[nfb-db] Deafblind Group Communication

[John Lee Clark]

Haben:

Sure, I find myself in groups and I often host them.  However, ninety
percent of the conversations are between two people.  They just do it in a
group setting.  It is rare for a true group conversation to happen that
includes the group as a whole.

Yes, I would talk with the people on either side of me, but I also have an
extra chair so that anyone else can come over and sit there to talk directly
with me.  There may be brief spurts of interpreting involved, such as two
other people having a conversation and one of them says that I know
something about something and asks me through one of the people sitting next
to me.  If it happens that this question leads to a whole new conversation
that is getting deeper, I ask the person to come and sit in that chair so we
can continue the conversation.

When I am the host, I'd be too busy for a serious conversation during the
meal.  So while I am attending to everyone's needs, I'[d just have short
conversations with everyone in turn as I go around.  I'll have time for
longer conversations later in the evening.  

In the event there is a real group discussion or when someone is addressing
the group as a whole, I might have the person next to me at that moment
interpret for me, or I'd sit next to the person who is signing to the whole
group, meaning there's no interpreter.  My wife has sometimes interpreted in
this scenario, but not often.  We rarely sit next to each other.  After all,
we are together every day at home.  But if she does interpret, it would be
because she happens to be in the right spot or has offered to, but anyone
else in the group could be the same.  It's not like she has a special or
extra responsibility for me.  Just anyone would do, and it's just part of
the flow.

If there are other deaf-blind people in the group, or the group is all
deafblind, things may be different, but even in the entirely deafblind
group, interpreting may come up.  I've often interpreted myself, as a relay
interpreter or a chain interpreter.  

Remember that one principle is that whatever I get myself involved in, it is
something I can do on my own just as well as with my wife.  If it's
something where I would have trouble on my own, I'd make other arrangements
even if my wife is involved.  This is to say, whether or not my wife is
there should make absolutely no difference.

Does this help?

John