N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 1997

Supplying Interpreters
	—Supplying Hope

Last summer, Americans were shocked to learn about deaf people who had come from Mexico to live in "virtual slavery" in some American cities. In New York City, Joshua Finkle supplied interpreters.

Last summer, Joshua Finkle got a call from the office of the mayor of New York City.
The caller explained that the New York police had found 62 people from Mexico, living in two small apartments. The people had been brought to the United States to earn money and beg for money. They gave the money to their boss. They couldn't keep it themselves. They lived in dirty poverty. Some of them were children.
Rudolph Giuliani, mayor of New York City, called the situation "virtual slavery."
Guiliani and the police could not communicate with the deaf people, most of whom did not know English. That's why they needed sign language interpreters--lots of sign language interpreters.
So they called Finkle.
"I think the whole country was shocked," said Finkle. "No one ever expected this."

Interpreting—Business of
Language & People
Finkle is co-owner of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Interpreting Services Inc. (DHIS), an interpreting agency in New York City. Finkle and co-owner, Irma Azrelyant, are deaf. Finkle has a master's degree in social work from Hunter College in New York. Azrelyant has a degree in accounting.
Azrelyant knows a lot about the problems of foreign deaf people who come to the United States. She has deaf parents, deaf grandparents, deaf great grandparents, and deaf children. She is an immigrant, too. Born in Ukraine, Azrelyant moved to New York 10 years ago.
The city asked DHIS to handle the interpreting needs for the deaf Mexicans.
"At first it was chaos," said Finkle. "Most interpreters do not know Spanish and interpreters who know Spanish--those from Puerto Rico or Columbia or another Latin American country--do not know Mexican Sign Language.
"I was working 18 hours a day...," he remembered.
Now a system is organized. The interpreters work in teams. Deaf Latino relay interpreters are paired with hearing American Sign Language interpreters. When city officials or police talk, the hearing interpreters translate their words to American Sign Language (ASL) and the deaf interpreters translate the ASL to Mexican Sign Language--or gestures that the Mexicans can understand.
"Sign languages are different in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Columbia, and other Latin American nations," said Finkle. People usually feel most comfortable with interpreters from their own culture, he added.
Now interpreters and Mexicans are learning each other languages. "The Mexicans are learning ASL and the Americans and Latino interpreters are learning Mexican Sign Language," said Finkle.

A Crime Unfolds—
Workers To Be Witnesses
Within days, deaf Mexicans, living and working under similar conditions, were found in other American cities. By mid August, 11 people were arrested in New York, four in Chicago, three in Los Angeles, two in Dallas, and more arrests expected in Sanford, NC. The activity was organized. Sometimes bosses traded workers and the workers would travel to different cities. The workers all sold small trinkets, some of which said that they were deaf; It had been going on for 10 years.
The bosses were also from Mexico. Many of them were deaf, too.
The bosses were breaking the law, the police said. They brought people into the United States illegally and they forced them to work without pay.
Now the bosses will be on trial. The workers will testify against them. Finkle will continue to handle the interpreting needs for the workers; another agency is handling the interpreting needs of the others, he said.
In many ways, the deaf Mexican citizens are much like their counterparts in the United States. "There is a lot of individual variety," said Finkle. . "Some are educated and some are not; some seem to have no language at all. Some are learning English--already reading and writing.
"All are fluent in Mexican Sign Language."
The trial is scheduled to begin in January. The Mexican workers have said that they do not want to go back to Mexico. Perhaps they will try to stay in the United States and continue to better their lives.

—Except where attributed, information in this articale is from the Washington Post.

General comments may be sent to: ISCS.ClercCenter@gallaudet.edu
Last modified March 5, 1998
Copyright © 1997, All Rights Reserved
Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center

Gallaudet University 800 Florida Ave. NE Washington, DC 20002-3695