Since its beginning, the sign language interpreting profession has made moral and justice claims as its raison d’etre. That is, interpreters are there to provide access to deaf people. Interpreters also claim to make decisions that are referred to as empowering the Deaf person. Further, interpreters claim to be allies, and of recent distinction, is the focus on social justice. However, when comparing some of these claims and the ethical content material of the interpreting profession with those of other service-based professions and the philosophies of justice-reasoning, the sign language interpreting profession falls short. It arguably falls short in part due the insufficient ethical constructs used in community interpreting.
This workshop explores the nature of ethical discourse in the field and problematizes the use of tools and devices that are not used in other professional fields. Alternate frameworks based in values are further explored.
Please note: this is not a demand control schema (DC-S) workshop, though it will be alluded to – participants are expected to know the basic constructs proposed by DC-S.
