Reflections from a teacher by Stacey Webb, Assistant Professor in Sign Language Studies It is not every day you get to bring your classroom to the real world. So often we try to bring the real world to the classroom and it just never replicates real life! Recently we listened and practised interpreting a graduation […]
Tag: BSL
Progression 2015: A two-day celebration of Deaf Arts
by Michael Richardson Only ten days into my Ph.D. research programme, exploring the engagement of the Deaf community and the use of British Sign Language (BSL) in theatre, I was fortunate to be able to attend a two day conference in Glasgow celebrating Deaf Arts and the progress made in that arena over the last decade. […]
17th September 2015: A momentous day for the BSL Community
by Graham Turner On a most extraordinary afternoon last week (17th September 2015, a date to be remembered), it seemed that half of Heriot-Watt’s Department of Languages & Intercultural Studies re-located to the Scottish Parliament for a few hours. Why? It was the Stage 3 (final) reading in the chamber of the British Sign Language […]
WASLI 2015 Istanbul: The conference
by Jill Gallacher, Virginia Dugo-Marmalejo and Jude Caldwell We were fortunate to receive funding from the Heriot Watt Alumni fund to attend the World Association of Sign Language Interpreters conference in Istanbul as it was seen as an opportunity that was too great to miss. As interpreting students, we were not sure what to expect, but having […]
Mental health interpreting – considering some of the challenges
By Yvonne Waddell Work in mental health settings is often unique from other settings the community interpreter works in. When we consider that language is the principal investigative and therapeutic tool in psychiatry, (Farooq & Fear 104: 2003) the interpreting process will have a direct impact on the way that therapeutic tool is applied. As […]
As If We Weren't There
by Jonathan Downie Neutrality has often been touted as one of the cornerstones of interpreting ethics. The general view seemed to be that interpreters should be so good that the multilingual event would run as if everyone spoke the same language. In other words, it should be as if we weren’t even there. Now, I have […]
Hearing Loss or Deaf Gain? At the Cabaret of Dangerous Ideas
On Saturday 8th August, Jemina Napier and Noel O’Connell engaged in a heated debate on “Hearing Loss or Deaf Gain?” at the Cabaret of Dangerous Ideas. We’ve asked two members of LINCS, Heather Mole, a PhD student who is part of the BSL team, and Olwyn Alexander, Director of Academic English, to review the show. Heather […]
Passing as deaf or hearing: choosing cross-cultural identities
by Noel O’Connell On 15th June 2015, media reports raised questions about Rachel Dolezal’s background. A scholar of race and African-American culture and daughter of white parents, Dolezal had identified as Black. Stories of black people “passing” as white or white people as black have been a fascination for researchers and historians for many years. Racial […]
The use of technology as a cost-cutting exercise
by Rita McDade (English version) You know how technology changes over time, and the Sign Language Community has seen changes through the use of faxes, text messaging and online video telephony? These are all changes that have had an impact on the Signing community, and it seems that, more recently, there is a growth in […]
On Deafhood Space
by Steve Emery [English version] Last week, I went to Paddy Ladd’s lecture. He was talking about “Deafhood – A Pedagogy”, which was about theories of teaching Deaf children. It was really interesting, but there was one part of his lecture that really got me thinking, when he was talking about “Wounded Space”, which […]