His hands open doors

From: Democrat and Chronicle, NY - May 12, 2003

African-American man is first to graduate from the program at the NTID

By Greg Livadas
Democrat and Chronicle

(May 12, 2003) - When Brian Jenerson receives his diploma next week, he'll not only have accomplished a personal goal, he will help broaden the ethnic diversity of the career he has embraced: interpreting for the deaf.

"This is probably the most rewarding thing I've done," he said. "It's a great thrill to get up every morning and go out and do something I know I'm going to enjoy doing. And when I come home, I'm going to feel a great sense of accomplishment."

Jenerson, 39, of Rochester, becomes the first African-American man to graduate from the interpreting program at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, a college of Rochester Institute of Technology. More than 400 interpreting students have graduated from NTID since 1989.

"I had no idea the need was so tremendous," he said. "I've had many African-American students walk up to me and hug me or shake my hand for even coming in this field."

The Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, based in Alexandria, Va., has about 10,000 members in the United States. Only 347 have identified themselves as African-American, and only 50 of those are black males.

Registry membership coordinator Joe Patton said

When Brian Jenerson receives his diploma next week, he'll not only have accomplished a personal goal, he will help broaden the ethnic diversity of the career he has embraced: interpreting for the deaf.

"This is probably the most rewarding thing I've done," he said. "It's a great thrill to get up every morning and go out and do something I know I'm going to enjoy doing. And when I come home, I'm going to feel a great sense of accomplishment."

Jenerson, 39, of Roches-ter, becomes the first Afri-can-American man to graduate from the interpreting program at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, a college of Rochester Institute of Technology. More than 400 interpreting students have graduated from NTID since 1989.

"I had no idea the need was so tremendous," he said. "I've had many African-American students walk up to me and hug me or shake my hand for even coming in this field."

The Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, based in Alexandria, Va., has about 10,000 members in the United States. Only 347 have identified themselves as African-American, and only 50 of those are black males.

Registry membership coordinator Joe Patton said

the interpreting field has traditionally been dominated by women; about 90 percent of registry members are female.

Locally, 250 to 300 people are employed as sign language interpreters. Only an estimated 10 are African-American. And just one of them is a man.

"We're very fortunate to have that many, but we'd like to have more," said Nancy Berlove, co-owner of Sign Language Connection, an interpreter referral agency.

"We do get requests for interpreters of color, someone Hispanic or Native American, in part because culturally that interpreter would understand what they were talking about, and the people would feel more comfortable speaking in a style more akin to the way they are speaking."

Cultural divide

Most freelance interpreters are hired through an agency. Scheduling the right interpreter for the job can be critical. A woman who said she was raped, for example, would feel more comfortable with a female interpreter.

"Sometimes a person may grow up in a different culture or environment and they would be more comfortable with a black interpreter," said Branton Stewart, director of Interpretek, another local sign language referral agency. "That's not to say a white interpreter couldn't do that job. But because of their experiences, they can better meet culture and language."

John Reid, president of Rochester Black Deaf Advocates, agrees.

"Having diverse interpreters is important to the deaf community because the deaf community is not of one color," he said. "An interpreter of one race tends to understand the culture of that race better than another interpreter with a different race. So there is a need to increase diverse interpreters both female and male in the community."

Lois Smiley, 56, of Parma is deaf and has requested black interpreters for church functions, banquets or family reunions when the majority of those attending are black.

"I also asked for black female interpreters with some qualified and matching personalities when I gave presentations," Smiley said. "I can be full of emotions when giving speeches and expect the assigned interpreters to follow my every move -- my style, my body and facial expressions to get my points to the audience."

Being a minority in a field dominated by white women has been an advantage for Tyrone Harper, 33, an African-American interpreter who moved to Chili from North Carolina a year ago.

"With interpreting, there's always plenty of work," he said. "Sometimes because of my race, that tends to assure I get special requests."

Berlove said local interpreters could expect to earn "a good starting salary in the $20,000's and can make more than $60,000" a year depending on their experience and skill.

But it wasn't money that motivated Jenerson to learn some sign language as a child. His grandmother was extremely hard of hearing.

"My mother had 13 kids and it was a way for us to keep busy," he said.

Jenerson worked developing X-rays in the darkroom at the former St. Mary's Hospital and worked as a freelance dance teacher.

"As I got older, I realized you can't dance forever," he said. "Then I thought back. I remembered when I was a kid, I enjoyed sign language."

He was accepted into NTID's three-year interpreting program and was one of the oldest students in the class.

"It's such a hard program, and not a program based on books," Jenerson said. "It's a program based on skill. It's such a visual language. You're used to ABCDEFG, 1234567. American Sign Language is nothing like this. It's not like you can study overnight and you have it. It takes longer."

Sticking with it

He said he became frustrated with the program at times, so much so that there were occasions he wanted to quit. He credits his sister, Danya Turner of Rochester, for giving him the inspiration to continue. "She would call me and tell me, 'Brian, you can do this.' She gave me that extra boost. I couldn't have done it without her."

Jenerson has taken interpreting jobs already -- he's finishing a job at Temple Beth El for his practicum -- needed to graduate from NTID.

Although he probably could find work anywhere in the country, he plans to stay in Rochester, where his family is.

He hopes to continue working freelance and someday work full-time interpreting in RIT classrooms.

"I wouldn't want to do anything else. Once you get into it, you're hooked for life. It changes your personality. You have to be open to different situations and people all the time."

Copyright 2003 Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.