Sign Language Interpreters in the UK are regulated by the NRCPD. The main, and only for most, professional membership association is ASLI. The differences are clear cut. One regulates: provides a register, deals with complaints and looks at how to become a stronger regulator to ensure that in future the profession will be protected. One supports and develops the profession by providing training, CPD, information and guidance, representation at all levels and strong networks of interpreters so we are all in contact locally and nationally.
The NRPCD could still do some more work on publicising the register. They initiated the Sign Safe campaign this year, trademarking the term along with the yellow registration badge. With the additional hard work of interpreters the message has been getting out to the Deaf community: an NRCPD registered interpreter has a ‘yellow badge’. A registered interpreter is a mark of someone who has been through training and is safe to practice. Someone who turns up at an appointment with no badge is someone who has not yet gone through training or is not committed to providing a certain safeguard for Deaf consumers, or to those bookings interpreters, where users can submit a complaint.
The system may not be perfect but it is still important we have faith in that system and all work towards improving it.
Even interpreters who have been long time opponents of the register have joined up in recent years. We have come to a watershed moment. The NRCPD have made a few unpopular decisions recently causing uproar. This is partly due to the legality of CRB checks. It is apparently safer to ask interpreters to hold their own CRB checks and to ask the consumer to check them. Not easy when not using a reputable agency, not easy for Deaf people trying to book direct. This decision is in part due to the government changes from CRB to DBS checks and the decision that the spoken language interpreters’ register, NRPSI, could not hold details. (NB: NRPSI after representations from professional associations now includes standard CRB/DBS checks and provides details of security clearances in their listings.) All interpreters know how easy it is for them to be in situations where they are left alone with the vulnerable. The government is of the opinion that interpreters will be in the presence of other professionals at all times which is not the reality. An unscrupulous interpreter could very easily do a lot of damage, were they that way inclined, to the Deaf person they are with. The naivety of the government in making these blanket decisions about interpreters is astounding. They clearly have not consulted nor listened.
Just as we have seen over the last 18 months, the continuing solidarity of NRPSI registered interpreters, despite criticisms or government changes, is still as apparent today. They are supporting and publicising their register in order to distinguish trained professionals from those with no interpreting qualifications.
All Sign Language Interpreters seem to want the same thing: regulation, an independent register, more protection of our title and profession; we just cannot agree on how to do it. Perhaps it is easier for us to rally against each other? Perhaps the only time some of us feel we have a voice is when we are arguing with each other? Or perhaps some of us just do not want to work together or know how. Just as we have seen a split in those supporting the register, we have a seen a split in those willing to be part of ASLI.
A few years ago an alternative membership organisation was set up under the guise of disagreeing with compulsory CPD, a move that later saw a u-turn decision usually only seen in government departments. This very cheap organisation, offering no benefits bar insurance and a badge, attracted interpreters by cost who did not value being part of a profession. Whereas for even less than the membership fee, at around £35, interpreters can get insurance from companies such as Hiscox.
Why bother to mention this association when there are bigger things to focus on? One wonders why interpreters would support an organisation such as this and what the motivation is behind the latest move which does not support the interpreting consumer’s need for clarity, undermines the register and is more evidence of a lack of support for the profession: the latest membership badge is yellow.