Professional Sign Language Interpreters Research Articles

The invisible student in physical education classes: voices from Deaf and hard of hearing students on inclusion

ABSTRACT Students with disabilities have described issues related to participating in activities during physical education (PE) classes with feelings of being excluded. This study investigates the inclusive process of the Deaf or hard of hearing students in school from the specific context of PE class. Qualitative research using semi-structured face to face interviews were utilised with a convenience sample of seven Deaf or Hard of hearing students. All interviews were conducted on a dialogue with assistance of a professional sign language interpreter. The results were analysed through Delucca’s theoretical framework on inclusion. Thematic analysis revealed two major categories, (1) I don’t understand and (2) Feeling invisible. These categories exposed the difficulties of the inclusive PE class environment on Deaf and hard of hearing students. Students expressed difficulties understanding the PE activities and sports proposed during classes. Sign language or other strategies to communicate were not part of teachers support system for instruction, nor did the teachers interact with the Deaf students or their interpreters. All social interactions of the Deaf children were limited to the sign language interpreter. PE classes were recognised by Deaf and hard of hearing students as a place of non-acceptance and indifference.

Access to Effective Communication Aids and Services among American Sign Language Users across North Carolina: Disparities and Strategies to Address Them

ABSTRACT Objective: To examine the extent to which communication aids and services used by American Sign Language (ASL) users and their healthcare providers aligns with preferences, satisfaction, and unmet needs; and to elicit from stakeholders strategies to address disparities. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted of ASL users in North Carolina. Respondents completed an online survey presented in ASL and English (N = 189). McNemar’s tests were used to compare rates of preferred and actual methods of communication. Logistic regression models explored relationships of accessible communication with dissatisfaction and unmet need. Qualitative interviews explored satisfaction with communication and reflections on what works, what does not, and outcomes (N = 54). Results: While 45% of respondents used a professional sign language interpreter, 65% of respondents preferred to do so. Accessible communication was associated with lower odds of dissatisfaction with communication (OR = .19, p < .05). Dissatisfaction with communication was associated with greater odds of unmet need for healthcare (OR = 8.95, p < .05). Interview respondents emphasized their preference for on-site interpreters, explaining how video remote interpreting was subject to technical difficulties while writing back-and-forth led to important gaps in understanding. Conclusions: While ASL users prefer to use professional, on-site sign language interpreters to communicate with providers, most use some other form of communication instead. Findings emphasize the need for policy strategies to facilitate access to high quality, well-functioning professional interpreter services and to have those services delivered on-site to overcome disparities.

Dor e qualidade de vida de profissionais intérpretes de língua brasileira de sinais

OBJETIVO: Avaliar o impacto da dor na percepção da qualidade de vida (QV) de intérpretes da língua brasileira de sinais (libras) atuantes em escolas de ensino fundamental da rede pública municipal de Aparecida de Goiânia, Goiás.MÉTODOS: O estudo contou com uma amostra de 22 profissionais intérpretes de libras. Para avaliar a QV foram utilizados os questionários Medical Outcomes Study 36 - Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) e o World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale Brief Version (Whoqol-Bref) e para a mensuração de dor a Escala Visual Analógica (EVA). O software estatístico SPSS versão 20 foi utilizado para descrição e a correlação entre os escores de cada domínio dos questionários de QV e EVA. A significância estatística adotada foi de p&lt;0,05.RESULTADOS: A média geral do questionário SF-36 foi de 63,88, sendo as médias dos domínios: capacidade funcional (77,72), limitação por aspectos físicos (77,27), dor (58,40), estado geral de saúde (54,27), vitalidade (50,90), aspectos sociais (68,18), limitação por aspectos emocionais (62,12), saúde mental (62,18). A média para dor da EVA foi de 4,64. A média geral do questionário Whoqol-Bref foi de 63,73, sendo as médias dos domínios: físico (65,25), psicológico (68,75), relações sociais (64,76) e meio ambiente (56,11). Na correlação entre a EVA e os domínios do SF-36: EVA e capacidade funcional (-0,410); EVA e limitação por aspectos físicos (-0,212); EVA e dor (-0,721); EVA e estado geral de saúde (- 0,606); EVA e vitalidade (-0,548); EVA e aspectos sociais (-0,402); EVA e limitações por aspectos emocionais (-0,223); EVA e saúde mental (-0,456). Na correlação entre a EVA e os domínios do Whoqol-Bref: EVA e físico (-0,593); EVA e psicológico (-0,358); EVA e relações sociais (-0,531); EVA e meio ambiente (-0,434).CONCLUSÕES: Os profissionais intérpretes de libras não apresentam uma ótima percepção de QV. A remuneração, empregos concomitantes ou extensão da carga horária, e o desgaste físico e mental durante o processo interpretativo contribuíram para uma percepção de QV pouco elevada.

Inclusive Education—A Sustainable Approach?

Inclusive Education—A Sustainable Approach? Markku Jokinen This article is excerpted from Jokinen, M. (2016). Inclusive education—A sustainable approach? In G. A. M. De Clerck & P. V. Paul (Eds.), Sign language, sustainable development, and equal opportunities (pp. 105–117). Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press. Full and Equal Participation Through Learning Life and Social Skills Full participation is one of the general principles in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities (CRPD) for enabling the enjoyment of human rights. This concept cuts across all issues in the Convention, and is a specific obligation of states/parties that have ratified the Convention document. Other general principles relevant to the education of deaf persons are respect for the evolving capacities of children with disabilities and respect for their right to preserve their identities. The latter is related to the linguistic and cultural identity of the deaf community stated in Articles 24(2)(b) and 30(4). Both principles are essential to full enjoyment of human rights by deaf students in educational contexts. According to Article 24, on education, learning life and social development skills facilitates full and equal participation of persons with disabilities. With respect to deaf students, facilitating the learning of a sign language, promoting the linguistic identity of the deaf community, and ensuring that education is delivered in the most appropriate languages are the measures adopted by the ratified states to enable full and equal participation. The states must also take appropriate measures to employ teachers who are qualified, at least in the use of a sign language. These measures reflect culture-sensitive approaches to guiding students in learning skills that match their personalities, needs, and ways to live as deaf persons. This is part of the CRPD's recognition of the diversity of persons with disabilities and that these individuals can and do contribute to human, social, and economic development. Using and learning sign language with and from proficient teachers provides a foundation for balanced personal, academic, and social development. Enabling deaf students to participate fully in all learning processes and respecting their linguistic and cultural identities require that educators and professionals examine possible factors in successful inclusive education based on needs of deaf students. Deaf People: A Linguistic and Cultural Group Article 24 is connected to Article 2 regarding definitions of the language and communication used in the CRPD. It is the first treaty to consider sign languages as equal to spoken languages, and thus recognizes sign languages as languages in their own right. Another important link is to Article 9, on accessibility, where it is stated that states/parties shall take measures to provide professional sign language interpreters. [End Page 70] Article 21, on freedom of expression and opinion and access to information, includes recognizing and promoting the use of sign languages. Article 30, on participation in cultural life, recreation, leisure, and sport, includes the state's obligation to recognize and support the specific cultural and linguistic identity of persons with disabilities, including sign languages and deaf culture. A perspective on deaf people as a linguistic and cultural group is strengthened through these articles (CRPD, n.d.; Kauppinen & Jokinen, 2014). This perspective should be kept in mind when one develops programs for the education of deaf people that strengthen their educational rights. There is a traditional position that only individual rights are recognized in international law, whereas linguistic rights have been perceived as having a more collective nature. For example, the development of legally binding treaties such as the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities has shown a shift toward acceptance in political and legal terms of the linguistic rights (of minorities) to education (de Varennes, cited in Phillipson, 2000). Further in-depth analysis of the minority and human rights status of deaf people from the linguistic and cultural rights perspective in relation to the CRPD and other treaties is needed to gain a better understanding of what the linguistic and cultural rights of deaf students mean in an educational context. The World Federation of the Deaf used the linguistic rights perspective and arguments during negotiations of the...

Legal and Ethical Imperatives for Using Certified Sign Language Interpreters in Health Care Settings: How to "Do No Harm" When "It's (All) Greek" (Sign Language) to You.

Communication obstacles in health care settings adversely impact patient-practitioner interactions by impeding service efficiency, reducing mutual trust and satisfaction, or even endangering health outcomes. When interlocutors are separated by language, interpreters are required. The efficacy of interpreting, however, is constrained not just by interpreters' competence but also by health care providers' facility working with interpreters. Deaf individuals whose preferred form of communication is a signed language often encounter communicative barriers in health care settings. In those environments, signing Deaf people are entitled to equal communicative access via sign language interpreting services according to the Americans with Disabilities Act and Executive Order 13166, the Limited English Proficiency Initiative. Yet, litigation in states across the United States suggests that individual and institutional providers remain uncertain about their legal obligations to provide equal communicative access. This article discusses the legal and ethical imperatives for using professionally certified (vs. ad hoc) sign language interpreters in health care settings. First outlining the legal terrain governing provision of sign language interpreting services, the article then describes different types of "sign language" (e.g., American Sign Language vs. manually coded English) and different forms of "sign language interpreting" (e.g., interpretation vs. transliteration vs. translation; simultaneous vs. consecutive interpreting; individual vs. team interpreting). This is followed by reviews of the formal credentialing process and of specialized forms of sign language interpreting-that is, certified deaf interpreting, trilingual interpreting, and court interpreting. After discussing practical steps for contracting professional sign language interpreters and addressing ethical issues of confidentiality, this article concludes by offering suggestions for working more effectively with Deaf clients via professional sign language interpreters.

Tegnspråktolking, profesjon i diskursiv klem

&#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D; The profession of Sign Language interpreter, caught between discourses &#x0D; This article discusses the profession of Sign Language interpreter in Norway today, and in doing so identifies the discourses that are competing to define the profession.&#x0D; From a sociological perspective, any profession – a term that is taken here as meaning an occupational group that meets some specific criterion – is a social construction. No such criterion is absolute, but must be understood in a temporal and geographical context. A trait common to all the professions in our welfare state is that they are founded on the basis of trust from the society that they exist to serve.&#x0D; This is why it is important for any profession to demarcate itself from other professions, thereby clarifying – both for its own members and, even more so, for the public – what its clients are entitled to expect. What kind of expertise does the profession possess? And regarding professional conduct, what are its members permitted – and not permitted – to do?&#x0D; A key consideration is professional ethics or standards. These are communicated to the public so that members of the public will be aware what they can ask for, and what they are entitled to receive, when booking the services of, for example, an interpreter.&#x0D; In Norway it is Tolkeforbundet, the Association of Sign Language interpreters, which establishes guidelines for the interpreters’ professional conduct. However, both the profession’s ethics and the profession as such are subject to constant change.&#x0D; The aim of my analyses is to investigate the nature of the discourses that are currently engaged in this process. First we need to identify the social actors that are in a position to influence the construction of the profession that is Sign Language Interpreter. Given the way that this special interpreter service is organised, Nav (the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration) is in a powerful position, along with educational institutions and the profession itself.&#x0D; The Norwegian Association of the Deaf (NDF) is also an institution of particular interest here. There would be no Sign Language interpreters, let alone professional Sign Language interpreters, without the political struggle initiated by this association. Today Sign Language is recognised as one of Norway’s official languages. This is a result of the language discourse that has materialized in governmental papers.&#x0D; However, it is not the acceptance of Deaf culture and language that entitles deaf people to use the services of interpreters, but rather the notion of deaf people as ‘handicapped’. Hence these competing discourses of language and handicap, which form part of the social construction of deafness, may also be identified as defining the interpreter. The former discourse (language) emphasizes the languages in use, while the latter (handicap) defines the interpreter as an aspect of the rehabilitation of people whose hearing is impaired.&#x0D; Here I focus on a text recently issued by Nav, in so far as it relates to the interpreter’s role. I analyse the text to identify how this role is articulated within the Nav discourse, particularly in relation to the way the profession defines this role in its code of ethics.&#x0D; I will argue that some of the changes in the interpreter’s role that are suggested in the Nav report are quite radical. Given the institutional power of Nav, this leaves the profession in a dilemma. In which direction will it move, and what will the consequences be?&#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D;

Sign language, translation and rule of law – deaf people's experiences from encounters with the Norwegian criminal justice system

The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was ratified in Norway, June 2013. Nordic countries are generally associated with the promotion of human rights as well as disability rights. The Rule of Law Index from the World Justice Project ranks the Nordic countries among the top nations when it comes to high standards of justice (both civil and criminal justice) and rule of law. However, there are also well-known examples of grave miscarriages of justice in cases where disabled people have been involved. These cases address issues of access to justice and questions barriers to effective communication in criminal justice. Taking the situation of deaf people in Norway as a case, this study asks what barriers deaf people face when reporting a crime, being accused of a crime or being a witness in court. The methodological approach is semi-structured, open-ended interviews with deaf persons, professional sign language interpreters, judges, prosecutors, police officers and lawyers. All the info...

The design of hand gestures for human–computer interaction: Lessons from sign language interpreters

The design and selection of 3D modeled hand gestures for human–computer interaction should follow principles of natural language combined with the need to optimize gesture contrast and recognition. The selection should also consider the discomfort and fatigue associated with distinct hand postures and motions, especially for common commands. Sign language interpreters have extensive and unique experience forming hand gestures and many suffer from hand pain while gesturing. Professional sign language interpreters (N=24) rated discomfort for hand gestures associated with 47 characters and words and 33 hand postures. Clear associations of discomfort with hand postures were identified. In a nominal logistic regression model, high discomfort was associated with gestures requiring a flexed wrist, discordant adjacent fingers, or extended fingers. These and other findings should be considered in the design of hand gestures to optimize the relationship between human cognitive and physical processes and computer gesture recognition systems for human–computer input.

Emergency situations and deaf people in Israel: Communication obstacles and recommendations.

The absence of the ability to hear sounds in deaf people is an obstacle to optimal communication in a predominantly hearing world. Emergency situations harbor sufficient challenge for the hearing person and pose even greater barriers for the deaf and hard of hearing. During disasters and emergency situations, deaf people have great difficulty in obtaining and sharing information, increasing their dependence on others. This article focuses on the experience of deaf people during a period of security threat, when missiles from the Gaza strip were aimed at the civilian population in Southern Israel, in 2009. The aim of this article is to illustrate the complexities that deaf citizens experienced, and describe their coping mechanisms. A qualitative study including 15 heterogeneous-background Deaf participants interviewed by a researcher that belongs to the deaf community using a multiple-method facilitated questionnaire. Data was analyzed using grounded theory methodology principles. Main categories that arose from data analysis were communication problems during emergencies, the pager as a questionable warning device about emergencies (due to timing and content/context issues of its use), and the implications of the location of deaf people at time of emergency. Various channels for conveying information should be examined and created in order to maximize the heterogeneous deaf community's ability to receive vital information during an emergency. Professional sign language interpreters are necessary during emergencies, helping to reduce both dependence on informal sources (such as family members, including minors, friends, neighbors, by-standers) and risk. The development of new technologies may bear potential help for deaf persons during emergencies. Being a socio-linguistic minority, it is recommended to ensure these technologies will be accessible to the whole deaf community.

Biomechanical Comparison of American Sign Language Interpretation and Conversation

Sign language interpreting is an occupation that requires a combination of high physical and cognitive demands. Professional sign language interpreters frequently suffer from work-related musculoskeletal disorders, but the problem does not seem to be as widespread for Deaf people who, similar to interpreters, frequently use a signed language. This study compares the biomechanics of American Sign Language (ASL) interpreting with the biomechanics of ASL used in casual conversation between professional interpreters and Deaf students. Results indicate that interpreters use, on average, 22% larger wrist deviations and 7% higher levels of wrist velocity when they interpret, compared to when they use ASL in conversation. During conversation, no significant differences in wrist kinematics were observed between the Deaf students and interpreters who participated in the conversation. However, the Deaf students tended to sign with larger wrist deviation than the interpreters.

Cognitive Processing Therapy With a Prelingually Deaf Patient Suffering From Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

This case study describes the treatment of a prelingually deaf patient suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) using cognitive processing therapy (CPT). A 42-year-old woman who had experienced a severe accident several years earlier presented with moderate PTSD symptoms. She was treated with CPT by a therapist experienced in working with PTSD patients but not with deaf patients. A sign language interpreter aided treatment. After 20 sessions, the patient chose to end treatment because she felt she had sufficiently profited from it. The case study shows that, with the help of a professional sign language interpreter, a structured cognitive-behavioral treatment such as CPT can be successfully implemented with a deaf patient.

An experimental study on muscle tension reaction induced by voice among sign language interpreters

The purpose of this study is to ascertain the incidence of cervicobrachial muscle tension induced by voice among sign language interpreters (SLIs). The analyzed subjects included 8 professional SLIs (Case group) who complained of pain in the cervicobrachial muscle when listening to others' talking and 8 other people who have not learned sign language (Control group). Matching sexes, ages, and smoking habits of the Case and the Control groups was carried out. Informed consent to participate in the study was obtained from all subjects. While subjects relaxed in a sitting position, surface electromyographies (EMGs) were recorded from the right and left trapezius muscles and biceps brachii muscles. During this time, all subjects had two listening tasks: to listen to lectures in Japanese and to listen to instrumental music. An inquiry about subjective symptoms was conducted just after each task. Root-mean-square (RMS) values per 100 ms in each of the tasks were calculated for analysis of surface EMG. An original criterion of judgment was that the threshold of RMS values was 3.8 microV, and its threshold continued for more than 1 s. The criterion was used and the muscle tension was confirmed. Results showed muscle tension in the trapezius muscles or the biceps brachii muscles among 5 of 8 subjects in the Case group, and in 1 of 8 in the Control group when listening to the lecture. 3 subjects in the Case group and none in the Control group showed muscle tension in the trapezius muscles when listening not to music but to the lecture. The differences between the Case and Control groups in these results were not statistically significant. Confirmed muscle tension in SLIs when listening to a Japanese lecture is probably induced by the Japanese voice. It is necessary to further investigate whether muscle tension is an acquired reaction from sign language interpreting or a pathological reaction. Listening to Japanese voices may contribute to muscular overload in SLIs so that it may be necessary for SLIs to relax their muscles during break times with an absence of Japanese voices.

Assessing Linguistic Diversity in Deaf Criminal Suspects

Consistently providing sign language interpreters to deaf criminal suspects when conducting police interviews has been a problematic area for law enforcement. Successfully implementing the Americans with Disabilities Act requires that the criminal justice system assume not only the responsibility of providing qualified sign language interpreters but also that of working closely with interpreters to assess and accommodate a linguistically diverse population. This study focuses on how legal interpreters identify varying language levels in deaf suspects. This survey of forty-six professional sign language interpreters working in criminal justice settings reviews critical indicators that interpreters use in the assessment process, as well as ob-served barriers to the provision of effective communication within the criminal justice system structure.

Impact of sign language interpreter and therapist moods on deaf recipient mood.

This study questions how the mood and affective reactions of the interpreter and the therapist affect the therapeutic process. Professional sign language interpreters are trained to be impartial conduits who neither add nor subtract from the primary dyadic relationship. This study revealed that despondent interpreter mood caused significant negative mood changes in the deaf participant even when the therapist mood was neutral/cheerful. Practicing psychologists need to consider the susceptibility of deaf clients to the nonverbal mood presentation of sign language interpreters and its implications on the therapeutic alliance.

Impact of sign language interpreter and therapist moods on deaf recipient mood.

This study questions how the mood and affective reactions of the interpreter and the therapist affect the therapeutic process. Professional sign language interpreters are trained to be impartial conduits who neither add nor subtract from the primary dyadic relationship. This study revealed that despondent interpreter mood caused significant negative mood changes in the deaf participant even when the therapist mood was neutral/cheerful. Practicing psychologists need to consider the susceptibility of deaf clients to the nonverbal mood presentation of sign language interpreters and its implications on the therapeutic alliance.

Access to sign language interpreters in the criminal justice system.

Historically, the provision of sign language interpreters to deaf suspects, defendants, and offenders has been a problematic issue in the criminal justice system. Inconsistency in the provision of interpreter services results largely from the ignorance of criminal justice professionals regarding deaf people's communication needs and accommodation options. Through analysis of 22 post-Americans with Disabilities Act cases and a survey of 46 professional sign language interpreters working in criminal justice settings, the present study considered access issues concerning sign language interpreters in law enforcement, courtrooms, and correctional settings. Recommendations to increase the accessibility of interpreting services include providing ongoing awareness training to criminal justice personnel, developing training programs for deaf legal advocates, and continuing access studies.

Deaf women: Informed choice, policy and legislation

The maternity care of deaf women is a subject which has received little attention, either within midwifery research, or within the arena of disability studies. Previous research has highlighted basic difficulties of access and information for such women. Midwives need to be aware of the challenges which can exist in ensuring deaf women can give informed consent, and that their rights and expectations under the Patient's Charter and Disability Discrimination Act are met. Failure of communication could potentially lead to a civil action for negligence. The use of relatives and friends for translation is still a common practice, but a case study illustrates the way in which this can distort even a relatively straightforward communication. Increasingly, the threat of litigation will probably lead to a growth in the availability of professional sign language interpreters, but maternity services may wish to consider the relative merits of different models for accessing these services.

Using Hypnosis to Help Deaf Children Help Themselves: Report of Two Cases

This is a report of deaf children who demonstrated the ability to quickly learn hypnotic skills and apply them effectively to the management of their problems. The children were taught hypnosis through American Sign Language, their preferred mode of communication. As with hypnosis with hearing children, we focused upon induction with fantasy and imaginative involvement, creation in imagination of a metaphor for, or imagery of, the desired outcome, and associated sense of pride (ego-strengthening), positive expectation, and teaching self-hypnosis to emphasize the importance of repeated, daily practice. Case examples presented are an 11-year-old deaf girl who used hypnosis to eliminate multiple warts, and a 9-year-old deaf boy with mild developmental disability whose self-hypnosis skills were applied to the management of myoclonus. In the former, the clinician is also the sign language communicator and in the latter, a professional sign language interpreter and parent are both intimately involved in the communication and hypnosis process.

Biomechanical factors affecting upper extremity cumulative trauma disorders in sign language interpreters.

Symptoms associated with upper extremity cumulative trauma disorders (UECTDs) recently have been reported in professional sign language interpreters. The present investigation is a case control study of potential biomechanical factors that may exacerbate or maintain UECTD-related symptoms in this occupational group. Based on the results of a medical screening, interpreters were classified into two groups: working with pain (n = 16) and working without pain (n = 13). There were no significant differences between the groups on age, gender, years signing, years interpreting, and wrist and forearm endurance and flexibility as measured during an isokinetic strength test of the upper extremities. Subjects were exposed to a standard interpreting task. Groups were compared on measures of repetitiveness of hand/wrist motion, work/rest cycle, postural stress, and smoothness of movement. Heart rate, pain, fatigue, and perceived reduction in extremity flexibility also were measured. The group working with pain demonstrated a distinct pattern of potential biomechanical risk factors previously associated with UECTDs in other occupations. By comparison with the control group, those working with pain exhibited fewer rest breaks, more frequent hand/wrist deviations from neutral, more frequent lateral excursions from an optimal work envelope, and more rapid finger/hand movements while interpreting. Significant group differences on self-report measures of pain, fatigue, and perceived limitation in range of motion also were observed. An analysis of heart-rate response to the interpreting task revealed that both groups demonstrated a modest increase in heart rate to the interpreting task, although interpreters working with pain displayed lower heart rates across all phases of the experimental task.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Biomechanical analysis of upper extremity risk in Sign Langauge Interpreting

Upper extremity cumulative trauma distorders (UECTD) have been identified as an occupational health problem in professional Sign Language Interpreters (SLI). A previous study of UECTD in SLI has indicated significant differences between interpreters working with pain and those working without pain. This earlier research focused on gross measures of hand/wrist movement, work/rest cycles, and deviations from an optimal work envelope. The present paper describes a detailed biomechanical analysis of wrist and forearm activity associated with SLI. This assessment included forearm (flexion and extension) and wrist (flexion/extension and radial/ulnar deviation) measures of movement frequency, counts of individual motion, joint movement velocities and accelerations as well as range of motion. The analyses revealed that the postures required for interpreting result in the signing hand frequently held in a fully pronated position, with the palm facing out. The wrist was most frequently in an ulnar deviation and/or extension while the elbow was flexed more than 90° and held in close to the body with the fingers pointing up. The frequency of motions for the forearm and wrist were observed to be 270 per minute (4.5 Hz), which is equivalent to 13,600 per 50 minute lecture hour. The mean absolute joint movement velocity and acceleration values were relatively high in contrast to industrial jobs with wrist and forearm accelerations between 34,754 degreees/sec(2) and 36,046 degrees/sec(2), respectively. The findings from this biomechanical analysis indicates that SLI can involve highly repetitive, awkward movements with significant accelerations of the hand and wrist. Such job characteristics may predispose interpreters to upper extremity CTD-related disorders.