Rachael Scott turned a passion project into a new career when she decided to pursue her interest in American Sign Language and become an interpreter for the deaf.

She spoke about her journey during the Sun City Rotary Club meeting Feb. 6 at Royal Oaks Independent Living Facility.

Scott had been a graphic designer for 15 years after service in the Marine Corps before moving with her husband, Richard, to Sun City. Richard had accepted a job position here and it gave Rachael the opportunity to provide care for her mother-in-law. Her mother-in-law passed five years later and left Rachael with a decision on how she wanted to move forward.

“I was always wanting to dabble in sign language,” she said. “It became a passion project for me.”

Scott returned to school in 2020, choosing to take classes at Phoenix College in the Deaf Studies program. She still attends the college seeking a degree as an ASL interpreter. In 2020, she was selected to represent the school in the Netflix series “The College Tour,” where she talked about being a nontraditional student and the Deaf Studies program.

In the meeting, Scott informed the Rotarians about the deaf culture and ASL.

“The deaf feel like they’ve been marginalized,” she said. “They don’t like to be referred to as hearing impaired or disabled because they consider themselves as normal. They want their own independence and autonomy.”

Scott explained the duties of an interpreter as being more than using her hands to communicate words. An interpreter must also try, through facial expressions and body movements, to provide context and intent in their communications. And that goes both ways, she said, and ASL has its own grammar and syntax to help consolidate language into signs while still maintaining the emotion of the message.

While undertaking her studies, Scott is conducting an internship with educational interpreting where she assists grades 8-12.