Story of Sign Language Interpreter Working Amid COVID-19 Pandemic
Reported by Mustaqim Amna | Translated by Nugroho Adibrata
A hearing aid is not an affordable tool for many people in the deaf community to get the latest any information, moreover in the midst of COVID-19 pandemic nowadays.
Since I started this profession in 1999, this is the first time I was asked to be present directly at a press conference
To support them, maybe only a few know if the fulfillment of information for the deaf community cannot be conveyed without the role of a sign language interpreter, Edik Widodo (42) who is a member of the Indonesian Sign Language Interpreters (INASLI). He works at Beritajakarta.id almost every day broadcasts information about COVID-19 from the Jakarta Provincial Government.
"Since I started this profession in 1999, this is the first time I was asked to be present directly at a press conference. Surely this is a brilliant move," he stated, when being interviewed at City Hall, Monday (4/20).
Story of Nurul who Left Her Family for COVID-19 PatientsHe expressed the role of sign language translators was usually indeed used as a verbal support for resource persons when delivering information in a press conference.
"In this case, I have to be able to deliver information in its entirety and be understood by deaf people. Because on the television screen, their focus is split, where they have to see events visually, but also the cues from translators," he stated.
As long as he works, he was also accompanied by a consultant from the deaf who had conducted a survey related to the results of respondents' satisfaction after seeing the translators deliver information on the television screen.
"My team is the one who continues to accompany me every hour of work from 11 AM to 4 PM or 4 PM to 7 PM," he explained.
Even the work he was doing was very risky as it was in the open. But that sense of concern did not make him give up to continue to spread information to the deaf.
"I do this to give them access to information similar to the general public. I'm happy to do this work," he stated.
