ABSTRACT
Professionals are a product of a particular type of organization. Sign language interpreting has been happening for several centuries. However, it is only within the last 50-60 years that sign language interpreters have begun to amass the numbers and power necessary to vie for professional status. Professional identity necessarily changes the dynamics of an occupation and the interaction of its practitioners. Individual sign language interpreters are always part of a larger group of sign language interpreters and the broader group of interpreters of spoken and signed languages. The field of sign language interpreting is a burgeoning profession. In the United States, sign language interpreters have been working for some time to elevate their status from helper to professional with all of the recognition of that status. In the United States the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf has struggled in recent years to maintain its standing as the standard bearer for interpreting.
