THE SCHOOL of Deaf Education and Applied Studies of the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde called for the incorporation of sign language interpreters in news broadcasts to ensure that the Filipino deaf community will have the same access to information like others.

“We wanted to ensure the Filipino deaf community, especially the students, will have access to the same information hearing people do,” John Baliza, SDEAS’ Interpreting Education Program coordinator, said.

“Back then, it was only a rare occurrence where we got to see interpreters on TV. It was only during the COVID-19 pandemic that we started seeing them regularly on news and at different time slots,” he continued.

Benilde SDEAS offers a formal training program to interested individuals.

Its Bachelor in Sign Language Interpretation Program will equip future interpreters with essential skills, especially on how to interpret news more effectively. The program also provides students essential interpreting skills in the field of education, legal and healthcare.

“The interpreters of FSLACT4Covid19 are selected based on their skills and comprehension level since news interpreting is a different arena altogether. We just make sure we stick to best practices that we learned along the way,” Baliza said.