LeWana Clark

Credentials: Comprehensive Skills Certificate (CSC), Certificate of Interpretation (CI), Certificate of Transliteration (CT), Specialty Certificate: Legal (SC:L), Master Mentor, Doctorate degree from Gallaudet University

Over the past 40+ years, I have interpreted many different settings from hanging on the side of a mountain while Deaf students belayed down the cliff, to running up and down a telephone pole in an apple picker interpreting for Deaf employees taking a training class, to births and funerals, to college classrooms, to interpreting at a nuclear waste facility, to state and Federal criminal trials and beyond. I have always been actively involved in the Deaf and Interpreter communities and currently serve on several boards and community organizations.

In my professional life, I wake up every morning excited to do some interpreting and talking about the work that interpreters do, and sometimes don’t do, with Deaf people, Deaf and non-deaf interpreter colleagues. I love teaching, mentoring, and modeling productive practices, but I don’t always agree with the prescribed/traditional views of the interpreter’s job: my responsibility is more than just showing up as the communication facilitator. My professional obligation is to create and support a collaborative team approach to communication access based on message meaning rather than just the signs/words used during an interaction. I’ve learned more about being a powerful provider of services by watching and working with Deaf interpreter colleagues.