As ASL interpreters, we know our videos must be captioned and accessible to Deaf and hard of hearing people – now more than ever. Subtitles are also good for hearing people who are in noisy places and can’t hear the audio, people who are in quiet places and don’t want to disturb those around them, English language learners….
Basically adding subtitles to your videos is good for everyone!!
But how do you make subtitles happen?!
I’ve been learning through trial and error over the last few years, testing out all the no-cost options I could find, and here’s what I’ve learned.
Get ready, this post is loooooong. You might want to bookmark it now to refer back to as you need it, and take breaks as you go through this. You know, self-care!
Brain integration, dis-integration, why it matters to your interpreting and how self-care can help.
This information comes from Dr. Daniel J. Siegel, and I teach it to interpreters because it can dramatically alter our ability to attune to ourselves and regulate our emotional responses, attune to our consumers – allowing us to act with empathy and compassion, and it can also strongly impact our consumers’ ability to regulate their emotional responses.
Brain integration has a powerful impact on our interpreting interactions
Start with the hand model of the brain. 3 Parts:
PFC + Cortex – upstairs brain – executive function
Limbic Area – emotions and memory
Brain Stem – fight/flight/freeze, autonomic function
Flip-your-lid
When the brain is in integration:
Cortex, Limbic, Brain stem all connected
Cortex is regulating, soothing, and assessing all impulses from limbic and brain stem areas/downstairs brain.
When downstairs brain overwhelms the capacity of the upstairs brain, cortex tries to hang on, to maintain integration – you know what it feels like when cortex loses its grip – FLIP-LID – in a matter of seconds we have lost our ability to regulate our emotions and behavior.
Disintegration is contagious
When one person has lost emotional equilibrium, it’s much easier for the other to lose it. You may feel this when you are interpreting – especially if it is a topic, attitude or behavior that is particularly triggering to you personally. During times of crisis, disintegration is even more common.
Good news: Integration is also contagious
Integration is like a muscle, and involves several skills.
Any work that you do to create stronger connections in your brain promotes brain integration and will support you during times of stress and help you maintain integration with others who are experiencing disintegration.
From: The Whole Brain Child, by Dr. Daniel J. Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson, Ph.D.
Self-care strengthens the muscle of brain integration
In the moment – BREATHE – Deep, slow belly breathing, in and out your nose
Reflective practice – meditation, mindfulness, conscious breathing practice trains the brain toward integration
I’m working through my Shining Year Workbooks, savoring every little bit of them, and am having so much fun dreaming into the little and big things I want to experience this year. My list grows daily, and I hope it will never be finished.
I have been a staunch zero-makeup wearer and self-proclaimed low-maintenance person for many many years. I think the last time I wore makeup was in the mid-2000s, and it may have been this:
Not a look I’m ready to resurrect.
So when one of my dearest friends, acclaimed makeup artist and ITP buddy, Meredith De Leon, invited me to be a part of her workshop on using cosmetics as a tool to improve our interpreting work, let’s just say my palms got a little sweaty. I had a flashback to all those years of bad eyeliner and all-the-wrong shades of lipcolor. I wasn’t sure there was any hope for me. But, knowing Meredith, and being the ever-adventurous soul that I am, I decided to give it a go. There was something in me that harbored a tiny speck of hope…maybe I was not a lost cause.
So last week I took her workshop, and I left a changed person. I learned all of the foundational concepts about makeup that I had fumbled through and done without all those years. I brushed up and got some new resources on how to tell if your skincare and cosmetics are actually endangering your health, let alone nourishing the largest organ of your body. And most importantly, my tiny flicker of hope was fanned into a brightly burning flame. I am SO excited to add this No-Makeup look, to my toolbox as a technique to show up more fully and confidently in life and in work.
I love Meredith’s philosophy that is not about beauty, but rather about bringing forward the best self. Taking the noise away from appearance, and finding integrity–presenting on the outside as you feel on the inside.
I’m feeling so inspired, that as soon as I saw this December offering I wanted to pass it along to you…Another strategy to add to your self-care arsenal!