Belén Pérez Senra, University Jaume I, Castellón
When a sign language interpreter enters a courtroom, her function is to ensure that one or more deaf or hard of hearing individuals have effective access to information and communication. In the courtroom, hearing and deaf people, who may be living in the same country and who may share a common culture, use different languages and have different sociological backgrounds. These differences, however, are generally unknown to hearing conversational partners. The resulting imbalance is intensified by two important factors: the information in the courtroom is usually conveyed by audio-visual media to which the deaf community have access difficulties, and the courtroom has its own norms and specific languages which are generally unknown to citizens, both hearing and deaf. In this work, and based on my own professional experience as a court sign-language interpreter in the Valencian Community, I examine the differences between the minorized sign language and the dominant spoken visual-gestural language which are not taken into account by any court agents and the challenges and hindrances that this unawareness poses on communication in judicial settings. I will particularly focus on the power imbalances that have been described for court settings, which are intensified for sign-language users.
Keywords: sign language; interpreting; court settings; judiciary