A Sign of a Champion
/Deaf student-athlete succeeds with the help of an interpreter
By Phoebe Warren
photo by shane darby.
Kirstyn Snyder, a junior at Arkansas High and member of the softball team, has been deaf since birth. She communicates with her family, none of whom are deaf, in various ways.
"Some of my family learned a little sign. My mom signs. My two siblings, Hannah and Jace, sign a little too. Sometimes I just text it out on my phone."
Kirstyn owes her love of softball to her step-father. “I’ve been playing for 13 years now,” she said. “It started when my step-father helped and taught me how, and I’ve been in love with it ever since.”
At school, Kirstyn relies on Andreia Wolcott, certified educational interpreter for the state of Arkansas, to help facilitate communication in the classroom. Andreia met Kirstyn in the January of Kirstyn’s freshman year. She has been interpreting for almost 25 years.
Educational interpreter Andreia Wolcott helps facilitate Kirstyn’s communication at school. photo by shane darby.
“I sort of got thrown into a small school that I worked for, “she recalled. “It was, you know, ‘Hey, don’t you have a deaf brother? We have a deaf kid coming here. We are assigning you to interpret for him.’ I knew nothing about interpreting and had not been around my brother or any other deaf [person] for many years. I stuck it out and eventually went to workshops and training, and then I got a job as a deaf ed communication specialist at TISD. I worked there and learned more than I can remember. They were phenomenal to work with, and I absolutely fell in love with signing all over again.”
Kirstyn and Andreia go everywhere together when school is in session, creating a unique bond. “The most challenging part of my job is having to remember that [the students for whom I interpret] are not my own children,” she said. “I am here to do my job, but I form a bond with them, and I want to treat them like I would my own children. But that bond is also my most rewarding thing.”
“I think the most challenging part is [my teammates] trying to communicate with me during the game.”
Kirstyn is also fond of Andreia. “She’s funny and very sweet and cool,” she said. “I care very much about her.”
Kirstyn relies on texting to communicate with her friends, but in class, she utilizes a few different methods to understand her instructors, including signing and having Andreia interpret for her.
“I just try to read [people’s] lips,” Kirstyn explained. “If I don’t understand, then they just write it out for me.” When asked what it felt like to be a deaf student, Kirstyn answered nonchalantly: “I think it feels kinda weird, but it’s fun.”
Submitted photos.
During a softball game, Kirstyn has a harder time communicating with her usual methods. “I think the most challenging part is [my teammates] trying to communicate with me during the game,” she said. “When they’re yelling at me, I can’t hear them.”
Andreia knows that this is an area where she cannot help Kirstyn and has to allow others to step up. “I know that she can’t constantly be watching me when she needs to be locked into the game,” Andreia explained. “That’s where the other players step up. They are phenomenal about helping her if they know that there may be an issue.”
Aside from playing softball as long as she can, Kirstyn has other goals and dreams. “I want to marry and have a family,” she said. “I want to go to college.”
Andreia has no doubt that Kirstyn can accomplish all of these things and more. “Deaf people aren’t broken,” Andreia said. “Their ears don’t work; that’s all. They use their other senses to make up for it. They learn, grow up, drive, fall in love, and raise families just like [hearing people].”
submitted photos.
Kirstyn will be Andreia’s last interpreting assignment, as Andreia wants to start classes at Southern Arkansas University in the fall. Her goal is to teach kindergarten and make a positive impact in her own community of De Queen. “I want to teach sign language to the community in De Queen,” she said. “My future students will learn some sign language in our kindergarten classes.”
Kirstyn said, in terms of accessibility for deaf people, there is work to be done in Texarkana. She dreams about campaigns to bring the local d/Deaf community together and believes that more ASL instruction in schools would be beneficial to everyone. Andreia agrees that more sign language education would go a long way. “If you have a desire [to learn ASL], I have seen people pick it up real quick,” she said. “Kirstyn has a few friends that have picked it up really fast.”