Learning About
ACCESSIBILITY
Communication
Hearing interpreters and Deaf interpreters
Developing an Understanding
Hearing Interpreters facilitate communication between people who do not share the same language or way of communicating. They may listen to the spoken word and interpret to people who are Deaf or hard of hearing using hand and finger signs as well as facial expressions and body postures and movement. They also translate sign language and communication in spoken language to hearing people (Ontario Association of Sign Language Interpreters, 2021).
Deaf Interpreters provide interpreting, translation, and transliteration services in sign language used by individuals who are Deaf, hard-of-hearing, and Deaf-Blind (Deaf Interpreter Institute, 2016).
As a Deaf person, a Deaf Interpreter has a distinct set of formative linguistic, cultural, and life experiences that enables nuanced comprehension, understanding, and interaction in a wide range of visual language and communication forms influenced by region, culture, age, literacy, education, class, and physical, cognitive, and mental health (Deaf Interpreter Institute, 2016).
Deaf Interpreters work most often with a Hearing Interpreter facilitating communication between a Deaf person, a hearing person and an ASL-English interpreter using their native sign language. A Deaf Interpreter may also facilitate communication between two signed languages (Ontario Association of Sign Language Interpreters, 2021).
Spotlight: Christopher Desloges
Toronto Sign Language Interpreter Service opens in new window (TSLIS) provides the essential service of communication accessibility with interpretation services for Deaf and hard of hearing individuals in the city of Toronto.
Interpreting happens when two people or two groups of people do not share a common language but need to or want to communicate with each other. In Canada, when Deaf and hearing people interact, interpreters provide interpretation in spoken English and American Sign Language (ASL) and in some francophone or bilingual regions in Canada, interpreters provide interpretation in French and langue des signes québécoise (LSQ). Interpreters are knowledgeable in the sign language and culture of Deaf and hard of hearing persons, and the spoken language and the norms of the (hearing) majority culture (TSLIS, n.d.).
Christopher Desloges
Deepening your Understanding
In this video, Hearing Interpreter Christopher Desloges and Deaf Interpreter Azad Najifi have a conversation about their experiences and the differences between a Hearing Interpreter and a Deaf Interpreter.
This video shows the process of how ASL videos are recorded.
