Interpreting at TISLR 8, Barcelona 2004

[Adrean Clark]

Just my few cents on this -

I wonder if a portion of the registration could be put aside to cover
costs of interpreters for those less able to afford it?  Or a system
similar to that could be implemented so those most able to afford
interpreters could help with those less able to?

Adrean

On Wednesday, April 16, 2003, at 07:32  PM, Ulrike Zeshan wrote:

> Dear all,
>
> I would like to pick up on another point that Paddy raised only
> briefly,
> that is, the ASL vs BSL vs other sign languages issue:
>
>> For myself - although from UK - I dont have especial demands for BSL
>> to be an official language of the conference, although I agree these
>> [ie asl vs bsl vs etc etc] are all still very tricky issues to decide
>> upon - because once we do so we will make a decision that will affect
>> the entire deaf world for ever, and from which there will be no going
>> back. If we are concerned abt USA colonialism, and consequent damage
>> to
>> other sign languages, then we know that this decision is a tough one.
>> This issue is not my main focus here therefore.
>
> As some of you may be aware, I mostly work with deaf communities in
> developing countries, so this question is very much on my mind. One
> problem
> I had with the Amsterdam document when I first saw it was the effect it
> would have for deaf people in developing countries who will be more and
> more likely to be able to participate in these conferences in the
> future.
> And from our point of view, if you don't mind, the Amsterdam proposal
> effectively means that those deaf people who are already most able to
> pay
> for interpreting get the free service while those who are least able
> to pay
> get nothing (I am leaving aside, for the moment, the valid issue of
> shared
> responsibilities for interpreting). Deaf people from the developing
> countries where I have worked, and, if I am not mistaken, from many
> other
> countries, do NOT understand ASL or BSL, or even International Sign,
> for
> that matter. So what to do? I don't have a ready answer and I agree
> fully
> with Paddy that it is a 'tricky issue' and a 'tough decision'. But I
> would
> be happy it if the needs of deaf people from developing countries
> could be
> considered in any solution that we will come up with in the end. I
> appreciate the current organizers' approach to discuss these things
> very
> early in the planning stage, I think it is the right thing to do! Good
> on
> ya, as we say in Australia ;)
>
> Ulrike
>
>
> ---------------------------------------
> Dr. Ulrike Zeshan
> Research Centre for Linguistic Typology
> Institute for Advanced Study
> La Trobe University
> Victoria 3086, Australia
> ph. +61-3-94796420
> fax +61-3-94673053
> u.zeshan at latrobe.edu.au
> ---------------------------------------
>