Deaf TikToker fights for presidential debate interpreters

Brut America

"The deaf community should have access to the debate."  Erin Rosenfeld is hard of hearing and for her, following a live presidential debate is close to impossible. Here’s why she's fighting for televised ASL interpreters...

Transcript

00:00Some people are saying, like, oh, you can just wait to watch it until it has captions.

00:08And that's not the point, because the Deaf community should have access to the debate

00:13and other important things at the same time that hearing people have it.

00:30Okay, so I'm really frustrated right now because I'm trying to watch the presidential debate,

00:51but there's not an ASL interpreter.

00:55There's nothing.

00:57It's live TV, so closed captioned subtitles don't work.

01:02They're really delayed.

01:04It's not fair. It's not right.

01:06And we need to push for change and push for interpreters to be at all the debates

01:15and on the screen the whole time.

01:27I just left, like, my family room and I went and I just recorded it because I wanted to

01:37just express my frustration.

01:39I'm finally, like, old enough to vote and I didn't even have equal access to what was happening.

01:46And also, I was thinking about other Deaf people, because even with the closed captions

01:55that were delayed, at least I could understand some things.

01:58But a lot of people in the Deaf community don't have equal access to English

02:05because of language deprivation and other problems.

02:10So I just knew that it was not going to be accessible for a huge part of America.

02:17And if it's live TV, the closed captions or the subtitles are just really delayed

02:23and often they have a lot of mistakes.

02:27And so it's not accessible for Deaf, hard of hearing people to watch.

02:47Because it's on Facebook and it's online, it's not accessible for everyone.

02:54Some people maybe don't have, like, Wi-Fi that's good.

03:00Or maybe they only have a TV and don't have, like, a phone or a laptop.

03:06And it's...

03:09So D-PAN, yes, is a wonderful resource.

03:14It's great and I'm really thankful for that.

03:17But all the news channels need to have equal access and interpreters.

03:25It's not enough to just have one option in one place.

03:29That's not even accessible for everyone.

03:31People saying, like, oh, I never realized that.

03:34I didn't even think about my privilege to not have to think about interpreters.

03:40And so it's been a really good reaction.

03:45And I think it's a good thing.

03:48I think it's a good thing.

03:51I think it's a good thing.

03:54I think it's a good thing.

03:57I think it's a good thing.

04:00But at the same time, it's hard because some people are saying, like,

04:06oh, you can just wait to watch it until it has captions.

04:12And that's not the point.

04:14Because the Deaf community should have access to the debate and other important things

04:19at the same time that hearing people have it.

04:23Maybe there's some Deaf people who need interpreters

04:27who haven't decided yet who they're voting for

04:30and now they can't make, like, a knowledgeable decision.

04:37And maybe it'll force people or encourage Deaf people,

04:43like the Deaf community, Deaf people,

04:45to not be involved in politics because of that,

04:50because of just a lack of access.

04:55Not having interpreters really shows just the lack of awareness

05:00about the Deaf community and the lack of being prepared.

05:05And it just shows kind of ableism and audism.

05:12Audism, which is, like, oppression and discrimination against Deaf people,

05:16like the Deaf community, Deaf people.

05:25It's 2020. They know that they should have interpreters.

05:28They recently, um, we had to, like, have legal action.

05:33We had to, like, sue for interpreters for coronavirus news and won that.

05:42So they know, they're aware that they need to have interpreters.

05:47They're aware that they need to have interpreters.

05:50They just don't do it.

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