ASLIA Vic and Able Australia conducted their first Deafblind Interpreting workshop on Saturday the 15th of September. The workshop was held at the Able Australia premises in Camberwell and was facilitated by Carla Anderson and Dennis Witcombe.

The program began with a Deafblind/Blind simulated world where participants were given the opportunity to experience activities from a Deafblind perspective. Activities included; navigating a newspaper and answering questions relating to the articles, communicating with other participants, creative activities, sewing and trying to work out what herbs and spices were in the bag. Each activity required enormous concentration and highlighted how tiring it is to complete tasks we might take for granted.

Carla and Dennis role played inappropriate interpreting and guiding practices. This role play created an opportunity for participants to observe bad practice and created much discussion amongst the group. Some examples included; the interpreter not providing any visual information to the client when entering the room, physically controlling the client and disempowering the client with limited information during the communication process.

The different communication styles were explained to the group; Tactile, Tracking, Visual Frame and Deafblind fingerspelling. Participants were given the opportunity to practice these communication styles in an interpreting context.

Heather Lawson, Paula Broome and Susan Bakrnchev spoke about their personal experience of deaf blindness and how it has impacted on their lives over the years. Each person discussed their preferred communication style and provided an insight into what constitutes good Deafblind interpreter practice.

The afternoon session involved a mock board meeting whose participants included; Deafblind, Deaf and hearing participants. The group had to think about and put into place full communication access for all participants. This involved a platform interpreter (one who was also working in a visual frame capacity) a Deaf relay interpreter, and an interpreter working with a client whose preferred method is tracking. Placement of interpreting tables was also a consideration that had to be taken into account in the general configuration of the room.

This was a particularly challenging and thought provoking workshop, hopefully the first of many more to follow. A special thanks to Heather, Susan and Paula for sharing their knowledge and experience.