I’m excited - I get to go to my first professional conference as an attendee! The organization Deaf and Hard of Hearing in Government is holding its National Training Conference next week, and I found out about just today from one of my deaf clients at my usual workplace. (I’d heard him mention it before, but I didn’t really notice what it was.) Registration closed before the deadline because they were sold out, but my deaf client contacted the organizers to ask if it might be possible for me to attend a single workshop on Monday in exchange for volunteer interpreting services. The organizers said yes, but at the same time my deaf client learned that two deaf employees from our agency (or rather a remote site for our agency) were forced to drop out because of funding issues. So we asked the organizers if I might be able to take one of their slots, and they said yes! I am going to use my company’s annual educational stipend of $300 to pay the conference registration fee (also $300). We aren’t sure yet if I will be able to be considered in a working status for those three days, but if not I will take leave without pay and attend anyway because I think there are some very valuable workshops being offered. And even if I have to take LWOP, I will still volunteer to do a “knowledge transfer” session with the other interpreters in my company.

There are five workshops that are specifically about interpreting: Mentoring: Become Part of the Solution to More Certified Interpreters, Interpreting in the Federal Workplace, Leveraging Interpreters in the Workplace, How can a Deaf Employee, Supervisor, and Interpreter Work Together to Ensure That Effective Communication Takes Place in the Workplace?, and Video Remote Interpreting. There are also a number of other workshops that sound interesting, including Shall a Disaster Strike: Preparedness & Response with Your Deaf, Deaf-Blind and Hard of Hearing Colleagues (which will undoubtedly include some discussion of interpreters), Is It Time to Declare the TTY as Being an Obsolete Technology?, and The Use of Hypnotherapy and Relaxed States with Deaf Clients in Mental Health Settings. (Some of these are at the same time as interpreting workshops, so I’ll miss them.)

I’ve already decided that if interpreting services are required during a period when I’m not attending an interpreting-related workshop, I’ll provide them. I’m not sure if this is something all interpreters would be willing to do - I suspect it’s just my own personal ethics. I have the skill of interpreting, therefore I will interpret when needed. Obviously since I will be a conference attendee I will make sure nobody else is available - I am paying to be there, after all - but if it is a truly desperate situation then I am happy to fill in.