Good article and pretty accurate.
I remember the whole row over the 'head covering' for female interpreters. As a professional interpreter the whole debate was ridiculous. An interpreter renders a message (consecutively - real time) from a source language into a target language without adding or subtracting to the message/content. This is done objectively, NOT subjectively and without prejudice. The notion that the sister would somehow be teaching was a non-issue and basically came down to certain (if not all) brothers dislking the idea of a female receiving all of the attention and NOT the male speaker.
After any interpreting any meeting/assembly part etc., it's normal for people to thank the interpreter and tell them what a great job they did. In fact, the better you are, the more this happens and you become somewhat of a mini-celebrity in the community. Especially if you kick ass in ASL. According to some brothers, this would encourage the sista's ego to grow out of control and of course they want to keep her down a few notches or so. The female gender needs to be submissive after all <insert groan>.
By and large, the methods for hunting down deaf people is a waste of time. You will literally spend hours driving around, knocking on doors, harassing businesses and writing letters to schools with nothing to show for. Not to mention how much gas you have wasted driving all over.
As for deaf people with degrees, I will kindly disagree with what is stated in this thread. There are actually more deaf people with degrees today than ever. In fact, there are deaf doctors, lawyers, engineers, biotech engineers etc etc. Due in part because of Gallaudet University, accessibility to interpreting services and changing views on deaf people in society. Technology has also changed the life of the average deaf person - cochlear implants, Video Relay Service, internet which has allowed for more integration into society.
