Research Project on Deaf Interpreters Expected to ‘Shift the World’

Interpretation serves as a fundamental element of communication for deaf individuals, who might otherwise struggle to comprehend spoken information in real-time. Beyond benefiting from interpreters, some deaf people aspire to offer this service themselves to deaf communities, thereby facilitating communication in situations and environments that could otherwise present difficulties. A £600,000 research initiative, partly overseen by the University of Wolverhampton, is anticipated to “shift the world” by enabling deaf individuals to access training and enhance employment prospects within the field. This, in turn, is expected to support broader deaf communities in pursuing diverse professional paths. Dr Christopher Stone from the university, who will co-lead the three-year project with professors from the University of Toulouse and the University of Berlin, commented, “It’s quite nice to suddenly get a big lump of money.” A component of the research will investigate how deaf people assist others in understanding translations, specifically examining differences across the UK, France, and Germany. Dr Stone, a hearing interpreter himself, stated, “This research will probably influence our colleagues across Europe, and potentially more broadly, globally.” He previously conducted similar research for his PhD approximately 20 years ago and indicated his expectation that the new project would reveal that deaf individuals find it simpler to understand deaf interpreters compared to hearing ones. “What we’re interested in is…how has the profession developed in the UK, and in France and Germany?” Dr Stone elaborated. He further inquired, “What does that tell us about the ways deaf people work as interpreters that are similar and different in different places?” Dr Stone observed that in the UK, this form of interpreting was generally more advanced in television, whereas in France, greater development appeared to be in healthcare settings. Germany’s particular strength, he noted, lay in interpretation within parliament and government. “Deaf people have always been involved in providing access for their own communities,” he informed the BBC. He added, “One of the things that this [research] will do is provide extra evidence and support for that.” “It’s more likely that there will be opportunities for deaf interpreters and translators to receive training, employment, and be specifically targeted to do translations and interpretations, rather than hearing professionals.” However, Dr Stone mentioned that ambitions extended beyond these immediate goals. He clarified that increasing opportunities for deaf people to interpret would continue to create possibilities for wider deaf communities. “If a deaf person wants to run to be a politician, they need to know about politics,” he stated. “If they want to be able to work in the theatre, they need to understand the arts.” He added that deaf individuals “want to go to things that happen in the mainstream, as well as things which happen within their own communities.” “Hopefully it means we’ll be able to teach better, hopefully it means we’ll be able to influence policy at a national or maybe international level,” Dr Stone expressed. The project is scheduled to commence in February, at which point research assistants—who are both deaf and interpreters—will be recruited. “I think it should have impact, I think there’ll be interesting findings,” Dr Stone remarked. He concluded, “Maybe not change the world, but definitely will shift the world a little bit.”