Sign Language Interpreters – ASL Interpreters

A dear friend (actually sibling) takes off in her camper almost every year to travel the back roads and explore the USA. She has been deaf since the age of two. This often brings up questions. The most common? “How does she hear sirens?” or “How would she hear a horn honking?” The answer? Her […]

California Assembly Bill 5 or AB 5 is a state statute that codifies into law a landmark Supreme Court of California case, Dynamex Operations West, Inc. vs. The Superior Court of Los Angeles County, and which holds that most workers are employees, ought to be classified as such, and the burden of proof for classifying individuals as independent contractors belongs to the hiring […]

(excerpts from an article by Sarah Katz – Nov.7, 2019) I’ve always felt like the object of a constant tug of war between the deaf and the hearing communities. “Your whole life, they’ve been trying to take you away from me,” my father says to me, referring to the deaf community. But the deaf community […]

On September 11, 2019, the California State Senate voted to pass gig-worker bill AB5 without an exemption for translators and interpreters. Final vote was 26 to 11 and AB5 has now been signed by California Governor Gavin Newsom. The bill kicks in January 1, 2020. AB5 or “Worker status: employees and independent contractors,” clarifies the definition of […]

    As an agency, we often get requests from those who believe sign language interpreters probably picked up an extra class at a community college, or maybe they have a deaf relative, or thought they were mostly “volunteers”. We really should have a perfect response recorded so we can just hit the play button. […]

An Interpreter’s Balancing Act: Sign language interpreters. What do they do? For those unfamiliar, it may seem pretty simple…similar to the work of foreign language interpreters. However, there are issues particular to this profession that only come to light when one looks deeper. Foreign Language Interpreters are interpreting one spoken language to another. The vast […]

  You may be familiar with the Deaf community in the United States, but what do we know about the Deaf community around the world? Are there different forms of sign language? What about schools and services? Jamie Berke has reported on international deaf communities in countries ranging from Argentina to South Africa. Deaf people […]

  Research indicates how teaching sign language to babies produces positive results even as they enter into their elementary school years. Although little research has been done on baby signing, the research that has been conducted is very positive (Goodwyn & Acredolo, 2000). It has been shown that baby signing can be beneficial for cognitive and emotional […]

    Don’t Sign That!! Recently, after reading a conversation among sign language interpreters, I was reminded of a dramatic episode tucked away in my memory banks. Some memories stick with us long past their expiration date. In a group discussion, an interpreter asked about signing lyrics to rap songs and hip-hop songs that likely […]

Interesting Suggested Terminology from our Canadian Neighbors   The issue What are the “proper” terms and definition to be used in regard to deafness? CAD-ASC’s position The Deaf, the deafened, and the hard of hearing are all very distinct groups. Using the proper terminology shows respect for their differences. deaf: A medical/audiological term referring to […]