Crisis interpreting and Deaf community understanding during the COVID‐19 pandemic: results from a South Korea‐based survey

Abstract

AbstractThis study explores the South Korean Deaf community's response to sign language interpreting during the COVID‐19 (coronavirus disease 2019) health crisis, focusing on individual factors affecting the signers' comprehension. The data were collected from a mobile‐based questionnaire survey conducted among 401 Deaf adults; binary probit modelling was adopted to analyse the data. The major findings are: (i) 59.9 per cent of the respondents understood less than 70 per cent of the interpreting; (ii) males and urban residents tend to understand better; (iii) younger people (less than 50 years) and signers with a Bachelor's degree or higher are likely to have lower comprehension; and (iv) Deaf adults who visited a doctor after the COVID‐19 outbreak tended to have lower comprehension. The findings demonstrate that individual characteristics, including age, impact significantly on the extent to which Deaf individuals understand the sign language interpreting of COVID‐19 information, indicating that steps are needed to achieve a Deaf‐inclusive society during a health disaster.