This webinar provides a historical overview of the development of the ASL-English interpreter profession and educational programs in the United States.
Traditionally, the Deaf community “raised” its own interpreters organically through the mentoring of its own community members—the original “village.” The rapid growth of other interpreter-raising villages, namely professional interpreter organizations and interpreter education programs in academic institutions has been driven by federal disability civil rights laws. And because of competing needs and values, there continue to be tensions between these villages. If greater harmony and ecological balance are to be obtained, we must do the following: openly acknowledge the multiple tensions that exist; recognize both our successes and failures; and attempt to address the unintended consequences of the availability of interpreter services that were meant to solve incidental and temporary communication and linguistic problems. Harmony and balance can be nurtured through the intentional engagement of Deaf “village elders” and promoting the vision of the ideal permanent communication solution—bilingualism and direct, unmediated communication in ASL. Although this is a case study of interpreter education in the US, it is hoped that this presentation will foster continued international exchanges of ideas to further develop interpreter education globally.
Speaker
Prof. Danny Roush
Eastern Kentucky University
Danny Roush is a Professor of American Sign Language (ASL) and Interpretation and Chair of the Department of ASL and Interpreter Education at Eastern Kentucky University, USA. He earned a PhD in interpretation studies and a MA in linguistics, both from Gallaudet University, the nation’s only ASL & English bilingual university. He is a nationally certified interpreter and ASL teacher. He has been an ASL-English interpreter with over 30 years of professional experience including staff interpreter positions with the U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Early in his career, he served as a Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor for 9 years in Maryland and as a linguist and project manager working on signing avatars for 4 years at a 3D software development firm in Florida. As an interpreter educator with 16 years of classroom experience, he enjoys designing curricula and assessments that support student achievement. He was raised by a culturally-Deaf family and is a native ASL signer (a “CODA”). His research interests include linguistic im/politeness in ASL, conceptual metaphor theory and translation, parallel corpora, and Deaf-centered usability design of language and educational technology. He aims to promote the human rights of Deaf people everywhere through an international exchange of ideas to improve interpreter education. His book, “Event Structure Metaphors through the Body: Translation from English to ASL” was published by John Benjamins in 2018.. In 2021, he and his colleagues released the “Dennis Cokely American Freedom Speeches Parallel Corpus” as open access data.