When Amber Farrelly Elliott was 9, her mother enrolled her in an American Sign Language class in hopes of keeping the inquisitive youngster occupied during summer vacation.
The language immediately fascinated Elliott, whose hearing is not impaired. Every day she eagerly rode her bike to the class in a church in her hometown of Lawton, Okla., a military town near Fort Sill. Elliott studied signs at night to keep up with her adult classmates.
That summer began an affinity for sign language and deaf culture that Elliott calls upon today as a criminal defense lawyer in Travis County. Licensed to practice law for just over a year, she fills a niche at the Travis County Courthouse with her ability to directly communicate with deaf clients instead of indirectly through an interpreter.
"It's a beautiful language," Elliott said. "It's just so expressive. And captivating. When you see somebody sign you can't help as a hearing person to look and be like, 'Wow, they are communicating with their hands and they completely understand each other.' "
Court officials say they assign Elliott to represent all the deaf people in Travis County who have been arrested for Class A and B misdemeanors and can't afford to hire their own lawyer. That amounts to about two or three defendants a month, said court administrator Debra Hale. Certified interpreters still translate for those clients during most official court hearings. Because of her limited experience, the local judges have not yet approved Elliott, 34, to represent court-appointed clients in felony cases.
County Court-at-Law Judge Nancy Hohengarten said that Elliott's ability to communicate with clients in their language further ensures that the defendants will receive fair representation.
"I think she's a very good lawyer," Hohengarten said. "She has good communication skills and perhaps that's in part because of her (sign language) training."
County officials estimate there are 50,000 to 60,000 deaf and hard of hearing people in the Austin metropolitan area. That's one of the largest populations in the country, according to deaf advocates and county officials, who believe it is partly because of the presence of the Texas School for the Deaf and government agencies that offer services to deaf people.
Paul Rutowski, president of the Texas Association of the Deaf, an advocacy organization, said in an e-mail that some deaf people have been skeptical of Elliott, worrying that she is using her sign language skills to "patronize the deaf community."
Rutowski does not believe that is the case.
"I value Amber's contributions to her profession as we all benefit from her expertise," he wrote. "Her knowing sign language is really a benefit to us and everyone else. She has a good personality and is a good person."
Proper discretion
Elliott is 5 feet tall with a high-pitched voice. But that can be misleading, said Alexandra Gauthier, the president of the Austin Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, who has worked closely with Elliott.
"She's a little pit bull" in court, Gauthier said. "She's also whip-smart and extremely well-organized."
Elliott estimated she has represented about 65 deaf clients, most of them in Travis County and a few in Williamson County, mostly on misdemeanors, such as driving while intoxicated and theft.
She said that because the deaf community is so small, she has to take extra steps to protect their privacy, such as not scheduling deaf clients to come to her office or to court at the same time.
"I tell my clients, if they see me at a deaf event, I won't acknowledge that I know them unless they come up to me first," she said. She refuses to talk about their cases in public, in part because other deaf people can see what they are saying.
In many of the cases, she said, prosecutors have dismissed charges after Elliott convinced them that there was no crime and simply a misunderstanding between hearing and deaf people. Some deaf clients, for example, were charged with assault after tapping someone to get that person's attention, she said.
"If they really want you to pay attention to them, they tap harder," she said. "If you want to get technical, I've been assaulted by my (deaf) friends many times."
The language immediately fascinated Elliott, whose hearing is not impaired. Every day she eagerly rode her bike to the class in a church in her hometown of Lawton, Okla., a military town near Fort Sill. Elliott studied signs at night to keep up with her adult classmates.
That summer began an affinity for sign language and deaf culture that Elliott calls upon today as a criminal defense lawyer in Travis County. Licensed to practice law for just over a year, she fills a niche at the Travis County Courthouse with her ability to directly communicate with deaf clients instead of indirectly through an interpreter.
"It's a beautiful language," Elliott said. "It's just so expressive. And captivating. When you see somebody sign you can't help as a hearing person to look and be like, 'Wow, they are communicating with their hands and they completely understand each other.' "
Court officials say they assign Elliott to represent all the deaf people in Travis County who have been arrested for Class A and B misdemeanors and can't afford to hire their own lawyer. That amounts to about two or three defendants a month, said court administrator Debra Hale. Certified interpreters still translate for those clients during most official court hearings. Because of her limited experience, the local judges have not yet approved Elliott, 34, to represent court-appointed clients in felony cases.
County Court-at-Law Judge Nancy Hohengarten said that Elliott's ability to communicate with clients in their language further ensures that the defendants will receive fair representation.
"I think she's a very good lawyer," Hohengarten said. "She has good communication skills and perhaps that's in part because of her (sign language) training."
County officials estimate there are 50,000 to 60,000 deaf and hard of hearing people in the Austin metropolitan area. That's one of the largest populations in the country, according to deaf advocates and county officials, who believe it is partly because of the presence of the Texas School for the Deaf and government agencies that offer services to deaf people.
Paul Rutowski, president of the Texas Association of the Deaf, an advocacy organization, said in an e-mail that some deaf people have been skeptical of Elliott, worrying that she is using her sign language skills to "patronize the deaf community."
Rutowski does not believe that is the case.
"I value Amber's contributions to her profession as we all benefit from her expertise," he wrote. "Her knowing sign language is really a benefit to us and everyone else. She has a good personality and is a good person."
Proper discretion
Elliott is 5 feet tall with a high-pitched voice. But that can be misleading, said Alexandra Gauthier, the president of the Austin Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, who has worked closely with Elliott.
"She's a little pit bull" in court, Gauthier said. "She's also whip-smart and extremely well-organized."
Elliott estimated she has represented about 65 deaf clients, most of them in Travis County and a few in Williamson County, mostly on misdemeanors, such as driving while intoxicated and theft.
She said that because the deaf community is so small, she has to take extra steps to protect their privacy, such as not scheduling deaf clients to come to her office or to court at the same time.
"I tell my clients, if they see me at a deaf event, I won't acknowledge that I know them unless they come up to me first," she said. She refuses to talk about their cases in public, in part because other deaf people can see what they are saying.
In many of the cases, she said, prosecutors have dismissed charges after Elliott convinced them that there was no crime and simply a misunderstanding between hearing and deaf people. Some deaf clients, for example, were charged with assault after tapping someone to get that person's attention, she said.
"If they really want you to pay attention to them, they tap harder," she said. "If you want to get technical, I've been assaulted by my (deaf) friends many times."
No comments
Post a Comment