1. Accessibility is a necessary condition for the exercise of rights, and sign language (SL) is a human right for the deaf linguistic community.
2. Deaf translators are essential in audiovisual media to ensure quality and authenticity in SL translation and interpretation.
3. The inclusion of SL interpretation on television can increase visibility and sociolinguistic value for the signing community, making audiovisual media a symbolic place of presence and positive valuation for SL.
The article "Deaf translators in audiovisual media: The case of an inclusive co-creation laboratory in Uruguay" by Marcela Tancredi, Leticia Lorier, Yanina Boria, and Florencia Fascioli-Álvarez presents a case study of a university experience that shows how deaf translators can work in audiovisual media. The authors argue that accessibility is a necessary condition for the exercise of rights and that sign language (SL) is essential for the deaf linguistic community to have access to contexts. They suggest that including minorities such as deaf SL users in the traditional place of validation and giving them a more relevant and innovative role in the whole process can make them an essential part of the team of media accessibility professionals.
The article provides a detailed analysis of translation and interpretation processes involving sign languages. It highlights the linguistic and political phenomena affecting the quality of SL translation, including limited standardization and normalization, lack of specialized glossaries, terminological bases, dictionaries, corpora, and limited linguistic research. The authors argue that natural SL users trained in the field should be directly involved in accessibility production between sign languages and oral languages to ensure both the quality of the process and its end result.
While the article provides valuable insights into deaf translators' roles and tasks in audiovisual media, it has some potential biases. For example, it focuses mainly on deaf translators' perspectives without exploring hearing interpreters' views or experiences. Additionally, it does not provide evidence for some claims made regarding the need for natural SL users trained in the field to be directly involved in accessibility production or their greater authenticity in producing SL products.
Moreover, while highlighting challenges faced by deaf translators working with sign languages, such as limited standardization and normalization or lack of specialized tools to support translation processes, it does not explore possible counterarguments or alternative solutions to these challenges.
Overall, while providing valuable insights into deaf translators' roles and tasks in audiovisual media, the article could benefit from exploring alternative perspectives and solutions to the challenges faced by deaf translators. Additionally, it could provide more evidence for some of its claims and explore possible counterarguments or alternative solutions to these challenges.