SIOUX FALLS (AP) – Rick Norris is used to being in the public eye.

The 50-year-old American Sign Language interpreter has stood in front of crowds interpreting for world leaders, entertainers and presidents – including former presidents George Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

Now, Sioux Falls residents see Norris daily as he appears alongside Mayor Paul TenHaken to interpret the latest updates about the coronavirus spread around the city and Minnehaha County.

Norris' role is to ensure that thousands of Sioux Falls residents who are deaf and hard of hearing are getting the same information and updates as every other resident. Several cities across the world are partnering with interpreters during live press conferences to easily disseminate the information to the deaf and hard of hearing community as soon as possible.

"I'm here to fill a gap and meet a need that most people don't think of," Norris told the Argus Leader. "If you don't live and breathe and experience this on a daily basis, you don't realize it's even a problem. I want to make a difference and impact. That's what I was meant to do and what I've been doing all these years."

Norris has been interpreting for decades. He's served as the executive director and owner of Interprecore, a company that provides interpreters for people who are deaf and hard of hearing in the area, for about six years. Norris has interpreted in hospitals, classrooms and court rooms, and updating citizens on the COVID-19 outbreak isn't the first time he's worked with the city.

“Rick has been awesome," Mayor Paul Ten Haken said. "Because of the School for the Deaf we used to have here and CSD (Communication Services for the Deaf), which had so many deaf and hard of hearing voices, we have a large deaf and hard of hearing population in this state. So ensuring we have an interpreter at these sorts of things is really, really important. And Rick has been here. He gets here 15 minutes early, and the feedback I get online about Risk is they love him."

Sioux Falls is Norris' home. He graduated from Lincoln High School and was raised by his parents, both of whom were deaf. Because of his parents, he was absorbed into the deaf and hard of hearing community that he identifies as his own.

He naturally fell into the role of interpreter with his parents, representing them to doctors, employers, telemarketers and other community members in a time before expanded representation and accessibility for deaf and hard of hearing people.

Nearly as far back as he can remember, he experienced the frustration, discrimination and oppression against his parents, he said. In many cases, people overlooked his parents' needs because they did not understand their challenges.

When he was in fifth or sixth grade, Norris was pulled out of school one day. He wasn't brought to the school principal though, he was brought to his mother's work where he was asked to interpret and mediate a miscommunication between her and her employer. Even as a child, he was grateful that someone had thought to use his skills to remedy the situation.

He realized quickly that there was a need for interpreters and he wanted to be that connection for others, just as he was for his parents.

"I saw the kinds of barriers my parents had to deal with, and that made a profound impact on me," Norris said. "I wanted to make sure I was in a position to help others and avoid those experiences. ... That's what I've dedicated my life to try and do.”