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The CISLI Training Sub-Committee recently held a very successful and lively ‘Self Care’ workshop. Led by Anthony Claffey, the session focused on posture, the effects of stress and tension on the body, and the importance of self care in the interpreting profession.

There was no time to sit still though, as this was a highly interactive workshop. There were plenty of chances to “get to know your skeleton” and learn breathing techniques to find your inner zen!

Anthony also covered how to warm up before interpreting using techniques that you don’t even need to stand up for, so you can be ready to go no matter where you are!

Check out the photographs and video to get a little taster of how it went…

Thanks to Lisa Harvey, Ciara Grant, Natalia Gavrilova Gryzlova and Aoife Blake for their photography and video skills!

CISLI had a highly successful catch-up with interpreters outside Dublin over the weekend, where interpreters based ‘beyond the Pale’ came together to receive updates on national interpreting affairs, as well as sharing concerns and patterns for local interpreters.

To see a Report about the meeting, please click here.

Several key themes emerged from discussions, including

• the ‘Dublin-centricity’ of many of the bodies driving reform in ISL interpreting, and the resultant need to emphasise the national aspects of current State interpreting policy
• the benefits, as well as the many disadvantages, that remote interpreting provision has brought to the profession, and the need to research same
• difficulties in ensuring Deaf patients are told who their interpreter will be
• instead of just pushing for more and more self-employed interpreters to cluster around the Dublin area, there is a need for a ‘mixed provision’ approach (combining self-employed freelancers, employed and contracted staff interpreters, and remote interpreters) as a key component to successfully deal with issues of interpreting supply and demand

Stay tuned for a full Report on the General Meeting!

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PRESS RELEASE

DEAF CITIZENS UNDER THREAT FROM HURRICANE OPHELIA –
FAILURE TO PROVIDE ACCESSIBLE EMERGENCY INFORMATION

Version in Irish Sign Language can be seen here:

Irish Deaf Society (IDS) and the Council of Irish Sign Language Interpreters (CISLI), on behalf of the Irish Deaf community and interpreters, wish to express deep disappointment and annoyance at the National Emergency Coordinating Group / Met Eireann’s failure to alert Deaf Irish Sign Language (ISL) users of the imminent dangers out of Hurricane Ophelia.Neither organisation has followed the growing international trend of using sign language interpreters when holding a public briefing session. This omission puts their lives and property of Deaf Irish citizens in danger. The incident has left us wondering if the State has any concern for the lives and safety of Deaf Irish citizens at all.

We have seen a number of live streaming videos from various media sources, with visual and verbal announcements which can be seen and heard, but for the vast majority of Deaf ISL users, these announcements are inaccessible. Hence we miss out on vital emergency information, which could end up being harmful to us and our dependents.

Were it not for interpreters who have volunteered to translate some of these safety announcements via social media, the situation may have been even worse. We stress how serious and dissatisfactory this situation is. Given literacy issues within the Deaf community after decades of substandard educational provision for Deaf children, it cannot be assumed that all Deaf ISL users have access to such warnings in English.

The ideal situation is for a public body such as the National Emergency Coordinating Group to follow recent examples of interpreters being used in emergency / disaster briefings in the US and Australia, with interpreters being fully visible on the broadcast throughout (see the attached photos).

Coincidentally, it may be well for such public bodies to heed our advice – with the Recognition for Irish Sign Language Bill coming up for its final stages in the Seanad. Within the Bill, public bodies are reasonably expected to provide such interpretation. We do appreciate the severity of red-status warnings, and so we hope this debacle will be a ‘red flag’ to be learnt from for public bodies in the future.

Contact details:
Eddie Redmond CEO – Irish Deaf Society – 087 2345744
Cormac Leonard, chairperson of CISLI – cisli.ireland@gmail.com 085 1051792

CISLI held an Extraordinary General Meeting on Saturday 23 September. This was to deal with two Motions proposed by the Committee, held over from the AGM in June. We also used it as an opportunity to discuss and adopt the Occupational Health and Safety Policy developed by our sub-Committee.

There was a low turnout and the meeting was not quorate, but the EGM followed IDS procedures in asking those present if they wished to go ahead nonetheless with the meeting.

Both Committee Motions were passed. The Student Representative position has now become the Member Care Liaison, currently filled by Ciara Grant. Changes have been made to our CISLI Constitution to enable us to more flexibly deal with issues and developments around the national statutory registration of sign language interpreters. You can see the new Constitution here.

It was also decided to adopt the Occupational Health and Safety Policy developed by our sub-Committee as a working document, subject to regular review and additions. The most recent version of the Health and Safety policy can be seen here.

CISLI recently had an extremely successful workshop on the ‘tricks of the trade’ of being a self-employed sign language interpreter.

Presenting their own systems and tips were Ray Greene, Ali Stewart, Lisa Dunne and Cormac Leonard, extolling the virtues of colour coding, record keeping, and online packages such as Billings and Brightbook.

Notes from the session will be kept to make available for CISLI members.

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Curious to know what the Irish crew got up to in Toulouse this year? Have a look at our Report from the conference outlining what we learned!

P.S. May contain disturbing images of interpreters dancing… 😛

We have also prepared this short report on the AGM and Conference that may be of interest. Click here to see the Report.

CISLI are proud to announce that they have consulted with Irish professional interpreters via an online survey to find out some of the issues and concerns about health and safety for sign language interpreters.

The survey shows that many interpreters are working regularly under conditions which respondents feel are harmful to health and safety. It also shows that there is a range of interpreting configurations and arrangements considered by interpreters to be best practice in regards to health and safety, with encouraging signs that a greater awareness of health and safety is widely distributed about the profession, but it is however concerning that some interpreters continue to believe that one interpreter, rather than two, is the optimum solution for two- and three-hour assignments.

You can read the full report here.

CISLI are very happy to welcome some new faces to the Committee!

Pauline McMahon, CISLI Treasurer – treasurer@cisli.ie

Leanne Saurin, Chairperson@cisli.ie

Wendy Murray, IDS Representative

Leanne Saurin joins us as Acting Secretary, filling the shoes of Pauline McMahon, who in the meantime has switched roles and rejoined us as Treasurer. Wendy Murray comes to us as one of the representatives of the Irish Deaf Society.

We would also like to take the opportunity to thank Imelda Gibbons for her work as Treasurer over the last three years.

Looking forward to working with you!