All of my shows at the Ohio State Fair had a sign language interpreter. It’s a really cool thing to have and there were a lot of deaf people in my audience because of this. It was great to have my show, which is very verbal to reach people who probably wouldn’t normally watch it.
There were 4 or 5 interpreters who cycled through the 24 shows that I did over 12 days and they got to know my show pretty well. At one point my show got off track and I was trying to bring the routine back so we could wrap up and I totally forgot where I was in the show. I asked the interpreter and she told me what the next part of the routine was!
Everyone from the Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities did a great job, and I even learned to tell a joke in sign language, and I have the sign language interpreter verbally tell it on the mic while I signed it. Not only that, but I learned a lot about sign language!
I really wish more events would offer this, and it does open the show up to more people!
-Louie