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DIVERSITY IN THE INTERPRETING PROFESSION:

How BIPOC and LGBTQ+ Interpreters Have Remained a Minority in the Field

Emmerson Preuss

Department of Interpreting, Western Oregon University

INT 460: Current Issues in Interpreting

Audrey Loudenback

November 29, 2021

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Abstract

American Sign Language Interpreters tend to match the same description: white, middle aged,

hearing and physically abled women. While it’s obvious that more people than that exist, the

number of Deaf people that identify with other minorities aren’t seeing themselves represented by

those meant to represent them in conversation. This paper will discuss the current make-up of the

interpreting profession and the projected levels of representation within the future of the

profession. It will then discuss the social and cultural issues within the profession, professional

groups, and interpersonal relationships that are blocking the advancement of further diversity

within its ranks. This will reveal the depth of the issue for those in the mentioned minorities, as

well as opening a conversation space to begin to address what can be done in order to solve it. The

goal of this paper is not to fix the lacking diversity in the interpreter community, but simply to

make one aware of our current state and its implications for our colleagues.

Keywords: Diversity, ASL Interpreters, Minority Representation, BIPOC, Black, AAPI, Queer,

LGBTQ+, Lesbian, Interpersonal, Professional Relationships, Code of Professional Conduct

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Introduction

Working with the Deaf minority, the interpreter collective should have plenty of experience

and a strong ability to handle interactions with other minorities. This should be the case whether

regarding clients or coworkers, however, it is not the case. Within the interpreter community

especially there are many blocks for the establishment and upward momentum of minority

workers. There is so much focus on the Deaf-hearing binary in our education, cooperation, and

clientele expectations that room for intersectionality or other minorities at all is slim. Practically

every part of one’s identity has the opportunity for other identities to exist. This paper will focus

in on two specific minority identities that have seen increased discussion in recent years. The

BIPOC community has had an especially eventful history in the last few years, resulting in many

of its members raising their voices and bringing to light long-time concerns regarding many

different aspects of their lives. Through an interpreting lens, that relates a lot to difficulties in

interpreter training and a lack of support regarding the continued issues after entering the field.

Another community, the LGBTQ+, has risen in conversation with the increasing number of out

members and their dedication to the acceptance of themselves and their peers. Interpreting issues

for them are especially related to their numbers in the working community and ones stemming

from the changing languages of both English and ASL. The interpreter community does not have

enough experience or personnel regarding the minority groups in their ranks. BIPOC and LGBTQ+

interpreters struggle with contention within their educational, client work, and interpersonal

coworker circles.

Note about personal connections and biases/Personal Background: While I myself am

white, I am also queer and transgender. This has the opportunity for my own biases to affect both

focusses as someone who is detached from the one and possibly too close to the latter.
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Background

One of the most recent studies of interpreter demographics revealed that in the United

Kingdom, interpreter statistics still follow the expected trends they have followed throughout the

career’s history. Most of those measured in the census were born between 1961-1992, identify as

cis and female, are white, straight, either Christian or non-religious, and were introduced to the

Deaf community by being a CODA (Napier et al., 2021). The tables in figures 1 through 3 show

these in more detail. Note especially how low multiple minority identities are in comparison to the

total number in each of the majorities listed previously. This shows a continuation of the trends

seen throughout our history. For example, a Puerto Rico study has the same trends (Rivera, 2017).

There are censuses from individual studies such as those as well as the semi-frequent

measurements of those within the various interpreting organizations that exist. All of them show

that same trend of minorities lacking numbers within the interpreter ranks. Women are a social

minority, but they are the exception. An even smaller gender minority are the identities of trans-

people (trans-men, trans-women, and non-binary are the most well-known). Like most minorities

in the interpreting profession, they have very little representation by the interpreters currently

working in the field.

Figure 1

Figure 2
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Figure 3

These likely stem from the history of interpreting as a profession. Interpreting has only

been officially recognized as a profession for a number of decades. Pre-1964, those who interpreted

for Deaf people were either volunteers or family members (Humphrey and Alcorn, 2007). The

Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID) was established in 1964, but this did not change very

much very quickly. The founders were family members, clergy members, and teachers of the Deaf

– keeping the community as limited as it was before. This was further pushed by the language

originally connected with the understanding of an interpreter’s role in working situations. The first

model was created before 1964: The Helper Model. This described interpreters as someone there

for the purpose of assisting a Deaf person who could not act on their own behalf (Wilcox & Shaffer,

2005). This aligns with historical views of women as house keepers, volunteers, and other various

types of work that places them in a position of serving another. Because the work of interpreters

has existed as far back as the beginning of history, the changes that came in 1964 are still fresh.

While changes have been made in terms of our leadership and working models, the professional

identity is still new and has many areas in which motions need to be made to further growth.

Blocks that Minorities Face

Educational

The beginning of one’s journey to become an interpreter is a vital part to get right in order

to ensure new interpreters are both ready for the field and feel like they are ready and supported as
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newcomers. Teacher demographics are predominantly white (Oyedele, 2015). This has been

shown to have a direct correlation to whether students stick with the program or not. Additionally,

it creates a lack of community from the BIPOC interpreter’s perspective. See also the figure below

for an example of how the makeup of a classroom leads itself to a lack of supportive figures as

well as the lack of peers. Without those similar to you in the educational period of becoming an

interpreter, it is very likely to end up missing the early networking opportunities and the quality

mentoring those who are able to find connections receive.

In the classrooms themselves, there is also a lack of perceived competence when it comes

to what the current curriculum and teachers are able to provide interpreting students with at times

when the curriculum is covering topics regarding the minorities these students belong to. Figures

4 and 5 below show how students feel about this (Oyedele, 2015). When discussing their

experiences with previous researchers, Black students brought up similar issues to one another that

have harmed their education more than helped it. These themes, including “Representation,

Inclusion, Expectation, Educational Framework, Diversity, Competency, Allyship, and

Microaggressions”, are reoccurring in Black and African American interpreters’ education and

experiences (Beal, 2021, p.78). There are limited perceptions that motivate such concerns which

negatively impact the situations many BIPOC people already find themselves in on daily bases.

Figures 4 & 5
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Similar to the many cultural lessons that are missed for BIPOC interactions in the Deaf

community and ASL when using current curriculums, there are grammar issues that are only

starting to be addressed regarding interpretations. In a recent study, a group of interpreters

displayed 11 different techniques to decipher which pronoun to use in an ASL-to-English

interpretation (McDermid et al., 2021). There is no one right answer in ASL interpreting, but out

of these 11 there was a variance in the effectiveness of each one. The interpreters also only used

common pronouns such as “she”, “he” and “they” – some used no pronoun, see the table below in

figure 6 (McDermid et al., 2021). The neopronoun “ze” (one of many) was not seen at all in the

study. This shows more improvement than the almost complete absence of education surrounding

Black language in interpreter instruction (Shambourger, 2015), but still much room for

improvement.

Figure 6

Interpersonal Relationships with Colleagues

Colleague relationships have a very strong effect on one’s social capital and the chances of

an interpreter staying in the field. Social capital refers to the gains one is able to use when they

have a number of colleagues and mentors who are able to assist based in the social connections

that are made (Oyedele, 2015). This is contingent on the ability of an interpreter to make

connections with others. One’s relationships can be especially affected by the psychological

burdens of negative interactions they face. This includes both micro-aggressions/subtle

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interactions and those that are overt. That being said, there seems to be a trend between Black

interpreters facing more of the latter and AAPI facing the former – especially amongst colleagues

(Nakahara, 2016). See the graph in figure 7 below for more context on this (Olopade, 2017).

Figure 7

Both types of harmful interactions have the opportunity to become a point of contention

between co-workers. This can show itself in negative interpreter interactions on assignments, a

lack of interpreters who are willing to work together, or eventually even a decrease in interpreters

as many may choose to quit rather than deal with the struggles of this specific oppression. The

harm may not be intentional, but the lack of diversity can have an effect on colleagues that is seen

in the previous figures 4 and 5. It’s not only increasing the number of co-workers minority

interpreters that would provide access to an increased social capital. Similar to how students need

teachers that have a similar identity, interpreting workers need mentors that share that. Some of

the current negatives could even be better addressed by the psychosocial help that could be

provided from similarly identifying mentors (Oyedele, 2015).

Queer communities face issues mainly dealing with the hard choice of whether or not they

want to be seen in the first place. It is also possible for them to be forced away from the option and

into a different form of stress. As one researcher writes, “Being afforded the option to disclose is

not universal for the LGBTQ community and is only for individuals who are able to pass –
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individuals who are not able to pass…do not always have the option to decide” (Donovan, 2019,

p.22). Disclosing their identity is something LGBTQ+ people face often at work with colleagues

as well as with clients. The latter will be discussed more in depth in the next section.

Consumer Interactions

One of the least controllable dilemmas minority interpreters face during their careers is

their interactions with consumers. Much of this discussion will focus on VRI (Video Relay

Interpreting) settings, as this is the area that has been researched the most. It would do well to

consider how this could be present in other situations. There is no one place oppression is felt.

Figure 8

The queer community has recently had an interpreter study the experience of lesbians

specifically, with a focus on interpreter appearances and their experiences relating to “coming out”

during assignments (Ehrlich, 2020). This is best summarized by figure 8 above. Much of LGBTQ+

history has to do in part with the stigmas attached to said group – both by outsiders and selves.

This can make the process of “coming out” difficult, especially when it is so reoccurring that it

feels as though one is forever going through a “revolving closet door” (Ehrlich, 2020, p.25). There

seems to be a relationship with certain appearances resulting in more lesbians feeling the need to

explain their identity during assignments; this is without verbalizing the topic of gender identity
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that often informs one’s appearance. I would note that the reference is not a match between one

type of look and one gender, but merely an introduction to a much more convoluted conversation.

Multiple people who were questioned in a study focused on queer interpreters in VRI

settings brought up how the necessity to provide consumers with the option to pick male or female

workers brought added stress to their jobs. Such stress was caused by a myriad of things such as

pressure to appear masculine/feminine, not knowing which side to be on as a non-binary

individual, or simply being passed on by consumers looking for an interpreter who sounds like a

“real man” (Donovan, 2019, p.56). A similar occurrence is known to the Black interpreters

working VRI, often being asked by consumers to “switch interpreters” (Olopade, 2017, p.33).

Conclusion

The interpreter community does not have enough experience or personnel regarding the

minority groups in their ranks. BIPOC and LGBTQ+ interpreters struggle within their educational,

client work, and interpersonal coworker circles. The history of interpreting as a profession is short

enough that it is still in its early stages. Throughout the existence of ASL interpreting as a career,

most of the workers have fit a single personal narrative. Properly creating a space for a diverse

people is something the collective still needs to work on achieving. This will influence more

diversity to join the ranks, influencing more educated diversity, influencing more to join ad

infinitum. In order for this to be successful, however, it needs to be thoroughly understood what

problems are currently present in the interpreting field. Education lacks quality coverage of diverse

experiences and language differences in its current curriculum. Not only that, but for BIPOC and

Black interpreting students specifically, the other students and teachers do not provide a sufficient

level of diversity for them to easily form bonds. This negatively affects their social capital both as

budding interpreters trying to get started in the field and as experienced ones later down the line.
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Once an official interpreter, AAPI members of the BIPOC community are faced with

microaggressions, Black people are faced with moments of overt racism, and the LGBTQ+ are

split between those that pass/chose to hide that identity and those who do not. Consumers,

especially noted with VRI environments, add to this stress by using their preconceived notions of

all the above minorities to inform who they keep during a call and who they push aside hoping for

someone “more fitting” to the image they have. Some of these are easier to navigate than others.

Still, each of them has their own effect on the minorities in the interpreting community that keep

the numbers from growing and improving the amount of diversity in the ranks.
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References

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