Although this may be the eleventh volume in the series “Studies in Interpretation” published by Gallaudet University Press, this is the fi rst that focuses on the research studying the work of Deaf interpreters. While this is by no means an exhaustive compendium of this topic, it is the fi rst attempt that collates the work done to date and to present to the reader the fi rst volume that seeks to present a discourse that includes: a defi ni tion of a Deaf interpreter, the kind of work Deaf interpreters undertake, the ways in which Deaf interpreters work, the kind of training available for Deaf interpreters in some places around the world, and how Deaf interpreters work with DeafBlind people. It is hoped that this will not be the last such volume. The journey for many Deaf interpreters has not been an easy one. The earliest known record of a Deaf person working as a language broker is from an essay dated 1684 (Carty, Macready, & Sayers, 2009) telling the story of how Matthew Pratt born in Massachusetts in 1628, the Deaf husband of Sarah Pratt, who was born in 1640 wrote a sight “transla tion” of his wife’s responses to a conversation between Sarah and church elders. However, working as a Deaf interpreter has been given little con sideration and only became viewed as a profession in the present era. In many countries Deaf interpreters are not considered an essential compo nent of quality interpreter service provision, and experience issues of low status and lack of professional respect. This volume will hopefully build on some of the early work by MJ Bienvenu and Betty Colonomos (1992), and the seminal publications examining the work of Deaf interpreters by Patrick Boudreault (2005), the work and training issues for Deaf interpreters by Eileen Forestal (2005) who has fortunately agreed to be a contributor to this volume, and the analysis of Deaf interpreters working in the television media by Christopher Stone (2009) who is also one of the contributors as well as an editor of this volume. Robert Adam, Markus Aro, Senan Dunne, Juan Carlos Druetta and Julia af Klintberg who are all Deaf and from different sign language backgrounds discuss their work and experiences as Deaf interpreters, and offer a defi nition of a Deaf interpreter. They also present different settings in which a Deaf interpreter can work, which range from the individual client to an international event, using video technology. Stephanie Sforza, a graduate of the master’s interpreting program at Gallaudet University shares her insight into Deaf interpreters working in deaf-deaf teams based on data collected in her thesis study. She analyses the work done and strategies used in a team while an interpreter is “on” and while an interpreter is “off.” Eileen Forestal examines the processes involved with Deaf interpreters working with the Deaf consumer, the hearing consumer and the hearing interpreter. Based on a qualitative analysis of data, she offers an insight into the thought process and the relationship between the team mem bers. She comes up with a dialogic discourse-based interaction model and offers suggestions for a community-based model of interpreting. Karen Bontempo, Della Goswell, Patricia Levitzke-Gray, Jemina Napier, and Linda Warby examine the journey towards accreditation of Deaf interpreters in Australia where, at the time, training for and accred itation of Deaf interpreters was not available, in spite of Deaf people continuing to have been employed on an ad hoc basis. The Deaf Relay Interpreter Certifi cation Project (DRICP) arose from the need for a stan dardized test for Deaf interpreters and included a discussion of the com petencies and how they would be assessed. Bontempo and her coauthors analyze the project and offer recommendations for future action.
