The Dual Worlds of CODA

One of the biggest myths about CODAs is that kids should interpret, said Becky Samorano, whose parents are both deaf. Being a Child of Deaf Adults (CODA) is a unique experience that comes with its own set of challenges and advantages.

“When you're in a situation where your parents are not understanding and the hearing people are having a hard time communicating, they're going to automatically look to the person who can understand both of them, even if that person is a child," said Samorano. According to a study, 90 percent of children born to deaf adults have normal hearing. Being raised in a deaf household requires children to navigate between two worlds and develop skills beyond their own, shaping their view of the world in a variety of ways.

In interviews by Imanyco, many CODAs have shared stories about being asked to interpret for their parents and speakers by school administrators, police officers, managers, and so many others in situations such as doctor's appointments, school meetings, job interviews, and other important events. In some cases, these situations involve topics and discussions that are not appropriate for a child to be exposed to. Can you imagine your five or six-year-old self interpreting your parent/teacher conference or a memorial service? As Samorano noted, “You do grow up really fast when you're interpreting at places and hearing things that a little girl wouldn't normally be exposed to. And the other thing, I can see how it really set me apart from my peers because they didn't have those experiences and so I was sort of years ahead of them in development.”

Despite the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) being in place, some organizations, institutions, and individuals sometimes refuse to provide accommodations as required by the ADA, leaving the CODA as the only means of communication for both the speakers and deaf parents. However, the CODAs born before the ADA had more responsibilities and challenges than one can imagine. The unique perspective of CODAs has inspired them to pursue careers such as speech pathologists, sign language interpreters, doctors, educators for deaf students, accessibility advocates, writers, entrepreneurs, entertainers, and more. In order to keep this blog brief, we will highlight one of our interviews.

“Was there a specific time in your childhood or maybe even adulthood that you discovered that your parents were deaf?”

Samorano shared a poignant moment from her childhood when she had to stop and interpret for her mother at a family gathering. Her grandmother, who understood the challenges Samorano was facing, held her in her arms and comforted her.

“My grandmother was a very sweet loving woman and she cared deeply for my mom and she taught her how to speak. She tried to learn how to sign and so she would try to finger spell at family gatherings and, and I think she could see from her perspective what that dynamic was like. And me being the oldest child and being the one who the interpreting duty fell to, I think my grandmother could see how that weighed on me.

My sister and I learned to sign from birth, like anybody would learn how to speak English. But we ended up sounding a little like we were deaf. However, I started spending a lot of time with my hearing family, visiting them for a month every summer. When I began attending school, my speech sounded more like that of a hearing person, but I'm definitely a native ASL signer. One thing I've always had a hard time with is speaking and signing at the same time because ASL's structure is so different from spoken English. So, when I interpreted, it was a challenge because I felt like my voice was stifled since I could either speak fluently in ASL or speak fluently in spoken English.

There are just some things in English that don't translate well to sign language, there are some things in sign language that don't translate well to English. So I really feel fortunate to kind of have that greater knowledge of the world because whenever you speak more than one language, especially when it's a visual one, I think your world just opens up in terms of what you can understand.”

"When you're interpreting for your mom, are there any moments where you need to ask for permission, or do you automatically translate for her when you're out in public spaces? Does she have a way of indicating that she needs you to sign for her?"

For both my mom and my dad, I wait and watch, and the second they look at me, I automatically interpret. It's just that look, like, Hey, can you help me?

"In your childhood, was the influence you had growing up partially due to the culture at that time regarding how children should be raised if they have a deaf parent, or was there anything else along those lines?

I think back then there was just a general lack of awareness of disability and how that impacts people. There was a lack of accessibility. I was a kid in the eighties. We didn't have the technology that we have now. We didn't have video relay. When I was in high school, the phone relay started. We've grown leaps and bounds and I think that we just lived in a time where people just did not know that much about disabilities in general and especially deafness.

“What does communication access mean to you?”

I think it means that hearing and deaf are all on the same playing field. That there are no barriers to communication. That everyone can see eye to eye.

Several CODAs highlighted the need for technology like Koda and how it could have helped them and their parents by allowing them to communicate easily and freely. Koda is an app by Imanyco which allows deaf individuals to communicate with ease in group settings. Koda provides real-time captioning of each speaker, which makes it easy to keep track of what each speaker is saying.