Deaf Professionals and Designated Interpreters : A New Paradigm

The Fourth Volume in the Studies in Interpretation Series As the result of recent, increased availability of interpreter services, the number of deaf professionals in education, law, medicine, and other fields has grown enormously. This explosion requires a reexamination of issues of confidentiality, ethics, and others related to interpretating for these professionals.Deaf Professionals and Designated Interpreters: A New Paradigmdefines a new model that depends upon strong partnerships between deaf experts and their interpreters. Editors Peter C. Hauser, Karen L. Finch, and Angela B. Hauser have called upon more than a score of widely respected researchers to discuss the new dynamics of interpreting for deaf professionals. Divided into two parts, this volume first delineates Designated Interpreting, in which interpreters team with deaf professionals to advance a shared point of view. Chapters in this section include the linguistics of the partnership (Look-Pause-Nod); the varying attitudes and behavior of deaf professionals and their interpreters; interaction in the work-related social setting to ensure equal participation; interpreting as affected by conversational style and gender factors; academic and educational interpreting for deaf academics; and adjusting company policies with professional interpreter guidelines. Part II, Deaf Professional and Designated Interpreter Partnerships, offers relevant examples of interpreting for deaf professionals in real estate, contemporary art, medicine, business administration, education, mental health, film-making, and information technology. These anecdotal chapters demonstrate the critical complexity of the relationships between professionals and interpreters, a revolutionary transformation that will be appreciated by interpreter preparation programs, interpreters, and their clients alike.

Peter C. Hauser is Assistant Professor in the Department of Research and Teacher Education at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, Rochester, NY.

Karen L. Finch is an instructor in the Department of American Sign Language and Interpreting Education at  the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, Rochester, NY.

Angela B. Hauser is a staff interpreter at the Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY.