The Australian Sign Language Interpreters’ and Translators’ Association (ASLITA) hosted its largest Australian National Conference (ANC) recently with more than 300 members, delegates and sponsors from around the country attending.
The conference, from 13 to 15 September 2024, was at the Hilton Adelaide on the traditional lands of the Kaurna people. Organisers said it marked a significant return to coming together face-to-face after ANC was online in 2021 and it was six years since the previous gathering in Brisbane.
“The conference fostered an atmosphere of togetherness, support, and respect,” ANC coordinator Ms Katrina Lancaster-Maggs said. “After six long years, participants came together as a unified group, connected by a shared passion for their work.”
Themed “Unity in diversity: The power of people, purpose and passion,” ANC2024 emphasised the importance of celebrating diversity within the interpreting, translating, and Deaf sectors. The conference aimed to harness collaborative efforts among diverse individuals and organisations to address challenges facing the industry today.
Topics explored included updates from the Department of Home Affairs about a review of the language services industry, insights into Deafblind interpreting, educational settings, a First Nations panels, Auslan transcreation (adapting content from one language to another), and the evolving role of interpreters in the media.
Other sessions included interpreter wellbeing, ethical decision-making, deafblind communication, Deaf Interpreting, lexical and knowledge asymmetries in legal interpreting, and code-switching in religious settings.
Keynote presentations were delivered by Danish Deaf Association project manager and adviser, Ms Stef Linder and Korean interpreter Ms Kounghee Koh.
JW Flynn Oration
Ms Rebecca Ladd from NSW, the ANC 2024 JW Flynn Orator, gave the JW Flynn Oration. Ladd has a background in interpreting, teaching and management and has worked in not-for-profit organisations and within the university sector.
Most of her career has been spent working with the Deaf community and developing potential interpreters, which capitalises on her passion for deafness. She holds an interpreting certification with the National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters (NAATI), the standards organisation for professional standards for translators and interpreters, a Master of Management and a Bachelor of Education.
Mr John W. Flynn was instrumental in getting Deaf Sign Language accepted by Australian government authorities as a community language by assisting NAATI to accept Deaf Sign Language as a community language and to test Sign and Deaf Oral Language. He was also involved in helping to establish interpreter courses at TAFE in Victoria.
Flynn started in 1950 as a trainee welfare officer with the then Adult Deaf and Dumb Society of New South Wales. At NAATI’s request, he went to Canberra to a NAATI executive committee meeting in 1981 and proposed that Deaf Sign Language Interpreting should be part of NAATI’s testing program.
The Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs invited Flynn to occupy a place on the National Authority Board. As was custom with other languages in which NAATI conducted accreditation tests, a National Language Panel was established and Flynn became its first chairman.
In 1984 he joined an advisory committee representing the Victorian Deaf Society and after many meetings, in December 1985, the TAFE Board, Victoria approved the Certificate of Applied Social Science – Interpreter/Deaf Hearing-Impaired Course.
At the Adelaide conference two speed debates and ASLITA’s inaugural annual general meeting also occurred and it was announced that the next ASLITA national conference will be in Victoria in 2026.
Sponsors included conference partner Convo, interpreter partner Deaf Connect, and organisations such as NAATI, Sweeney Interpreting, Anytime Auslan, Expression Australia, Auslan Services, Echo Interpreting, ALSITAQ, VIP, Concentrix, Macquarie University, and PAH Interpreting.
ANC2024 raised more than $4,000 for the Creating Opportunities Fund, supporting initiatives in the interpreting and translating industry across the Oceania/Australasia region.