Signs of God:
interpreting for the deaf
In order to make our event as accessible as possible, we work with teams of interpreters to ensure that Deaf participants are able to enjoy the programme.
We caught up with Sarah Haynes from Signs of God, who will be providing interpreters for Spring Harvest. Here's a bit of background to the organisation and the
service they provide.
» Read more about what we can provide for our Deaf and Hard of hearing guests
How long has Signs of God existed,
and where did you start from?
"Signs of God was established in 1997 and became a registered charity in 2005.
We began when two Chaplains with the Deaf Community (now two of our members) saw the need for training in British Sign Language (BSL) in Christian settings and decided to set up a short workshop to discuss the issues involved in interpreting church language into BSL.
At the end of the workshop, one of the Deaf participants asked if any more training like this would ever happen, and from a determination that it would continue, Signs of God was born!"
What's your organisation's mission?
"Our objectives are to improve the use of British Sign Language in Christian settings through training and exploration and to ensure that those who use British Sign Language (the Deaf community in the UK) have access to every aspect of the Christian life.We are always striving for Deaf people to receive better access to the Gospel – We are always seeking to improve our skills and always raising our standards as Deaf people become more aware of the depth of teaching and variety of worship they could access through interpreters."
What kind of work are you involved in?
"Since our very small beginnings, we have grown to be a highly respected and very
active organisation. We hold a mailing list of over 1300 people around the UK and beyond, and have a committed tutor team of over 20 members.
We manage a list of interpreters who are available to interpret in Christian settings and make that available on our website, www.signsofgod.org.uk, so anyone organising an event can make sure Deaf people who use BSL can get involved in their event.
We provide sign language interpreting teams for most of the main Christian conferences and events in the UK.
Signs of God sign language interpreting teams for Christian events always include a team leader who is a trained, registered interpreter. We also provide training at all levels for those learning BSL – from beginners, through all levels to interpreters. We run one-day workshops open to all, as well as a week-long biennial Summer School and specific training, including for training for professional interpreters who may need to interpret at weddings, funerals or baptisms."
Do you work with other agencies to
support deaf and hard of hearing people?
Yes, we frequently work with other organisations. Signs of God works in partnership with University of Chester and the Church of England to provide unique
training in the form of a University Certificate in Ministry for Deaf people. The whole course is delivered in BSL by specialist tutors provided by Signs of God.
We worked alongside Christian Deaf Link UK, (now Go! Sign), to produce the Christian Signs resources (www.christiansigns.co.uk) and DVDs, the only BSL resources of their kind.
And, of course, we are delighted to work with Spring Harvest in making this event accessible to Deaf people!
What kind of service will you be providing
at Spring Harvest?
Signs of God interpreting teams will be working at all Spring Harvest
weeks this year. Each team provides access for Deaf people to seminars that the Deaf guests choose, as well as interpreting the main morning and evening sessions in the Big Top, and the
Big Start.
This year, we will also be providing a team of interpreters for Spring Harvest Holidays, enabling Deaf people to spend a week’s holiday in France at the end of June with access to Bible teaching and worship.
We also provide interpreting teams for most of the other major conference events, including New Wine, ECG, The Baptist Assembly, Greenbelt, Grapevine and Faithworks.
How many of you will be coming
to Spring Harvest this year?
In 2010 there will be 4 people in each interpreting team and one team at each site - so 20 in all.
All the team members have a minimum of BSL Level 3 qualifications (this equates to functional fluency in BSL and would take a minimum of 4 years study to achieve) and many are in training or trained as interpreters.
This year we have had filled over a third of our team places with trained, registered interpreters). This isn’t the largest number of interpreters though, in 2008 Spring Harvest ran a BSL Stream with Deaf speakers and we had 8 interpreters in one team, as well as providing teams of 4 for all the other weeks!
