Interpreter Mostly Signed Nonsense During Irma Briefing

By Michael Harthorne

September 16, 2017

As Hurricane Irma was advancing on Florida, this was the message deaf residents of Manatee County received regarding a mandatory evacuation: "Help you at that time to use bear big." Jason Hurdich, a Clemson University professor and expert in American Sign Language, tells the Bradenton Herald he couldn't understand 95% of what a deaf interpreter was signing during the Sept. 8 briefing from the Manatee County Emergency Operations Center.

County officials tell WPTV they were "in a pinch" to find a qualified professional interpreter for the briefing, so they asked an employee. AL.com reports interpretation duties fell to county lifeguard Marshall Greene, whose brother is deaf.

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