Christopher Robinson Helps BU Connect
Meet Christopher Robinson, a sign-language interpreter for the Office of Disability Services.
Christopher Robinson, a sign-language interpreter with the Office of Disability Services, sees parallels between racial and ethnic civil rights and his work there.
“Within the deaf community that I am familiar with, disability is not the word they associate with. Cultural minority, yes, but not disability,” says Robinson, who first learned to sign in third grade while playing at the homes of two friends whose parents were deaf. He uses his multilingual skills to facilitate communication throughout the University, in classrooms, during faculty office hours, and at University events.
Robinson is also an actor. He played abolitionist David Walker in the PBS series Slavery and the Making of America, and he interprets for performances at the Wang Center, Boston’s newly restored Opera House, and other venues. On Martin Luther King Day, Robinson will perform at the Palace Theatre in Manchester, N.H., playing Malcolm X’s bodyguard in The Meeting, a play based on a fictional meeting between Malcolm X and Martin Luther King.