Originally written for and published by M&IT.
In an era where inclusivity and accessibility are paramount, the adoption of sign language at events is gaining momentum. Julia Danmeri, CEO & Founder of TranslateAble explores the growing importance of sign language in event planning and the practical steps organisers can take to ensure their events are more inclusive.
The adoption of sign language at events is on the rise, and for good reason. According to the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID), 1 in 5 people in the UK are Deaf or hard of hearing. There are 151,000 BSL users in total, with 25,000 people in the UK using BSL as their main language and the RNID estimates that there will be around 14.2 million adults in the UK with hearing loss by 2035.
As the needs and expectations of event attendees change, and with more corporate companies including inclusivity as a core pillar of their ESG policies, sign language is set to become one of the accessibility event design features that you can expect to stay.
At TranslateAble, we’re getting asked by an increasing number of event professionals about our sign language services and are now providing interpreters around the world, including in Kenya, Slovenia, Spain and of course, the UK. Over my career as an event operations professional, I have hired countless sign language interpreters and thought I understood the process. However, since the launch of my event language agency, I’ve been able to truly understand the potential opportunities sign language brings to events and the pitfalls event managers can fall into without meaning to.
Did you know, for example, that sign language interpreters are in incredibly high demand. Sign language interpreters are passionate professionals who want to ensure that their services are being used by those in need and as such, if there are no deaf people at your event, they may leave after the first 45 minutes. .
The high demand also means you’ll need to book them early – last minute requests can be tricky to accommodate. Working with a language agency can help by taking the sourcing pain away. At TranslateAble, if we don’t have anyone in our network available for your event dates, we work with other language agencies to source an appropriate interpreter on your behalf. Our partnerships enable us to support event organisers in sourcing language services for their meetings and events.
Where you place your sign language interpreter is important. It’s very common for our sign language interpreters to be asked to stand in the corner of the conference room or at the side of the stage so as not to impact the aesthetics of the stage design. This tends to make any Deaf people feel sidelined. An analogy given by one of our team was that it’s like asking for an access ramp to be placed around the back of a building so as not to impact the aesthetics of the front of the building. “Having a BSL interpreter so far away from what is going on can appear tokenistic rather than genuine.”
It’s worth noting that just having sign language in your theatres does not automatically make your event accessible to Deaf people. If inclusivity is important to your event, sign language interpreters are part of inclusivity for sign language users but that doesn’t mean that it is necessarily accessible for the Deaf community. Be sure to look to represent this community in its entirety, amongst your speakers and on your show floor, for example. As a starting point, speak to the interpreter working on your event, and there are some brilliant event accessibility consultants in our industry and if it is a priority for your event, I highly recommend seeking specialist advice before jumping in with your event planning to ensure you meet the expectations of those you are catering for.
And remember, the lack of services for Deaf people at events means that, for the most part, Deaf people will assume that their needs won’t be catered for. If you’re providing additional services with the aim of attracting these attendees, be sure to advertise your event directly to the Deaf community and include details of exactly what services you are providing on your website.
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Like this? Download our free sign language interpreter checklist or contact Julia Danmeri – julia@translateable.com.
