“Could you imagine having a third party in your life for everything that you do?” Ashley Lillie asks. She is referring to the thousands
of Deaf Canadians who rely on interpreters to complete life’s most basic tasks, like a trip to the doctor. And what if that third party
isn’t available right away? Not  acceptable, says Lillie. “Why should someone wait for a doctor’s appointment that could save
their life just because of a language barrier?”
The impassioned 25 year-old recently graduated as class valedictorian from the three-year American Sign Language-English Interpreters Program
(AEIP) at George Brown. With all of her training, academic accomplishments (she won a bevy of awards as a student) and her commitment to Deaf
rights, her career is pretty much mapped out.
As a community interpreter she will be involved in all aspects of people’s lives from the mundane to the emotional, from cradle to grave,
including trips to the dentist and to the altar, to the passport office and the therapist’s office and everything in between. She will be
witness to the entire spectrum of human emotions from happiness to tragedy. And the work will be difficult. Linguistically, there are thousands
of words in English that have no direct ASL translation. As well, new words are constantly being added to both languages and she will have to
learn as she goes. There is also the need to translate cultural meaning — things like slang and sense of humour — which is at the
heart of interpreting.
“I always wanted a job that would challenge me and allow me to grow every day,” she says. “Interpreting offers me that.”
Interpreting wasn’t always the plan. Originally Lillie thought she would become an actor. In high school she was always singing and dancing
and acting in school plays. Instead of entering show business after graduation she enrolled in university. “I wanted to see what else I
could do,” she says.
While an undergrad, she took a basic ASL course and loved it. “It was the first thing that inspired me since acting,” she says. She
left academia and enrolled in George Brown’s one-year pre-interpreter’s program. Encouraged by that experience, she applied for the
three-year interpreter program, which she completed in 2008.
She offers future students advice on what it takes to enter the field.
“Interpreting requires a special type of person,” she says. “Maturity, confidentiality and life experience are important. You
really have to have a love for constant learning and a dedication to working hard and always doing your best.”
As George Brown is one of only five such schools to offer this program in Canada, Lillie sees the College as a vital contributor to society in
producing a new generation of needed interpreters. Lillie, who was mentored along her path, is making her own contribution in that regard by mentoring
an AEIP student.
“It’s great to give back to the program that got me where I am, and to help out the profession,” she says. “That is how
we are going to become better and, in turn, do the best we can for the community.”
Read more stories from George Brown
To learn more, visit the George Brown College Alumni page. |
