It’s September and the new academic year has started! This year we welcome an incredible 46 more students to the BSL First community, across 5 different interpreter and translator programmes.

This week we started the Deaf Interpreter Development Programme. Our DIDP course is the only course in the UK specifically for deaf people to become qualified interpreters and translators. Students will study American Sign Language, interpreting skills, translation skills and translation theory. They will be eligible for Registered Sign Language Interpreter (RSLI) and Registered Sign Language Translator (RSLT) at the end of the course in three languages (BSL/ASL/English).

The ASLI Census 2021 on the demographics of the signed language interpreting and translation profession revealed that there are only 25 deaf practitioners in the UK (3% of the profession). This cohort of the DIDP course will almost double this figure.

We wish our DIDP students the best of luck on their journey towards a more diverse interpreting profession.