Licence to inform: Norwegian sign language interpreters in a bureaucratic organisation

Abstract

This article discusses how Norwegian sign language interpreters reflect on the discrepancy between (a) being defined professionally by their impartiality on behalf of all participants in an interpreted event, while they (b) work for a service organisation that ultimately defines sign language interpreting services as a measure to “enhance functioning” for deaf and hard of hearing people. Interviews with sign language interpreters show that their institutional affiliation to a large bureaucratic organisation influences how they reflect on their potential scope of action as interpreters. The article suggests that without a conscious and continuous discussion about the tension between being educated and defined as impartial language workers while also working for an organisation with a mandate to assist deaf or hard of hearing people, sign language interpreters may be caught in a process where they struggle to define their profession and are thus reverted to a preprofessional status as deaf peoples’ “helpers.”