Updates on White House “MAGA interpreter” controversy
The White House interpreter controversy was featured in a “Time” article that was published this morning. The reporter, Abigail Abrams, received comments from the NAD, RID, and Jon Henner, a deaf professor at the University of North Carolina: Greensboro who was one of the first people on Twitter to call out the interpreter, Heather Mewshaw.
Who is the interpreting agency that works with the White House? It seems like it is JB Interpreting. This is based on online searches that reveals JB Interpreting has a contract with the “Executive Office of the President” to provide interpreting services for Covid-19 briefings. The contract start date was September 29, 2020, which is right at the moment that the Trump administration was ordered to provide ASL interpreters for its Covid-19 briefings as a result of a lawsuit from the NAD.
I reached out to JB Interpreting and their public contact person, Julie Bagshaw, but I did not get a reply.
I also reached out to Mewshaw on her interpreting profile, but did not receive a reply.
I have reached out to the White House several times, but I have not received a response. There was another Deaf interpreter for today’s White House briefing. It is not clear to me if Mewshaw will be blocked from all future White House assignments due to complaints from the deaf community or if she is just a part of the rotation of interpreters and we’ll see her again in the future. There’s no way to tell as far as I know, but with the “Time” article, it is very doubtful we’ll see Mewshaw interpret for the White House again.
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What is the story behind Mewshaw providing interpreting services for right-wing pages?
I was in touch with one of the founders and a former administrator of “Live Access ASL,” a Facebook page that was founded in 2016 to provide ASL interpretations of viral videos in the hearing world that covers political topics. The page has over 13,000 followers.
The person, who prefers to be unnamed, explained that typically a deaf person makes a request for a video to be interpreted, and then a volunteer interpreter will film themselves and post a side-by-side video with the hearing person.
The person said many interpreters were willing to translate liberal-leaning or moderate videos, but there were very few interpreters who were willing to translate conservative or right-leaning videos. Mewshaw emerged as someone who was up for this task, but over time, she started to upload and interpret videos that she chose rather than allowing deaf people to make a request first.
The person said a lot of the content that Mewshaw interpreted was considered triggering or harmful to BIPOC or LGBTQ individuals or was full of misinformation. The admins of “Live Access ASL” tried to resolve the issue with Mewshaw, but they couldn’t come to an agreement, and that’s when Mewshaw decided to leave the page and interpret for “Right Side ASL Access.”
The person said once Mewshaw decided to wear a red MAGA hat in interpreted videos, she abandoned her ethics to be a neutral interpreter. The person said Mewshaw should have turned down the Biden interpreting job due to ethical considerations.
The person pointed to the RID Code of Professional Conduct. Tenet 3.8 says, interpreters should “avoid actual or perceived conflicts of interest that might cause harm or interfere with the effectiveness of interpreting services.”
I have reached out to one of the founders of Right Side ASL Access, but have not received a response.
I was able to talk with a person who was active in the “Right Side ASL Access” page. The person preferred not to be named.
The person said Mewshaw was only a volunteer interpreter who tried to make viral conservative videos accessible in ASL and that she did not put out misinformation, she only interpreted videos themselves, which might have misinformation from the hearing person.
The person said Mewshaw would put on a MAGA hat if the hearing person was speaking as a Trump supporter or within a MAGA rally so she could “match” with the tone of the hearing person. The person said it was similar to an interpreter wearing sunglasses if the hearing person was wearing sunglasses. The person said Mewshaw was definitely a strong Trump supporter, but she knew that if she worked in the White House or other professional settings, she would never wear a MAGA hat and could turn her personal views off.
The person questioned about how we could reach unity if we were to block or ban known Trump supporters from working within the government.
So, that’s what either side is saying about this controversy. If I hear back from the White House or the interpreting agency, I’ll provide an update.
https://time.com/5933592/white-house-sign-language-interpreter/
https://independentinterpreters.com/profile/Heather-Mewshaw
https://govtribe.com/vendors/jb-interpreting-llc-4k4v6
http://www.jbinterpreting.com/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/laasl