Article
Interpreting in the Deaf President Now Protest: An Organizational Overview
Sign Language Studies
(2022)
Abstract
In 1988, members of the American deaf community protested
the appointment of a hearing person as the president of Gallaudet
University, the world’s only university for deaf and hard of hearing
students. After a week of protest, the university’s board of trustees
capitulated and bowed to all the protester’s demands. As the protesters
engaged in a variety of demonstrations and other public events,
they were joined by dozens of American Sign Language/English interpreters,
who worked to ensure communication between activists,
journalists, members of the university’s administration, the police,
and others. In this paper, I use a case method approach and analyze
archival and interview data to describe the provision of interpreting
services in the protest. I employ concepts from social movement
studies and contentious politics to contextualize the experiences of
the interpreters. Using archival and interview data, I elucidate patterns
in their experiences and provide a holistic description of their
organization, work, and challenges.
Disciplines
Publication Date
Spring 2022
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1353/sls.2022.0001
Citation Information
Mark Halley. "Interpreting in the Deaf President Now Protest: An Organizational Overview" Sign Language Studies Vol. 22 Iss. 3 (2022) p. 399 - 429 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/mark-halley/17/