an online conference from direct learn

This is the seventh in the highly successful Supporting Deaf People online conferences.

Dates: 3-6th February, 2010

Themes for this conference are:

• Interpreting in specialist settings
• Interpreters, fallout and vicarious trauma
• Effective interpreting, politeness, face and culture

Note: Session on Deaf Interpreting:

Deaf Interpreters: The same but different? by Jen Dodds (UK)

This paper looks closely at the many roles taken on by Deaf interpreters in the UK, who have been around just as long as ‘hearing’ Sign Language interpreters, but whose functions are subject to much misunderstanding and controversy.

As a Deaf person who works as a British Sign Language/English interpreter, the author of this paper frequently encounters misconceptions about her role, when it is assumed that she either works as a Deaf relay interpreter or that she is somehow miraculously able to hear.

It cannot be denied that whatever communicative forms of interpreting Deaf interpreters employ, they play an important role in interpreting between the Deaf community and hearing society. This paper seeks to examine exactly what UK-based Deaf interpreters do, how their roles vary, and how the traditional confusion may be cleared up.

Registration is now open! The early bird discount is available until the 31st of October 2009. See the booking page for more info. See the programme link to the left for confirmed presentations to date.
To date there are participants from Australia, Canada, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, New Zealand, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States.