Philosophy professor Teresa Blankmeyer Burke writes on interpreting

Dr. Teresa Blankmeyer Burke, professor of philosophy and faculty administrator of faculty development, had an article, “Risk and Dignity in Requesting Sign Language Interpreters”, published in Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, a publication of the Johns Hopkins University Press. The article abstract reads as follows: “Requesting accommodations such as signed language interpreters in health-care settings is an activity that can present risk to the deaf patient. By providing space for considerations of risk-taking for particular kinds of experiences that are not universally shared, such as interpreter-mediated experiences, the notion of the dignity of risk can be expanded. The author uses two examples of signed language interpreting in health-care settings to demonstrate how the dignity of risk emerges. This is followed by an analysis of the concept of epistemic injustice as applied to insider knowledge of the deaf community and the potential harms to one’s dignity resulting from this asymmetry of knowledge. The essay concludes with an evaluation of concerns about dignity and risk for deaf individuals.” 

Dr. Burke says that this is one of a series of scholarly articles she is writing on philosophical approaches to sign language interpreting, with the eventual goal of publishing a collection of essays on this topic.