs when they speak. Its sad and I hate it. It makes my stomach churn when I see it. Lots of love coming your way from an actual asl learner❤❤

Im not deaf but i do have hearing problems since birth. Your anger is justified. I get pissed off when the captions don’t work properly and i cant make out what is being said. I nod and agree at work when i cant work out what is being said. I cannot imagine how frustrating it is being deaf and having no line at all. People need yo realise that it is a language and for some it’s everything.

Some people actually got arrested for faking the language of signing(sign language ,just swapped the words). In the Philippines,some of the news channel has a sign language interpreter on the corner. I know a bit of sign language but mixed. Korean sign language,American sign language,and Filipino sign language. But only a small amount. That means I am a learner and to may be usefully I'm the mere future,like learning other languages. I,for example was born in Negros Occidental, Philippines. In my island/province,some speak Hiligaynon/Ilonggo while the other speaks Cebuano. I speak Hiligaynon and Filipino since it is our countries languages,and English. English has been introduced to us since our early years,I'm more fluent in English than I am at Filipino or Hiligaynon. Which makes me quite sad. I am also learning Japanese since I might go there in the future. The point spoken is to not say you're fluent in one's language,albeit verbal or visual, and lie to one person or everyone that you're fluent. Lying can get you in great trouble,like setting a small fire and burning the entire forest. So please, don't call yourself fluent or better than a person just because you know the language, people that are fluent still learn, including me.

This is *maddening*

This happens to BSL too. my son is deaf. He comes telling me that the interpreter was signing wrong words and the caption was wrong