Avoiding Assumptions: Communication Decisions Made by Hearing Parents of Deaf Children

As she looked up on the stage, there was one person speaking and an individual next to the speaker signing. “Ah, they must have an interpreter up on stage,” the mom surmised. As she focused her attention on the speaking person, however, she gradually became aware that the presenter was in fact the person who was signing, and the interpreter was voicing for that person. She had just assumed that the presenter was the hearing, speaking individual.