Deaf Signers' Narratives on Video Remote Interpreting in Italy: from Challenges to Opportunities through Stakeholders' Collaboration

Within sociocultural and semiotic frameworks, interpreting is conceived as a dynamic and flexible process shaped by contextual elements, such as the online modality. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Video Remote Interpreting (VRI) has rapidly spread, impacting sign language interpreting through both advantages and challenges for interpreters and deaf users. In Italy, Italian Sign Language (LIS) interpreting faces this digital complexity, alongside the need to meet high-quality demands from deaf users, who have increasingly assumed an active role in interpreting. Consequently, research involving deaf community’s perspectives appears essential to improve accessibility. However, data on deaf users’ viewpoints about VRI are still unavailable. This study investigates how six deaf LIS signers perceive VRI across four settings. Adopting a constructivist orientation and data-driven and ethnographic approaches, semi-structured interviews in LIS were Zoom-recorded and translated into written Italian. Data were thematically analysed to generate shared meanings and subjected to a content analysis to count the occurrences of each perception type, discussed setting, theme and macrotheme. This paper presents the results related to three out of six macrothemes generated from the thematic analysis. Results show that participants perceive VRI as an opportunity for greater accessibility but emphasise the need for increased hearing awareness and updated interpreting training. Perceived benefits and obstacles differ across settings, with more technical issues during online conferences and uncomfortable interaction with hearing people in video dialogue interpreting. These findings provide novel insights from deaf narratives, acknowledging deaf users’ centrality in developing high-quality interpreting services. Furthermore, a collaborative approach among stakeholders is proposed to transform challenges into opportunities, thus enhancing online accessibility.