Hurricane Matthew took many lives and a heavy toll on the southeastern United States. But the storm also introduced us to a deaf interpreter in South Carolina who grabbed everyone's attention without uttering a word.
Certified deaf interpreter Jason Hurdich of Charleston stood by Gov. Nikki Haley, communicating the crisis as only he could.
"She called me to come up for the press conference. Because I'm deaf and I can accommodate to the deaf needs, the culture, the language and meet the needs best for the deaf community. At first I was a little bit nervous with all the cameras," Hurdich explained.
Hurdich--working with an off-camera hearing interpreter--translated critical information from Haley and other state leaders. And, his animated facila and hand gestures drew instant adoration from viewers of all kinds, including the governor.
"Jason Hurdich has become a rock star. And so I want to personally thank you for all that you've done," Gov. Haley said.
"Well honestly I'm just doing my job. The facial expressions is part of sign language grammar linguistics and that is part of it and it is so critical to the language, just like with the spoken language you hear the intonation and the volume rising and so you see those same features on my face," Hurdich said. I didn't expect so many people coming up and hollering at me and saying hey I saw you on TV, oh my gosh it's that man."
