Deaf Interpreter Conference 5
June 22 - 26, 2026
Workshops
NOTICE INTERPRETER ACCENT! “Ack!” DO-DO?
PPO
.15 CEUs
(PPO)
This workshop will start with a 30-minute presentation that discusses Hou & Moges-Riedel, 2023’s “SORRY HARD UNDERSTAND, STRONG ACCENT!” or SHUSA for short. This is a recurring ASL phrase that hearing interpreters say when they encounter speakers with a “strong” accent. While this comment is intended to signal possible difficulty of interpreting the speaker, it also operates as a racial microaggression about linguistic and cultural variation among speakers. How should Deaf Interpreters deal with such microaggressions during team interpreting?
Following the presentation, we will engage with the audience in an open discussion. The audience will be divided in group activities, examining the ethics of communication about interpreting speakers and brainstorming more meaningful strategies for handling interpreting situations that involve unfamiliar accents, especially when they are produced by racialized presenters.
Dr. Lina Hou &
Dr. Rezenet Moges-Riedel
Lina Hou (she/they) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Linguistics at UCSB. She received her Ph.D in Linguistics from The University of Texas at Austin and was a UC President's Postdoctoral Scholar in Communications at the University of California, San Diego. Her research interests encompass the linguistics of signed languages, language socialization and language ideologies, and first language acquisition, and her focus is on the signed languages and signing communities of the US and Mexico.
Rezenet Moges-Riedel, Ed.D, is an Assistant Professor and the Director of the ASL Linguistics and Deaf Cultures (ASLD) program at California State University, Long Beach. Her upcoming publication covers critical race and language theory in Deaf-signing education. Her recently-published article focuses on intersectional experiences and retention of Deaf Faculty of Color, working at postsecondary institutions. Her research interests also encompass in linguistic anthropological issues, such as sign language contact, demissionization, and female masculinity signing styles.