Captions are available on the YouTube version of this episode, and a full transcript is available below the summary.
We apologize that there is not a video of an ASL interpreter for this episode. We are working on making our materials as accessible as possible.

Also Listen on:

 

 

 

Summary: Jimmy Peterson is the Executive Director of the Georgia Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, and he is also a person who is deaf himself. We discuss the advocacy and services they provide to Georgians and how translation is the number one need for the deaf and hard of hearing community. Additionally, he shares insights on what people with hearing should know about communicating with deaf individuals. The GCDHH also facilitates and participates in various festivals and live events, such as DEAFest, a biannual event that provides opportunities for deaf and hard-of-hearing people to network and share their businesses, art, and performances. Hearing people are invited to gain an immersive experience of deaf culture. In this interview, we also explore some nuances of American Sign Language (ASL) and the national need for more interpreters. This interview was conducted through an interpreter.

 

TRANSCRIPT

PODCAST INTRO: Welcome to Accessibility Now, the podcast about disability rights in the state of Georgia. Accessibility Now is produced by the Statewide Independent Living Council of Georgia. I’m your host, Matt Shedd. My guest today is Jimmy Peterson, the Executive Director for the Georgia Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

He is also a person who is Deaf himself. We talked today about some of the services that the GCDHH provides. We also discussed some significant cultural events that they are involved in and some of the nuances of communicating in American Sign Language. This interview was conducted through an interpreter.

SILCGA: Hi Jimmy, how are you? 

JIMMY PETERSON: Good morning, I am doing fine. How about yourself? I’m doing great this morning. 

SILCGA: I’m really glad we got a chance to connect. Yes, me too. Why don’t we start off with you just introducing yourself and telling us a little bit about your role.

JIMMY PETERSON: Sure, I’d be happy to. My name is Jimmy Peterson.I am the Director for the Center of Deaf and Hard of Hearing. I’ve done that for the past ten years. I am Deaf myself, talking to an interpreter. 

SILCGA: So, can you tell us about the journey that took you to this role? 

JIMMY PETERSON: Sure, of course. I have always had to advocate for myself, especially in the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community. This position opened 10 years ago. I interviewed, and I got the job. It was a fantastic fit for myself. Their mission, their goals, their love from the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community has been great. They always try to empower and give empowerment to the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community all around Georgia.

SILCGA: That’s great. You mentioned that you’ve always had to advocate for yourself. Can you kind of give us a view of what your growing up years? What have your education and employment been like in terms of how you’ve advocated for yourself, and how you’ve gotten to this really big job? 

JIMMY PETERSON: Yeah, so I grew up always having barriers throughout life, and I know how the system works. I was invested in myself, my frustrations, all that stuff. 

Breaking down barriers with this job has been very helpful to me, myself, our community, and even today, people just are not aware. They don’t understand. I’m here to give advocacy to them, to our clients, as well as walk with them as we break down barriers, and that way they can develop themselves and become successful.

SILCGA: So, do you have people that come into your office there that you help advocate for, or do you do that mainly remotely? What does that look like? 

JIMMY PETERSON: Sure, yeah, it’s a variety. Right now our office is here in Atlanta. Most of our clients do live in the Atlanta area. A few do come to the office, but it can be fully virtual Some of our staff do work from home in different cities. North Georgia–we have staff that work there. We meet with businesses, provide different services, advocacy, training, services that are throughout Georgia. 

SILCGA: So can you tell us what are some of the biggest barriers that you deal with on a regular basis that you help people kind of overcome?

JIMMY PETERSON: I would say obviously communication, especially within the medical field–actually a variety of services. Getting interpreting services, we really advocate for that. It’s required by the ADA to give reasonable accommodation. Reasonable accommodations, whether that be interpreting, interpreters, captions.

Clients struggle because they don’t know, they may not know how to work with the providers to get that access. And of course providers can be very stubborn at times. So we provide that advocacy and remind them of their legal responsibilities. Not to threaten to be mean, but again, just to give them that  ability to have access for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing people who have a job. There’s a lot of frustration that goes into that. So we might provide ASL classes for their place of employment or where they work. That way, the barriers are hopefully a little less if some of them are Deaf.

If some of the coworkers can sign, just community ASL classes, people just become more aware of the barriers that Deaf and Hard of Hearing people face. And so it becomes less and less. 

SILCGA: That makes sense. So do you connect people with interpreters yourself in your office, or do you go to the employer and make them aware of the requirements that they’re responsible for providing the interpreter, or is it a variety? 

JIMMY PETERSON: I think for interpreter requests, we do have quite a few agencies here in Georgia–interpreting agencies, where we can call in an interpreter. Deaf and Hard of Hearing people are not responsible for bringing our own interpreters. 

We do educate a lot of businesses on how to use the interpreter, how to get the interpreter, where to get the interpreter. Like, for instance, there’s always a delay when you’re using an interpreter. And for a lot of hearing people, that’s very awkward, so we help them just become aware. And talking to a Deaf person, you don’t talk to the interpreter ever. The interpreter is just the communication expert and the communication facilitator. And, so we kind of advocate for that and teach people and businesses about that. And those sort of cultural things too, like, how to get a Deaf person’s attention, how to, what to do and not do.

SILCGA: That’s great. And maybe we could use this as a little bit of an opportunity to be an educational tool, this conversation. You could maybe fill us in on some of the cultural things or the communication guidelines you provide to businesses so that us hearing people can be better equipped to interact with a person who’s Deaf or Hard of Hearing.

JIMMY PETERSON: Sure, definitely. Yeah. For example, this May, the last week of May, there’s going to be a big national conference here in Atlanta. It’s gonna be about, oh, over 300 people, I’d say. Over half of them are going to be working in the field of mental health or rehab. And they’ve asked me to give a training to teach sign and some ASL and how to work with Deaf and Hard of Hearing individuals, rather than using an interpreter.

Deaf and Hard of Hearing people usually feel pretty welcome in Atlanta, but that’s not usually true with different businesses. We have those that will reach out to us and we provide cultural training for them. 

SILCGA: So you mentioned not talking to the interpreter. Are there any other things that a person like me should know when communicating with a Deaf person?

JIMMY PETERSON: Sure. Like, so now, I think something that is kind of awkward for a lot of people: remember eye contact. Do not even look at the interpreter, focus on me, look at me, not the interpreter. They are just here to facilitate communication. They are not  involved in our discussion, are not involved in our decisions, and they have to be neutral.

SILCGA: So you mentioned that you have this big national conference coming up. I saw also that every other year you have a Georgia conference. Is that right? DEAFestival? Can you tell me a little bit about that? 

JIMMY PETERSON: Right. Yeah. Sure. Of course. We established DEAFestival. It’s a cultural, historical event. It’s every two years. Each town or city knows that we have this.

It shows basically what the Deaf have to offer. It can be performances. It can be art. It can be videotapes for sale. It can be whatever it is that people have and do for their own business, or how to run a business, how to perform and a lot of hearing people are interested because it’s beautiful.

So it just is a way for people who are curious to be more immersed in Deaf culture. Maybe they’re going to be interpreters–who knows? 

So next year it’s going to be in Savannah, actually. And in four years it’s going to be in Rome. So we’re trying to just spread ourselves throughout the whole state.

SILCGA: How has the response been so far to those? 

JIMMY PETERSON: Very positive. Very, very positive. We’ve had, oh my word, many different vendors. Also, people will buy equipment to help communicate with Deaf and Hard of Hearing people. We have, gosh, some things that are related to children and children’s stories, advocacy.

It’s been great. There’s just a wave of information that we share with our community. Hearing parents who have Deaf children also tend to come, and it kind of gives them hope. It’s like, “Oh, whoa, my child can grow up and do this, and be an actual successful adult?”  A lot of Deaf and Hard of Hearing kids grow up feeling invisible. You can see a wheelchair, you can see other disabilities, but with Deafness and Hard of Hearing, you really don’t see it until you try to converse with a person. So children don’t see a lot of Deaf and Hard of Hearing adults. 

SILCGA: Wow, that makes a lot of sense. So this is something that people who can hear are encouraged to come to and really see and really immerse themselves and educate themselves and really learn about the culture and how they can advocate as well. 

JIMMY PETERSON: Right, exactly. That is, yes, that’s a big part of it.  I wish we can do it every year in each city, but time and resources are limited. So, yeah, we really want to grow it, help grow awareness, so people are just more and more comfortable working with Deaf and Hard of Hearing people, and have the ability then to hire them and give them opportunities.

SILCGA: Absolutely. Are there needs for more interpreters? Can you tell me a little bit about that situation and, and how the resources are? 

JIMMY PETERSON: Nationwide, there’s a large shortage of interpreters, yes. There’s more and more in the legal field.Right now, we have two colleges throughout the whole state of Georgia that offer an interpreter training program. Once you graduate, it doesn’t mean you are 100 percent qualified to interpret everywhere, anywhere. It takes a few years to get your certification and become a qualified interpreter.

SILCGA: I see. That makes sense. So a little bit of a long process to actually get there. 

JIMMY PETERSON: Yeah, because American Sign Language is so different. You have to not only practice expressive skills, but you have to…yeah, there’s a lot that goes into it. 

SILCGA: Can you tell us a little bit about the nuances of American Sign Language? People who don’t know it might be interested in, like, are there ways that you tell jokes or humor or things like that that people from the outside might not understand. 

JIMMY PETERSON: Sure. So, with English it has its own grammar, and syntax, and sentence structure; it’s the same with ASL But they’re both very, very different. When you’re speaking a spoken language, like Spanish, or French, it’s the same with ASL. Also, other countries, have their own signed languages. It’s not a universal language.  ASL is very, very visual, and there are a lot of nuances that can be easily overlooked.

As far as humor goes, for example, there’s a very old joke in the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community about a Deaf person who is stopped by a train, and they find a hitchhiker, pick up the hitchhiker, who’s a hearing person, and doesn’t know sign. And the driver is speeding, and police pulls him over, and the Deaf person indicates to the policeman, I can’t hear. I’m, I’m Deaf, and so the policeman lets them go.

So then, after a while, they switch drivers, and the Deaf person gets some sleep. So then, the hearing person gets pulled over by the cops, and he tries to say, “Oh, I’m Deaf. I can’t hear.” He points to his ears, he says “I’m Deaf.” And the policeman, all of a sudden, starts signing. “Uh huh. Oh, you’re Deaf? Oh, okay, my mom and dad are Deaf.” And the hearing man is like, “Oh my word, what do I do now?” So he immediately gets a ticket. It’s a very old joke in the Deaf community. 

SILCGA: I like it, that’s very funny. Are there the equivalents to accents, like different regional ways of signing that are different in Georgia versus in California or Maine or different parts of the country?

JIMMY PETERSON: Yes, definitely, very much so. Almost different dialects. The signs for strawberry, there’s at least, let’s see, one, two, three, four, at least four or five different signs for strawberry depending on the region you’re in. I’d say Northeast, also they’re known for signing a lot faster. In the south, it tends to be, oh, more slow, but yes, very much regional.

SILCGA: Yeah, mhm. Oh, that’s interesting. That kind of matches spoken English, too, that in the Northeast they’re a little faster paced, and in the South we’re, we’re a little bit..we take our time with, with things. 

So, are there any legal advocacy issues that you all are involved in in your office? 

JIMMY PETERSON: Let’s see, we, we have another organization in Georgia, another advocacy office that is totally responsible for legal. We tend to write a letter or refer people over to them.

But as of right now, we just do advocacy on specifically how to empower people themselves on different issues, and giving access to services and breaking down barriers. 

SILCGA: So if you had a few things that you wanted the hearing population to know, what would they be? 

JIMMY PETERSON: I think the first one would be definitely Hard of Hearing people are not impaired.

They’re Deaf or Hard of Hearing. Sometimes people use the words “hearing impaired.” No, they can do anything anyone else can do. You don’t have to hear to be successful. We have lots of barriers that need to be brought down, yes. But that’s the main thing. 

Also, Deaf and Hard of Hearing people are really not that different from hearing people at all. They just can’t hear. They just have a different way of communicating. Yes, they label us “disabled” because we can’t hear, but that doesn’t prevent us from doing the same thing as a hearing person. 

Hearing people, I always encourage them to learn sign language, because who knows? In the future, when they are older, their hearing may go. Well, then they have sign language in their back pocket. Or maybe they’ll, heaven forbid, be in the hospital with a tube down their throat. They have sign language in their back pocket. Sign language would benefit so many people, not just the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community, but everyone being able to sign and communicate from a distance, it’s going to benefit everyone.

SILCGA: Absolutely. Well, I just want to offer you the opportunity to share anything that we haven’t had a chance to touch on. And that you would like to share on this podcast before we wrap up? 

JIMMY PETERSON: Sure, no, you covered everything beautifully. I appreciate your questions. 

In short, we are a non-profit agency. We depend on financial donations, grants, state, federal monies to keep running. We’ve been going strong for 35 years. We are here to provide advocacy, support, and education. Everyone feel free to look at our website. You can learn more about the equipment .we provide at no charge and set up. For Deaf and Hard of Hearing peoples we offer interpreting services; we have a summer camp for Deaf and Hard of Hearing individuals— three different camps actually. 

There are many services that we provide, and many hearing parents with Deaf children, they don’t know about that. So we need to get the word out. And I’d say more than half of our staff and our board are also Deaf and Hard of Hearing themselves. So I think that’s something our young people can look up to and see. 

SILCGA: That’s great. Well, again, thank you so much for your time. I really appreciated getting to learn from you and getting to connect with you.

JIMMY PETERSON: No, thanks for the opportunity to chat. I look forward to meeting with you more. 

SILCGA: Absolutely. Thank you so much and have a great day. All right, you too.

PODCAST CLOSING: That’s it for this episode of Accessibility Now. This podcast is produced by the Statewide Independent Living Council of Georgia. Special thanks to our guest, Jimmy Peterson, for participating in today’s episode. And I’m your host, Matt Shedd, reminding you that a Georgia that includes everyone is better for all of us.