I am delighted to report that the restrictions to my interpreting practice, due to my career break, are now lifted, having been evaluated and approved by an A1 Assessor. I can't express how delighted I am not to have to keep explaining what that meant.

A huge thanks to everybody who has helped - the Deaf people who have provided me with opportunities and given freely of their time, the hearing people who have also allowed me to film, and the interpreters who have variously provided guidance and advice over the last couple of months. I'm reluctant to name people online, but you know who you are.

These are the limitations to my interpreting work that I must apply until I can find an A1 Assessor to sign me off. From the NRCPD:

We can restrict a regulated communication professional's practice if we need to. This will generally be because the professional is undertaking compulsory skills and knowledge updating to join or rejoin the profession after a period of absence....

While the communication professional is subject to practice restrictions they have to limit the work they accept. They must be certain all the work they accept is safely within their competence range so they do not put themselves, or their clients at risk. On no account must they undertake work of a legal nature, which includes police and court, disciplinary meetings, consents, and contract agreements.

I am delighted to say that I am back on the NRCPD register. Happy Christmas to me! See my entry here, and for the time being (hopefully a month or two) take note of the restrictions - I will be not accepting work in the criminal justice system, mental health settings or social care with legal content. Feel free to consider me for anything, but I will not be accepting assignments that lie outside of my official competence for a while.

That said - I am back! Hooray!

I was forwarded this today:

New Family Court rules - Vulnerable persons: participation in proceedings and giving evidence

These new rules, The Family Procedure (Amendment No.3) Rules 2017, and Practice Direction 3AA, came into effect on Monday, 27 November 2017. They set out a court's duty to consider how a party can participate in the proceedings (other than by way of giving evidence) and how a party or a witness can best give evidence. 

Previously, these matters were pretty much left to the discretion of individual judges and how much effort was made by the lawyers (on both sides) to identify vulnerability and to adapt procedures to enable the person to participate fully and to give their best evidence.

Now, all courts are required to think about these matters, so the lawyers (on both sides) will have to apply their minds to the issues at the earliest stage. The court can then make Participation Directions and adjust things such as the structure and timing of the hearing, the formality of the language to be used, the way in which cross-examination takes place etc. Good news!

The Rules and Practice Direction can be found here 

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2017/1033/made/data.pdf

https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/family/practice_directions/practice-direction-3aa-vulnerable-persons-participation-in-proceedings-and-giving-evidence

The ruling applies to "vulnerable" people, but I think the ruling can be applied to Deaf BSL users in court - see the definitions in paragraph 3A.7. part b) i) - who might not consider themselves, or be considered to be "vulnerable" beyond the requirement for appropriate interpreter support.

Of course it definitely applies to vulnerable Deaf people for whom appropriate interpreter support may be necessary but not sufficient for true access to the proceedings.

I am not a lawyer, but this is definitely one to watch.

I run every Saturday at Parke parkrun in Bovey Tracey. Parkruns are entirely voluntary and so there is no budget for interpreters if they are needed. I am happy to run at Parke, Exeter Riverside, Killerton (Update: or Exmouth) parkruns and interpret the run briefing for free for any Deaf runners if that is needed. 

If you are Deaf and require access to the run briefing at any of these Parkruns, just ask via this contact form. 

Well, there's a lot more to this story in The Herald than the press would have you believe.

Derriford Hospital have been trialling iPads with which non-signing hospital staff and signing patients and their families can communicate using SignLive's video remote interpreting service. It has proven to be problematic in some ways. Internet connectivity across the hospital site appears to be patchy (though I wonder if issuing a powerline extender with each iPad could be a simple workable solution), some patients are not used to or comfortable with tablet technology or remote interpreting for various reasons, and - perhaps most importantly - Deaf patients (and perhaps some interpreters) have become suspicious that the cheaper and more immediate SignLive provision is a way to cut costs, thus removing from the Deaf person the choice to have a live interpreter in the room with them.

Not mentioned in the article is the separate issue that the hospital trust has agreed a contract with an interpreting agency that has become extremely slow to pay the interpreters for work done on their behalf at the hospital. Some interpreters remain unpaid and many interpreters in the area have taken the difficult decision to not accept assignments from that agency because they need to make a living. The hospital trust is unable to make interpreter bookings directly with the interpreters or via other agencies because of their contractual commitment to this particular agency. The consequence of this is that it is very difficult for the trust to use live interpreters, and they are left with just the iPad/SignLive solution, which the end users are unfamiliar with and continues to suffer from snags.

I understand that the hospital trust is looking into that contract in an effort to resolve this failure of interpreter provision.

I think the trust should be commended for embracing video remote interpreting (VRI). The issue of their being locked into a contract with a provider of live interpreting that cannot deliver has become mixed up with the separate issue of VRI. It is important that the use of live interpreters and the use of VRI be considered separately. Yes VRI might be preferentially used by financially constrained public services but are they? I hope that the trust has an open and publicly accessible policy for when they do and do not offer VRI or live interpretation. Historically, when only live interpretation was available, Deaf patients would be highly unlikely to have interpreted access to their care in A&E, at reception, or anywhere a wait of a few days to a few weeks for an interpreter to become available would be inevitable. VRI in principle puts a sign language interpreter into places they have never been, and this is a widening of accessibility, not a narrowing.

There is a net narrowing at present in that hospital because of the problems with their chosen interpreting agency. Hopefully by being open about their interpreting policy and consulting with the local Deaf Community patients will see that VRI provides more access, not less.