We live in a world today where most people blessed with all five senses have little to no exposure to Deafness, Deaf individuals, or the Deaf community unless it is through TV.
Unfortunately, the lack of exposure to Deafness breeds a lack of education about Deaf culture. A lack of education leads to language accessibility gaps for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing communities. What would happen if most of the population were Deaf? How would hearing-abled individuals view communication equality or the lack thereof if the shoes were reversed? P. Lanette Pinkard, founder, and CEO of My Hands Your Heart LLC and Cruise Interpreter Academy, aims to bridge the current gap in language accessibility equality.
Raised by her Deaf grandparents, Pinkard is known in the Deaf and Interpreting Communities as a ‘CODA’, or child of deaf adults. From birth, children learn the spoken word as their first language. However, American Sign Language was Pinkard’s first language which aided her in communicating with her family. Later, she learned spoken English and became a bilingual child.
Sign language was and is a normal facet of her everyday life, one that is routinely ignored by those who do not share the struggle of not being able to hear. Pinkard, a nationally certified interpreter, has worked as a sign-language interpreter for over 40 years. She has been interpreting on various cruise lines since 2010. However, her passion is connecting with those she works for and with. Pinkard has a heart for her clients.
“Sign language interpreters are a beautiful asset, but if Deaf people had their choice, they wouldn’t need a third party involved in every aspect of their lives,” she said. “We have to be sensitive enough to offer stellar customer service in addition to interpretation. Many people can put their hands in the air and sign, but we must understand that every person on this Earth deserves human connection. Simply having language fluency is not enough. Deaf people don’t want to need an interpreter as a tool for communication. They want to feel like they are getting the same personal treatment as everyone else.”
Her passion and care for her clients and those she mentors set Pinkard apart from her peers, making her a sought-after talent in the industry. She teaches workshops on cruise ships that empower interpreters to be more than mere translation tools. She often brings Deaf friends, colleagues, and mentors to present at her workshops. In fact, including Deaf presenters gives students practical hands-on experience through role-playing exercises in the same environment they will be working in, garner advice from the Deaf clients’ perspective, and learn from those they will be working with in the future.
My Hands Your Heart
My Hands Your Heart provides interpreters with all the necessary information and standards Pinkard believes should be required on cruise lines. She has seen many examples of blatant ignorance in the cruise interpreting industry and aims to set a higher standard of practice for the whole industry.
“Deaf consumers spend thousands of dollars to take their vacations, only for it to be ruined by an unethical interpreter,” stated Pinkard. “I have seen interpreters cause cruise guests to be late for their guided tours because they were more interested in taking a selfie than representing the client and being where they are assigned to be; Having an attitude because they want to have their own schedule, didn’t plan out their time right to eat, or they don’t like the excursion or trying to control what the Deaf consumer wants. This dismissive behavior has to stop!”
Interpreters under the My Hands Your Heart umbrella have also attended the Cruise
Interpreter Academy to learn how to properly provide and exceed the expected customer service for their guests.
Cruise Interpreter Academy
The Cruise Interpreter Academy held its first course in September 2019 and has plans to continue growing and thriving. The next Cruise Interpreter Academy will be held in August of 2022. Pinkard teaches the academy to better her participant’s well-rounded education.
“My goal for the Cruise Interpreter Academy is not to limit my participants to sign-language interpreting skills alone but to ensure the interpreting goes well beyond just using your hands to communicate,” she stated. “Facial expressions are essential when expressing ourselves and communicating through sign language. I want my students to grow beyond their technical abilities and become talented communication experts.”
Side Projects
Pinkard is currently working to offer interpreting services to a wide range of professional companies that would like their advertisements to have full accessibility to the Deaf community rather than just closed captioning. In sign-language facial expressions, or “affect”, are how Deaf people understand the various intonations of the source message. My Hands Your Heart provides interpreting services for videos these companies release. This would be no different. People could choose whether they want an interpreter in the corner of their screen.
“Entertainment and social media tend to grossly misunderstand the needs of the Deaf Community. They have the right to experience the world around them in their preferred language, just as hearing-able people,” Pinkard said. “I want to broaden the library of what is currently available to the Deaf.”
Through her programs and outreach, Pinkard continues to walk in alliance with the Deaf, hoping to reform the current system of interpreter roles.
About P. Lanette Pinkard
P. Lanette Pinkard is the founder and CEO of My Hands Your Heart and Cruise Interpreter Academy, her entrepreneurial organizations that services organizations and companies with certified American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters for hearing impaired customers and guests. She has written five lifestyle inspiration books and has interpreted on over 100 cruises.