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Crisis interpreting and deaf community access in the COVID-19 pandemic

Mathews, Elizabeth orcid logoORCID: 0000-0001-7588-3256, Cadwell, Patrick orcid logoORCID: 0000-0002-2371-4378, O'Boyle, Shaun orcid logoORCID: 0000-0002-7609-0730 and Dunne, Senan (2022) Crisis interpreting and deaf community access in the COVID-19 pandemic. Perspectives, 31 (3). pp. 431-449. ISSN 0907-676X

Abstract
Scientific and public health knowledge must be communicated efficiently to the public during a health crisis to allow communities to respond, recover, and prepare. Public briefings and national campaigns are important components of this communication, and sign language interpreting may be an element of this process. This paper examines the experiences of sign language interpreters during the COVID-19 crisis in Ireland and the UK, and explores their role in providing access to scientific and public health information for the Deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) community. Findings in this study are based on interviews conducted in the first half of 2020 with 16 Irish Sign Language (ISL) or British Sign Language (BSL) interpreters or science communicators, 11 of whom had direct experience of interpreting during COVID-19 public briefings. These interviews constitute authentic accounts of sign language interpreters working during a global health crisis. Interviews were qualitatively analysed using theoretical assumptions from Witter-Merithew and Nicodemus (2010) about the development of specialisation among sign language interpreters to discuss how specialised competence and scientific understanding factored into participants' experiences and to derive lessons to inform future crises.
Metadata
Item Type:Article (Published)
Refereed:Yes
Uncontrolled Keywords:Sign language interpreting; COVID-19 crisis; Deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) community; specialised competence; scientific understanding
Subjects:Humanities > Language
Humanities > Translating and interpreting
DCU Faculties and Centres:DCU Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Humanities and Social Science > School of Applied Language and Intercultural Studies
DCU Faculties and Schools > Institute of Education > School of Inclusive & Special Education
Research Initiatives and Centres > ADAPT
Publisher:Taylor & Francis
Official URL:https://doi.org/10.1080/0907676X.2022.2028873
Copyright Information:© 2022 The Authors.
Funders:Dublin City University: [Grant Number DCU Educational Trust Covid-19 R&I Hub];, Science Foundation Ireland: [Grant Number 17/DP/5199].
ID Code:28343
Deposited On:19 May 2023 13:55 by Elizabeth Mathews . Last Modified 20 Jun 2023 15:29
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