DR. MARTIN A. CRUDO

Martin A. Crudo (he/him) is an Assistant Professor in the American Sign Language & Deaf Studies Program at the College of Education. He holds dual BAs in Deaf Studies and Linguistics from CSU, Northridge, and an MA in Linguistics from Gallaudet University. He earned his PhD in Educational Linguistics from the University of New Mexico, where he was awarded a Fulbright Student Grant for his dissertation research in Italy. Prof. Crudo is also a nationally certified ASL-English interpreter with over 10 years of experience in various settings including education, healthcare, and government.

WHAT'S THE TOPIC OF YOUR PRESENTATION?

Role-space is the dynamic framework through which signed language interpreters navigate their roles in interactions between signers and non-signers (Llewellyn-Jones & Lee, 2014; Lee, 2023). These roles can sometimes extend beyond conventional boundaries, raising questions about how interpreters fulfill their responsibility for ensuring clear communication. This is particularly significant in educational settings. To explore this issue, I will present findings from my dissertation research: An ethnographic case study of Italian Sign Language (LIS) interpreters working in a LIS-Italian Bilingualism Project at an Italian public elementary school. I will conclude by discussing the implications for future research in interpreter education and deaf education within mainstream settings.

WHY IS THIS TOPIC IMPORTANT?

Linguistic and social accessibility for deaf children in K-12 education is a pressing international issue. The prevalence of audism often undermines the autonomy of deaf communities, making the role of signed language interpreters critical in how barriers to access are dismantled or maintained. In mainstream education settings, many deaf children enter school with language deprivation (Glickman, 2007; Hall et al., 2017). Interpreters in these contexts carry a heightened responsibility to support equitable social and linguistic development. However, this cannot fall solely on interpreters. Teachers and administrators must also recognize their critical role in ensuring deaf students’ fundamental rights to language and education are upheld.

HOW DOES THIS WORK FIT WITHIN YOUR BROADER RESEARCH PROGRAM AND/OR WORK AS FACULTY MEMBER?

Over the last decade, I have seen how interpreters impact deaf people's access, and not always for the better. This work contributes to my broader research program by raising the profile of interpreter education, particularly for those who want to work in K-12 settings. My future projects will expand on this research by collecting experiences of interpreters, deaf teachers, and deaf students across Italy and the US. These studies will aid us in understanding how different education systems impact their roles and interactions, ultimately shaping accessibility outcomes.

WHAT DO YOU HOPE THE AUDIENCE WILL TAKE AWAY FROM YOUR PRESENTATION?

Interpreter services are often treated as a universal solution for communication access (De Meulder & Kusters, 2016). While Deaf and hearing signed language interpreters provide communicative access between deaf and hearing people, they are not accessibility incarnate. Through this discussion of role-space and its dynamicity, I hope to inspire reflection on the shared responsibility we all have in dismantling barriers to accessibility, especially in our own classrooms and workplaces.

LINK TO A RECENT ARTICLE, PROJECT, OR OTHER SCHOLARLY-RELATED WORK:

To see my past work in signed language linguistics (Sanjabi et al., 2016) and higher education collaborative student learning (Svhila et al., 2019, 2023), please see my Sac State Scholars page.