Birth Companions:

What are your experiences working with interpreters?

Jerri reflects on positive and negative experiences working with interpreters. She remembers a good experience where the interpreter stayed very neutral and did not get too involved with the birth process. She was able to maintain a professional boundary because Jerri was there, which relieved the interpreter of her feeling tempted to give help and support to the mom.

Jerri shares that she does not expect there to be an interpreter provided for her, even though she is hard of hearing. But when the mom is Deaf, she knows she can expect an interpreter to be present, but she does not require one and can actually make do without one anyway.

The interpreter she admired knew where to place herself in the room, discreetly kept Jerri informed of things she needed to know, such as what she could hear the medical staff saying behind a privacy curtain. In some cases it helped prepare Jerri and the mom prepare for what the medical staff might suggest, particularly if it was not what the mom had planned for her birth. So an interpreter can be very helpful for things like that.

By contrast, Jerri recounts an experience where the interpreter got too involved in the process. In this case, the mother was a Deaf adult who was “low functioning” (although Jerri doesn’t like the prejudicial tone of that label). The mom did not have a good understanding of what was happening during labor and it made the process more difficult to manage. She was vulnerable to manipulation by anyone in the birthing room and Jerri felt her role was, in part, to protect the mother’s birthing environment. People kept coming into the room and giving directives to the mom and to Jerri, including the interpreter! Jerri was really taken aback, wondering if the interpreter would feel it was her job to tell the doctor what to do instead of interpreting. So many people were in the room and becoming involved (including the interpreter) that the mother became overwhelmed and eventually Jerri felt she had no option but just to back off and give up her efforts to support the mother. She felt that clearly the interpreter had not kept a professional boundary and went way beyond her role, which was to interpret what people said and that’s all.

That was a bad experience, but most of the time she finds interpreters very professional and has good experiences working with them.

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