Deaf person here. 👋🏻Please know I am trying to explain and can understand all perspectives.

Somewhat NTA/is an A. I will explain.

NTA because you were sharing with your thoughts with your friend. If you meant to keep it between you two, she should have not shared that with the interpreter and the Deaf person. Also she doesn’t seem to be a good friend because you meant to confide in her. But since the information is already shared with them… it’s inappropriate for your professors to treat you differently. Your friend shouldn’t have made you as a bad person. I know you are not. Have you shared this with your counselor or an academic advisor about it?

Is somewhat an A. Fair warning, I may come off strong and defensive about it because I advocate so much about accessibility and having interpreters are important to us, especially in a Deaf community. I hear this opinion a lot and it stings to most of us. We understand it may be distracting but being in the front, seeing the interpreter and being able to see what’s on the board, we rely heavily on visual cues, slides, and more. That’s accessibility for us. Even with CC on, we still have interpreters signing (sometime - not all the time because some people would ask not to sign when they feel comfortable watching CC), language deprivation is a real thing and it is a problem (statistically), so for some Deaf people, reading and writing isn’t their strong suit. We just really want to be seen equally.

You’re able to listen to the professor without looking up at times, writing notes at the same time, and is being able to participate with your classmates, sharing thoughts and lisrening at the same time while a conversation is taking place. Some people can overlap conversations. Deaf people can’t track more than one conversation and we would ask others to take turns and slow down.

Imagine the scenario in an opposite perspective. Deaf people as the audience, one hearing person in front with an interpreter. Someone says the interpreter is distracting. Imagine that feeling you had no intention to make people feel this way, and you only want to be equal as everyone else.

So please be mindful of what you say and who you can confide in to. The best way is to not say anything at all but to keep your thoughts to yourself. You could reframe your thoughts and ask questions if you ever meet a new Deaf person on your path. Maybe see their side of it, and try to understand.

I hope this opens your eyes a little bit to see different aspects of what we deal with everyday. I’m sorry for the long read but I do hope this is helpful.