For more than 25 years, Teresa Schoch has immersed herself in American Sign Language as an interpreter. “I sleep, eat and breathe it,” Schoch said.
Schoch works as a community interpreter, serving wherever the service is needed, while the other main variety of interpreter works in education, in the same classroom with the same people day after day. She said she prefers community interpreting, because of the great variety of experiences it provides.
Being a community interpreter has its occasional downsides, though. Interpreters aren’t only needed in happy and stress-free situations. Medical settings, mental health crises, jails and courtrooms are all situations that sometimes call for an American Sign Language interpreter.
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