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>> Hello, I'm Heather Gray and my maiden name is McNish when I went here into Pitt
and I'm an American Sign Language Interpreter for a lot of different schools in the area.
I interpret for mainly for higher education, but I also work a typical day.
My mornings, I spend at an elementary school, so I will do fourth grade, fifth grade,
sixth grade math in the mornings.
And then, I work here at Pitt as well, I interpret for the engineering department.
I've interpreted for the medical, for medical students,
for scientific research doctors that's crazy.
One day, I went from the elementary school math class to a college physics class and then
that night I interpreted for a concert at Star Lake.
So, it was little kids math, college math, rock concert.
So that was my Friday.
It is much harder to voice for a deaf person I think, for me,
because my native language is English.
And, for me, I know sometimes people say well your native language is English
so it should be easier for you to receive that message and then give it out with your voice
into the target language which is your native language, so it should be easier.
It's not as easy for me to do that.
I think that hearing English, for me, to hear English and then put it out into sign language,
even though sign language is that source language that is the target language
that its going into and the source's English, I'm so familiar with that English
that I can say, okay well how am I going to change that to make it into sign language,
and I think that's easier for me.
But, I do like, I act on the side, Community Theater in Pittsburgh,
and I do like voicing for people as well.
And it's so funny because, I mean, even if I'm doing something silly
like a little silly appointment that nobody would think of, they would say, oh, wow,
you know what I've known this person and I've had this appointment with them
for a long standing many number of years and you really gave them character.
And I'm like, no, I didn't give them character, that's their character, that's how they sound
in my head when they're talking and they're signing that's what I hear
because their face says, well I'm talking like this right now,
and I'm talking really fast and this is how my voice is.
And, people are like, wow, that's really cool that you do that.
Well, that's my job.