Advocating for the Deaf Community

Photos by Shannon Carter

CSUN’s Cass Del Castillo

*From student to faculty, sign language lecturer, Catherine Del Castillo has called CSUN home for more than 40 years. (Shannon Carter | Scene Magazine)*

Cass Del Castillo is a sign language interpreter. A prominent player in the deaf community, Del Castillo has done just about any type of interpreting you could think of in the Los Angeles area, from elementary school classes to big award shows. She’s always busy with interpreting one way or another, yet through all this time she has remained active at California State University, Northridge as a lecturer and interpreter. “I remember saying to myself that day, my very first day in that class, ‘this is going to be my career,’ and I sit here 32, no, 42 years years later, and it’s been a really wonderful ride,” Says Del Castillo.

Like many CSUN students, Del Castillo was a first generation college student. Her father was originally from Mexico and college wasn’t really discussed about in her family.

“I just kind of ventured out and did it on my own. I was the first one to get a higher education degree in my family,” Del Castillo said.

Del Castillo has a brother who’s an attorney, another brother with a PhD, and a sister with a master’s degree.

“So I started the ball rolling with that,” she says proudly.

Her introduction to the Deaf community began in 1982. Wandering around the Golden West College campus in Huntington Beach, she encountered a table of Deaf Iranians using sign language. They became friends and one of them encouraged her to take a sign language class. Del Castillo took a class and was left mesmerized by the teacher teaching without saying a word. She then took the interpreter training program at Golden West and earned her Associate of Arts degree in Interpreting.

Yearning to learn more, Del Castillo looked to CSUN and its’ Deaf Studies program.

“She has this unique ability to speak through hearing people who do not know much about the Deaf community.”

— Nicolas Conway

CSUN was one of the earliest universities to offer a four-year Deaf Studies program. Founded in 1964, it was the first postsecondary program in the nation to provide interpreters and note takers for Deaf students for any class. CSUN is also home to the National Center of Deafness.

CSUN was and remains a popular choice for Deaf students and those wanting to study together with them, as the university produces the most Deaf Studies graduates in the U.S. Around 153 degrees in the study are being awarded each year, according to college ranking site CollegeRaptor.

Del Castillo graduated from CSUN in 1990 and began interpreting there and at other schools within the same year.

Since then, she has worked interpreting at all sorts of venues outside the realm of education. In the medical industry, she is the channel between deaf patients and their doctors. In the legal industry, she interprets depositions, the oral statement witnesses make before a trial.

She is also quite active in LA’s entertainment industry. Covering confidential award shows, interpreting for Deaf actors and even nabbing a few roles herself playing interpreters on television. Lately, she has been interpreting theatrical performances in the Hollywood scene. In March she covered the play, “Alma,” at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City.

*Del Castillo’s interpreting skills range in different areas of study as she interprets for various classes at CSUN, including STEM, art, and language classes. (Shannon Carter | Scene Magazine)*

Interpreting is not just work for Del Castillo. The deaf community is a huge part of her life and her best friends are deaf.

Del Castillo spent 10 years working at the Lions Wilderness Camp held in the San Gabriel Mountains. The camp helps deaf children experience nature and learn outdoor skills.

“She is a sweet, friendly, and open minded person who supports the Deaf community,” said Nicolas Conway, co-director of Lions Wilderness Camp and president of the CSUN Deaf Studies Association, who is deaf himself.

Conway first met Del Castillo at the “Introduction to Interpreting” class she teaches at CSUN.

“She is the biggest allyship for the Deaf community because she would make sure Deaf people got equal access to communication in the job field, outside of the school and work field and everywhere in general,” Conway said. “She has this unique ability to speak through hearing people who do not know much about the Deaf community. Cass [Del Castillo] pops their bliss towards ableism, audism and discrimination to provide equal access to disabilities communities.”

Not all of Del Castillo’s friends are Deaf, but the Deaf community is a place where she has strong bonds. That critical moment of stopping at that table of Deaf Iranians all those years ago opened an avenue into one of the most tight-knit and supportive communities out there, and with that a mission for that community.

“My goals are to continue to be a lifelong learner, a supporter and an advocate for the deaf community,” says Del Castillo.