Deaf Colorado Springs residents rely on America Sign Language interpreters

May 3—As Lin-Manuel Miranda's Tony Award-winning musical "In the Heights" unfolds on stage at Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College, a second show is taking place off stage.

American Sign Language interpreter Melanie Brewer and her signing partner are taking the show into their own hands. As the actors perform the lyric-heavy songs Miranda's famous for, their hands gracefully rise and fall, stretch, cup, point and extend as they make the show available to deaf patrons.

"The whole thing is making it accessible for a deaf person so they can enjoy the arts, too," said Brewer, a full-time interpreter for 25 years. "Some really love to go to those shows."

"In the Heights" was particularly challenging to sign thanks to the rapping and Spanish words. To prepare for a show, Brewer likes to receive the script beforehand so she can familiarize herself with the plot, characters and songs. She also likes to watch a performance before signing it, if possible. For this job she watched "In the Heights" on YouTube.

An hour beforehand, she met with her signing partner to come up with signs they would use for the characters and other specifics related to the show. As it's impossible to sign an entire song, they aim to relay the meaning.

"With Spanish you have to translate the Spanish into English and then into sign," Brewer said. "You're still trying to get the meaning out of it, but sometimes you have to get the words so they get the puns and innuendos in there."

Every day and in every setting. these silent conversations are happening. Sometimes we don't notice them, other times we do. The whole country noticed Justina Miles when she went viral for her exuberant performance as the ASL interpreter for pop superstar Rihanna's halftime show at the Super Bowl in February.

Miles is a deaf interpreter who's more hard of hearing, so she has some residual hearing, says Lori Dowds, a Colorado Springs interpreter who founded and owns Access 2 Sign Language, a sign language interpreting agency.

"She can hear the beat and follow along," Dowds said. "As a performer she memorized all the lyrics and also the beats so she would match. It's a lot."

The Springs has about 2,500 deaf residents, says Dowds, which is a significant population, possibly due in part to the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind, whose students become comfortable in the area and are more likely to settle here as adults.

With that many deaf people in our community, the need for interpreters is considerable. Dowds estimates the Pikes Peak region has about 150. For every 100 deaf people at least one full-time interpreter is needed, says Dowds.

"With the Americans with Disabilities Act in the '90s, as more people have become aware of the need to provide accommodations, a 100 to 1 ratio is too large," she said. "It could be 50 to 1. It's a much greater need now than it used to be."

Interpreters are needed anywhere there are people: schools, medical offices, businesses, courts, car dealerships. Thanks to the ADA, those entities are responsible for contacting an interpreting agency and setting up a service agreement to accommodate a deaf person who wants to visit or do business with them. They tell the agency the time, date, place and client and the agency finds an interpreter who's a good match for the person and situation.

It's mostly businesses that contact agencies. Deaf people are generally not responsible for finding an interpreter or paying for an agency's services. However, sometimes individuals do reach out needing help with personal events, such as weddings, funerals and family reunions.

Unfortunately, many places still resist providing interpreters, Dowds says.

"If a deaf person requests an interpreter, please don't fight it or give them a hard time," said ASL interpreter Carmela Roybal, who's also an ASL instructor and mentor in the Sign Language Interpreter Preparation Program at Pikes Peak State College. She's been deaf since she was 1.

"It's so much better to have that communication and faster with an interpreter instead of writing back and forth," Roybal said. "We could be there for two hours and then they're backed up with other patients. If you have an interpreter there, it's so smooth. Everybody understands and they get out of there in 30 minutes. And it's a tax write-off."

Dowds reiterates that the estimated 150 interpreters around town feels low, though it's the same across the U.S.

"There are inadequate interpreters with a high level of skill to meet the need," Dowds said.

In a perfect world, she'd like everyone to know some basic ASL skills, such as finger spelling the alphabet. People don't have to be fluent or become an interpreter.

"Having basic communication skills can make the world a friendlier place for deaf people," she said, "to where they're not as cut off linguistically in communication. Just to have somebody at the bar so you can order a drink."

Contact the writer: 636-0270