The White House has hired its first full-time ASL interpreters

The White House has hired its first full-time¹ ASL interpreters

Transcript²

As a result, any time an administration new conference is held, TV viewers can see someone on the right-hand side interpreting in American Sign Language for the deaf community.

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

The White House has hired its first-ever full-time ASL interpreters. As a result, any time an administration press conference is held, TV viewers can see Elsie Stecker on the right-hand side, interpreting in American Sign Language for the deaf community.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

It's a point of pride for Stecker.

ELSIE STECKER: I have to remember why this position was created and the goal of access - access to information shared by the government, decisions that are being made, policies that are being passed that will have impacts on people's daily experiences and lives. So when I'm now in a position where I can connect the dots, I take that very seriously.

MARTIN: And it's a team effort because behind the scenes is Lindsey Snyder.

LINDSEY SNYDER: We need to establish a certain mind meld.

MARTINEZ: Whether it's the president or press secretary at the podium, Snyder listens to them, then signs to Elsie, who is deaf, and she in turn signs to the camera. One of the advocates for hiring a person who is deaf is Jules Good, who was on the hiring committee.

JULES GOOD: It feels like finally, you know, we have, like, real-time access to what's going on.

MARTIN: In 2020, when the White House was holding regular coronavirus press briefings, deaf advocates sued the Trump³ administration for not including an American Sign Language interpreter.

GOOD: The misconception is that ASL is just visual English. But it's its own language, with its own grammar, its own slang. And, you know, something else in terms of having ASL versus⁴ just captions⁵ is you get an idea of tone that you don't get when you're just reading text.

MARTINEZ: Writer and activist⁶ Jenna Beacom suggests, even with more to be done, it is a milestone⁷ in the fight for greater recognition and access.

JENNA BEACOM: So when you have an interpreter who is completely fluent in ASL, conveys these things beautifully, that is true access.

MARTIN: Eleven million people in the United States consider themselves deaf or hard of hearing.

[EDITOR'S NOTE: An earlier version of this report said 11 million people in the U.S. consider themselves "deaf or hearing impaired⁸." The terminology⁹ has been changed to "deaf or hard of hearing."]

(SOUNDBITE OF STAN FOREBEE'S" THE MONSOON")

1 full-time   

adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的

参考例句：

• A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
• I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作，我不知道她是如何对付的。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

4 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

5 captions   

n.标题，说明文字，字幕( caption的名词复数 )v.给（图片、照片等）加说明文字( caption的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• I stared, trying to grasp the point of the picture and the captions. 我目不转睛地看着漫画，想弄清楚漫画和解说词的意思。 来自辞典例句
• Indicates whether the user or the system paints the captions. 指示是由用户还是由系统来绘制标题。 来自互联网

6 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

7 milestone   

n.里程碑；划时代的事件

参考例句：

• The film proved to be a milestone in the history of cinema.事实证明这部影片是电影史上的一个里程碑。
• I think this is a very important milestone in the relations between our two countries.我认为这是我们两国关系中一个十分重要的里程碑。

8 impaired   

adj.受损的；出毛病的；有（身体或智力）缺陷的v.损害，削弱( impair的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Much reading has impaired his vision. 大量读书损害了他的视力。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• His hearing is somewhat impaired. 他的听觉已受到一定程度的损害。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

9 terminology   

n.术语；专有名词

参考例句：

• He particularly criticized the terminology in the document.他特别批评了文件中使用的术语。
• The article uses rather specialized musical terminology.这篇文章用了相当专业的音乐术语。