Stockholm university
Institute for Interpreting and Translation Studies

Higher sem. TÖI. R. Skinner: Video-mediated sign language interpreting in frontline police services

Seminar

Date: Thursday 4 December 2025

Time: 13.00 – 14.30

Location: Room D600

Higher seminar in Translation Studies. Video-mediated sign language interpreting in frontline police services. Dr. Robert Skinner, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Skottland. The seminar will be held in English and interpreted into Swedish sign language via Zoom.

To the Zoominar

This presentation details a PhD investigation into the implementation of Video Relay Service (VRS) and Video Remote Interpreting (VRI) for deaf British Sign Language (BSL) users interacting with Police Scotland. The research focuses on two critical contexts: non-emergency contact (via the 101VRS service) and custody settings.

Initially, the study employed interactive sociolinguistic frameworks, specifically Positioning Theory, to critically analyse how interpreters and police officers collaboratively—or at times problematically—worked to facilitate access for deaf individuals. The presentation will share these findings and then explore a pivotal theoretical shift in the research: moving from a micro-level interactional analysis towards an Accommodation Framework.

This conceptual shift redirects the focus onto the systemic barriers embedded within standard police procedures, which are inherently designed for hearing individuals who communicate in English. The presentation argues that significant disparities exist in how responsibility for "equal access" is distributed, often falling disproportionately on interpreters and deaf citizens themselves.

Concluding, the presentation advocates for a move beyond the simple provision of remote interpreting technology. It calls for a holistic reconsideration of the deaf individual's experience and vulnerability within the justice system, urging proactive, systemic reforms to ensure genuinely inclusive and equitable police services.

Robert Skinner

About the Higher seminar in Translation Studies

Theme
Language, Literature and Culture - Theme page
Research subject
Interpreting

Last updated: December 3, 2025

Source: Institute for Interpreting and Translation Studies (TÖI)

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