Asli Membership Survey Report 2010

Association of Sign Language Interpreters (ASLI) Membership Survey 2010 of 8

Membership Survey

2010

Indian Association of Sign Language Interpreters


Membership Survey

ASLI was founded in 2007 and has experienced a steadily growing membership. It was felt that it was

an appropriate time to conduct a membership survey to find out who the members of ASLI are and

what they require from their membership and the profession.

From February to June 2010 a survey was filled out by the members of ASLI. 49 people completed

the survey. The survey was available in English and Hindi. Some members filled out the survey at the

National Conference in February. For those that could not attend the conference or joined ASLI after

February, the survey was filled out over the telephone or by email. Every effort was made to contact

members who did not have access to the conference or a computer. A small number of people who

filled out the survey were conference attendees and not yet members of ASLI.

The report will follow the sections of the survey and report on the responses of members using

graphics and explanations:

About ASLI Members Of the 49 respondents, 10 were male and 39 female. 31 members, or 63%, stated they had Deaf people in their family. The pie chart below shows the representation of ages of ASLI members:


The figures show a high number of people have Deaf people in their family which is expected in an

emerging profession and that many interpreters are female. This indicates that the majority of

interpreters started interpreting for family and have now started to interpret for other Deaf people

in their community. The pie chart shows a trend towards younger people being involved in

interpreting. This could be due to them having less family commitments or more time with which to

assist others.

Interpreting Work and Experience

Of the member’s responses, 38 were already working and 11 wanted to work as a Sign Language

Interpreter. As the chart below shows the biggest problems faced by Indian Sign Language

Interpreters, in order, are a lack of recognition, a lack of accessible training, a lack of payment for

work and a lack of recognition of Deaf rights. ASLI continues to represent and campaign for its

members on these wider issues that hamper the development of the profession and therefore

access to interpreters for Deaf people.


Questions were asked to identify how many hours members spent interpreting every week, how

many years they had been interpreting for and how many different Deaf people they interpreted for.

The answers are displayed in the pie charts below:

These results show that either people interpret in their spare time for only a few hours per week or

they have a full time job interpreting for an organisation and interpret for over 18 hours per week.


The chart shows that some ASLI members are very experienced with 9 members having over 20

years of work as an interpreter. The experienced members (over 7 years) were over half those that

repsonded to the survey. Of the rest of the members, some had been working for a few years

already. This shows a good spread between newer members, still learning how to interpret and

those that have worked and gained knowledge of the profession. This is a strength of the Association

that will help it to develop in future years.

The members who responded are mostly interpreting for a good variety of Deaf people which

reflects the fact that ASLI has experienced interpreters as part of its membership. For the newer

members, having a wide variety of clients will help to ensure they develop into well-rounded

professionals.

The next question was asked to ascertain in which fields members worked. The results show that

only a few interpret in the arts as it is a new domain. Not many members stated they interpreted in

the religious domain although more stated they interpreted at social events which included some

religious events. Only a few people interpret in television as there is currently only seven minutes

per week of sign language interpreting on television which is the one news programme broadcast on

a Sunday. Only a few stated they had interpreted for video relay services (VRS) as video interpreting

via webcams and the internet is a relatively new service. Most interpreters had worked in education,

health and at both formal and informal meetings. The most surprising results were nine interpreters

stated they worked for the court and 14 for the police. This highlights a need for more access to

training to ensure people have the specialist skills to work in these areas.


Language Proficiency

Of the interpreters surveyed most stated they were proficient in Hindi and Indian Sign Language

(ISL). Some stated they had between an intermediate and advanced use of American Sign Language.

About half had advanced English with the rest having moderate or intermediate levels of English.

Of the other state languages of India there were at least one or two interpreters who stated they

spoke the following languages at advanced or intermediate levels: Punjabi, Marathi, Teluga,

Rajastani, Kannada, Malyalam and Tamil. This confirms the need to introduce other state languages

into interpreter assessments, training programmes and registration so that interpreters may be able

to officially call themselves interpreters in these other languages.


Training

Of the members who responded, 4 had attended a certified course, 8 had attended some training

and 33 had never had access to a training course. In the comments section of the survey, members

stated that courses were not available in their area or based on sign language training when they

were already fluent users of ISL. These courses are only available as a diploma option over three

month periods which excluded members with other commitments.

When asked about different methods of training it was apparent that interpreters wanted different

methods of delivery with different modes available. ASLI has already created a training course to be

delivered in different states to give those already fluent in ISL more access to training. This will be

delivered in the coming months.


Conclusion

The survey has given a valuable insight into the membership of ASLI and the work that ASLI will aim

to undertake in the coming years.

It is heartening to see interpreters of all ages working with Deaf people, showing that ASLI and the

interpreting profession in India have the potential to develop. With younger members working

alongside experienced interpreters the profession can capitalise on skills sharing and build capacity

and knowledge from within.

Although there is a lack of recognition of the work, the rights of Deaf people, pay and accessible

training, members continue to work with Deaf people and are keen to be able to continue to

interpret. ASLI is undertaking campaign work in these areas and will work alongside Deaf people and

interpreters to improve access to interpreting and working conditions for all.

A need has been highlighted to include state languages in assessments, training programmes and

the registration of interpreters to ensure these languages are taken into account and people can

work safely in these languages.

The members already work in a wide variety of domains. In future years it is envisaged that more

interpreters and more training will be required to enable people to work efficiently in certain areas

such as the arts, television, courts and for the police. Most interpreters already work in the areas of

education, health, employment and meetings and require access to training.

The survey will be continued and developed periodically to ensure ASLI develops in line with its

members’ requirements and the access needs of Deaf people in the wider context. The survey will

be available in different languages and to newer members to ensure survey information is up to

date. ASLI has also consulted the Deaf community with regard to its wider campaign work and

continues to work closely with Deaf organisations.

Asli Membership Survey Report 2010

Education

Transcript of Asli Membership Survey Report 2010