![\"h_butoday_Christopher_Robinson\"](\"\/federal\/files\/2016\/09\/h_butoday_Christopher_Robinson.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nChristopher Robinson, coordinator of outreach and training for the office of disability services, interprets the words of President Barack Obama at the opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture on Sept. 24. Photo courtesy of Katherine Kennedy.<\/em><\/p>\n While most of the thousands of people who listened to President Barack Obama\u2019s speech at the dedication of the National Museum of African American History and Culture<\/a> last Saturday had their eyes on the president, many others were watching Christopher Robinson, an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter who as coordinator of outreach and training for BU\u2019s Disability Services<\/a> is usually found on the Charles River campus.<\/p>\n Robinson, one of a dozen African American ASL interpreters hired to work at the museum\u2019s dedication and accompanying ceremonies, was recommended for the event\u2019s interpreting team by ASL interpreter Krystin Balzarini (SED\u201908), who was helping to coordinate staffing for the event and is keenly aware that African American interpreters are seriously underrepresented in the ASL interpreting profession. Robinson points out that, according to the National Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf<\/a>, less than 5 percent of registered members are African American.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been privileged to receive a language (American Sign Language) from an intersection of deaf, African American\/black and other facets of the deaf identity, that has endured many of the joys and tragedies that are represented in the museum,\u201d says Robinson. \u201cIt is a blessing and a burden of honor that I embrace.\u201d<\/p>\n Robinson and Balzarini first met at BU 10 years ago, when Balzarini, then a sophomore at the School of Education, was looking for a mentor to help her become an ASL interpreter. Robinson offered, and Balzarini never looked back. After earning a master\u2019s degree in interpretation at Gallaudet University<\/a>, the world\u2019s only university designed to be barrier-free for deaf and hard-of-hearing students, she found work with an ASL\/English interpreting agency based in Washington, D.C., that is often tapped for official events.<\/p>\n