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Ms. Teresa Lynch

Assistant Professor (C.L.C.S.)

 lyncht2@tcd.ie

 

Assistant Professor (Centre for Deaf Studies)


Biography

Teresa is an Assistant Professor (part-time) at the Centre for Deaf Studies where she teaches courses on Irish Sign Language and interpreting. She holds an MSc in Deafhood Studies (University of Bristol), a Diploma in ISL Teaching (TCD) & a Community Management Diploma (NCI). In 2021, despite the Covid pandemic, she lead the first-ever programme that trained over 20 Deaf people to become qualified Deaf interpreters. She served as the chairperson of the National Deaf Women of Ireland. She has served on several other committees: She was the (first female) chairperson of the Irish Deaf Society (1990-2) and was a Director of SLIS - the government-funded Sign Language Interpreting Service. Teresa has presented on Deafhood, Irish Sign Language, issues relating to Deaf women, and interpreting in many domains. Teresa is a practising interpreter, who has also worked with external bodies that hire interpreters/translators (e.g. RTE). She is a member of the Council of Irish Sign Language Interpreters (CISLI) and is a founder member of The Council of Irish Sign Language Teachers (CISLT), established in 2018.

Representations

Details Date
Register of Irish Sign Language Interpreters - Panelist 2020
Director of Sign Language Interpreter Service 2007

Languages

Language Skill Reading Skill Writing Skill Speaking
American Sign Language Fluent Fluent Fluent
Australian Sign Language Medium Basic Basic
British Sign Language Fluent Medium Medium
English Fluent Medium Basic
Irish Sign Language Fluent Fluent Fluent

Memberships

Membership of Professional Institutions, Associations, Societies

Details Date From Date To
Irish Deaf Society (IDS) 1981 Present
National Deaf Women of Ireland (NDWI) 1992 Present
European Network of Sign Language Teachers (ENSLT) 2013 Present
The Council of Irish Sign Language Teachers 2013 Present
The Council of Irish Sign Language Interpreters 2011 Present
European Forum of Sign Language Interpreters (efsli) 2010 2020
Member of ISL Academy 2006 2012
Sign Language Interpreting in Ireland in, editor(s)Stacey Webb, Jemina Napier, and Robert Adam , Sign language translation and interpreting education two decades on, Washington DC, Gallaudet University Press, 2024, [Sarah Sheridan, Teresa Lynch, and Lorraine Leeson], Book Chapter, IN_PRESS  TARA - Full Text
Justisigns: Developing research-based training resources on sign language interpreting in police settings in Europe. in, editor(s)Brunson, Jeremy L. , Teaching legal interpreting, Washington DC, Gallaudet University Press, 2022, [Napier, Jemina; Skinner, Robert; Turner, G. H.;Leeson, Lorraine; Lynch, Teresa; Sheikh, Haaris; Vermeerbergen, Myriam; Salaets, Heidi; Doggen, Carolien; Haug, Tobias; Bucher, B.; Diaz, B.; Berger, M.; Krähenbühl, M. ], Book Chapter, PUBLISHED  URL
Sign Language Interpreting in Ireland in, editor(s)Napier, J., Adam, R., and Webb, S. , International perspectives on sign language interpreter education (2nd Edition), Gallaudet University Press, 2022, [Sheridan, S., Lynch, L. and Leeson, L.], Book Chapter, IN_PRESS
Access to Justice for deaf signers: the Justisigns Project in, editor(s)Goedele A.M. De Clerk eds, , UNCRPD Implementation in Europe - a deaf perspective: Article 9: Access to Information and communication, Brussels,, European Union of the Deaf, 2021, [Leeson, Lorraine; Jemina Napier, Tobias Haug, Tersa Lynch, and Haaris Sheikh], Book Chapter, PUBLISHED
You Have the Right to Remain Signing: A Snapshot of the Irish Justice System and Deaf Signers, 11, Special Issue , (2020), 142 - 173p, Leeson, L., Flynn S., Lynch, T & Sheikh, H, Journal, PUBLISHED  URL
O'Callaghan, R & Lynch, T, It's all about the Team!, The Journal of the Irish Association for Applied Linguistics, Vol. 11, (Special Issue ), 2020, p174 - 194, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  URL
O'Connell, N & Lynch, T, Deaf Interpreters' Perception of Themselves as Professionals in Ireland: A Phenomenological Study, Journal of Interpretation, 28 , (2), 2020, p1 - 22, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  URL
Noel O'Connell and Teresa Lynch, Translating Deaf Culture: An Ethnodrama, Qualitative Journal SAGE Publications, 10.1177/1077800004, (9843945), 2019, p1 - 11, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI  DOI  DOI  DOI  DOI
Lorraine Leeson, Haaris Sheikh, Myriam Vermeerbergen, Jemina Napier, Robert Skinner, Teresa Lynch, Tobias Haug, Heidi Salaets, Graham H. Turner, Future proofing access to justice for deaf sign language users in the European Union: Language and Policy Issues, International Congress of Linguists 20, Cape Town, South Africa, 2-6 July 2018, 2018, Oral Presentation, ACCEPTED
Research with Deaf Sign Language Users: Action Research in Bilingual-Bimodal Legal Contexts in, Jim McKinley and Heath Rose , Doing Research in Applied Linguistics: Realities, Dilemmas and Solutions, London, Routledge, 2017, pp134 - 146, [Lorraine Leeson, Jemina Napier,, Robert Skinner, Teresa Lynch, Lucia Venturi and Haaris Sheikh], Book Chapter, PUBLISHED  URL
  

Page 1 of 2
Lynch, Teresa, Deaf Peoples' Experiences of Working as Professional Interpeters in the Republic of Ireland, University of Bristol , 2015, Thesis, ACCEPTED

  

Awards and Honours

Award Date
European Language Label Award (JUSTISIGNS project consortium) 2017

Research Interests

Description Of Research Interests

Since the late 1980s I have been actively focussed on researching and promoting Irish Sign Language (ISL) now one of Ireland's official languages but a language that has been greatly stigmatised and is still largely misunderstood, misused and underfunded in Irish society. My work has become increasingly research-led since I joined Trinity College and the Centre for Deaf Studies in 2009, much of it located within collaborative projects. My research currently focusses on the following key themes: . Deaf Interpreter professionalism . Sign language interpretation in the justice system (e.g. developing research-based training resources in police settings) . Irish Sign Language development work (resulting in, e.g., development of new signs to meet communication requirements during Covid pandemic; a national gender-based violence signs focus group; ISL information on domestic violence with Women's Aid) . Experiences and needs of Irish Deaf women, Deaf migrants without ISL I am committed to researching and raising awareness of Deaf Interpreters. These are Deaf or hard-of-hearing professionals who possess fluency in ISL and have recognised skills in the interpretation/translation of meaning. Deaf interpreters provide supports that bridge unique cultural or linguistic barriers that have been recognised as existing within the Deaf community. I am a leading expert in the field of Deaf Interpreting. Deaf interpreters often work alongside hearing interpreters to bring additional skills needed to bridge the communication gap between individuals. Deaf interpreters often work interlingually (between two different languages) as well as intralingually with individuals with additional language needs - for example, between different forms or dialects of ISL unfamiliar to most hearing interpreters, such as the variant of ISL used by elderly Deaf women. My research has led recently to the establishment of first ever formal Deaf Interpreter training course in Ireland, one of only a very few such courses in the world.