New Kensington sign language interpreter finds work 'rewarding'

[Guest Nicole]

Cori Adoh remembers her favorite assignment as a sign language interpreter. It was at a Cleveland hospital, where a deaf mother was giving birth and needed help to communicate with doctors and nurses.

“Where I can touch lives the most, to me, is the most rewarding,” she said.

For Adoh, 40, of New Kensington, sign language started as an informal curiosity and became a career.

“A deaf person has to find ways to communicate with people every day,” Adoh said. “They can't just walk in (a fast-food restaurant) and say, ‘I want a number 3.' ”

Adoh, a Jehovah's Witness, grew up in Plum and Lower Burrell and moved to Trumbull, Conn., when she was 19. It was there, in 1998, that she began to learn to sign.

She learned about a kingdom hall — equivalent to a church for Jehovah's Witnesses — in Waterbury, about an hour away, that held worship meetings in sign language. Adoh began attending because she wanted to learn how a congregation could hold meetings, which emphasize audience participation and active discussion, in sign language.

For about a year, Adoh continued to attend services for the hearing and meetings in sign language. With the help of deaf friends, she became more comfortable.

“People who don't know much about this assume that it's a one-for-one translation, but that's no more true for American Sign Language and English than it is for English and any other language,” said Carol Neidle, a Boston University professor of French and linguistics who has researched syntax in American Sign Language.

Adoh began working part-time as an interpreter in 2001, when she was living in Cleveland. She worked for a friend who owned an interpreter service, at first taking “very easy assignments” — like accompanying clients on doctor's visits.

In the ensuing years, she moved to Baton Rouge, La., where she worked briefly for Video Relay Services, a program funded by the Federal Communications Commission. She was an intermediary between callers using sign language and hearing recipients of the calls.

That work could be frustrating, she said. Customer service representatives who did not understand the situation could become impatient with long pauses in the conversation.

Relaying some subject matter — such as swearing and sexually explicit conversations — made her uncomfortable, and she quit.

“I don't swear,” she said. “If they say the F-word, I've got to say the F-word.”

She did a one-year stint as a missionary in Trinidad and Tobago, then moved back to Cleveland, and about three years ago returned to the Pittsburgh area with her husband, Abel, to put down roots close to her family. The couple has a son, Eliab, 2, and a daughter, Abigail, 7 months old.

Along the way, Adoh worked as an interpreter in settings that ranged from medical exams to business meetings.

Since moving back to the area, she has become certified to work in judicial proceedings in Pennsylvania courts, a qualification separate from the national interpreter certification she earned in 2009. She occasionally freelances as an on-site interpreter and does video remote interpreting, which allows a deaf person to speak with a hearing person face-to-face while the interpreter is at another location.

Aside from the freelance work — Adoh has cut back on that since having children — she is coordinator of interpreter development at Sign Language Interpreting Professionals, a consulting firm based in Hampton, where she mentors new interpreters and interns who are in training programs.

She said there is not enough awareness of the needs of people who rely on sign language. For example, some families of people who are deaf are unable to communicate with them in sign language.

“There's a strong need in the interpreter field,” Adoh said. “It's getting better, but we still have a long way to go.”

Source: http://triblive.com/news/westmoreland/9997396-74/adoh-language-sign

[Queen Esther]

Thats a big problem in many Countries, sorry. I know an interested woman in AZ, US. She can't  go regular to a cong. in her nearness, bec the interpreter is gone before longer time and they did'nt get a new one. I called for her with New York Bethel, but no success. She belongs to the mixed hearing /deaf cong. in Peoria, ca. 1 hour from her home. Not so easy by less money :-(  She is study since 20 years, always with diff. Brothers and Sisters and some breaks. I wrote on our special jw.org page, with her dates for a new study and very fast, 2 Sisters from Peoria, now meet her every week in her little town. But without regular meetings in a cong. she has no chance for a baptism, I think so. The Sisters always pick her up to the Memorial in Peoria. I'm happy for her ! A little success from Germany, but not enough...  Deaf humans have really a hard life and by less money still more. But Jehovah is watching and anything will happen. 

PS. I know her from the old JW Archive site in 2012 and per writing and little ASL over Skype ! Maybe Jehova is using me for giving little help ? We shall see....  Since FB I know, how many 'Deafies' we've around the world, on the Maldives too ! We need the NW, yes ❤️