Global Pride: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Interpreting

Abstract

This open-forum article highlights an interview conducted with Colin Allen, a Visiting Lecturer from the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology and Abigail Gorman, an activist and graduate student at Birkbeck College, University of London, in the UK. In this interview, they highlight their experiences while coordinating International Sign interpreters for Global Pride, a virtual international global event that took place in June 2020. This was the first time that Global Pride has provided communication access to the international deaf LGBTIQA+ Community via sign interpreting services. (For the purposes of this article, LGBTQIA+ refers to lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex, queer, and asexual. The plus sign allows for the inclusion of different subsects, such as allies, polyamorous, androgynous, and pansexual.) Providing sign language access across multiple time zones for a 24-hour livestreamed event was a “first” for both Global Pride organizers and the two deaf interpreter coordinators. Their experiences offer interpreters and educators a glimpse in some of the many exciting developments of a world that has had to pivot a number of conferences and events to online platforms amid a global pandemic.