Individuals who gain NAATI Auslan/English accreditation are strongly encouraged to become ASLIA members, to take advantage of on-going professional development, support and advice, as well as many other membership benefits. ASLIA membership is also open to other individuals with an interest in sign language interpreting, for example: students of Auslan and/or Auslan/English interpreting, Deaf (Relay) Interpreters, parents of Deaf children, Deaf consumers and organisations. For more information about ASLIA membership, go to the ASLIA website:www.aslia.com.au

Values underlying the ASLIA Code of Ethics and Guidelines for Professional Conduct
1. Professional accountability: Accepting responsibility for professional decisions and actions.
2. Professional competence: Committing to provide quality professional service throughout one's practice.
3. Non-discrimination: Approaching professional service with respect and cultural sensitivity.
4. Integrity in professional relationships: Dealing honestly and fairly with participants and colleagues.
5. Integrity in business practices: Dealing honestly and ethically in all business practices.

Why join your professional association?

ASLIA recognises the importance of being connected to a professional association and as such, membership, among other things, offers the opportunity to be connected and stay abreast of latest developments, be involved in regular social activities and opportunities to network with other practitioners and members of the Deaf community. Other member benefits include access to policies and guidelines on various topics, including OH&S for sign language interpreters, and support when dealing with colleagues, consumers, agencies and service providers.

What’s in it for me?

ASLIA members can also enjoy regular professional development opportunities including online professional development, discounted registration to the ASLIA National Conference, and regular communications. In addition, ASLIA is a member of the World Association of Sign Language Interpreters’ (WASLI). ASLIA is able to share WASLI membership benefits with members all over Australia.

We believe ASLIA membership is a must for all practitioners and adds-value to the everyday working life experience of an Auslan/English interpreter.  Become an ASLIA Member today.

Contributed by ASLIA National.  Visit the ASLIA National Website here

I would like to express my sincere appreciation to the wonderful team at NABS & ASLIA National for choosing my application, providing me with recent sponsorship to attend the 21st ASLIA National Conference in South Australia.

The conference was a fantastic opportunity for me to update my knowledge on recent interpreting and Deafness studies and also that of current interpreting practice and to reflect on my own interpreting practice for the future.
There was also ample opportunity to gather socially to catch up with colleagues and to make some new friends and valuable connections.

It was a great to be able to reflect on the past 21 years of interpreting as a profession and to see the changes that have occurred during that time in a positive light, I’m sure the next 21 years will see many advancements with existing and new technology that will benefit both the interpreting profession and the Deaf communities that we are a part of.

I would again like to thank NABS for their financial support and giving me the opportunity to attend such an important event,   I encourage all interpreters to get involved and attend the next ANC as it is an invaluable experience not to be missed. I look forward to attending the next ANC in Sydney 2013.

Written and Contributed by Michelle Mortimer – NABS Interpreter (Victoria)

NABS is proud to announce that our goTerp App has been awarded the WMB Community Services Initiative of the Year 2012.  Presented on 3 December at the WMB Annual Celebration Evening, this award is indeed significant recognition from Wesley Mission Brisbane. 

While this award may be for the goTerp App our body of work as a team was spoken about in glowing terms by Geoff Batkin (WMB CEO) and by Director Michelle Skinner to all that were present.

This is an exciting achievement for the team at NABS who developed an original concept and design.

The goTerp App enables Interpreters to access current/future job details, previous job details, find directions to appointments and get details of paid invoices.

NABS is proud to provide our Interpreters with this helpful tool and has been overwhelmed by the positive testimonials from Interpreters commenting on the App’s usefulness.

Nicole Maher recently had an enlightening experience while abroad at the 10th Mental Health Interpreter Training (MHIT) course in Montgomery, Alabama. According to Nicole the course surpassed all of her expectations, confirming and challenging her own current practice. The course demonstrated to Nicole the importance of a Multi Disciplinary Team approach when working with Deaf consumers. In particular, the information Nicole discovered aided her to reassess her interpreting in a range of settings, including Mental Health.

She had the opportunity to employ Robyn Dean and Bob Pollard’s ‘Demand Control Schema’, an informative tool to help prepare interpreters for the unknown during assignments. Bob Pollard clearly demonstrated the importance for the interpreter to report all linguistic information present to the medical professional, inclusive of changes in eye gaze, eyebrow raises and all other linguistic information that at times only the interpreter will notice. She was able to utilise this tool and reported on having more confidence and a clearer interpretation whilst decreasing the occurrence of the unknown. This is imperative for the medical professional to make an appropriate mental health diagnosis.

Nicole told us she had barely covered her experience at MHIT as there was simply too much to cover in a few words. However, Nicole says the training in Alabama was invaluable and the hospitality afforded to her as a visitor made the entire experience worthwhile.