Page 5 - The Medical Interprete
P. 5
Interpreting Profession1.1
SECTION
The Medical
LEARNING Overview
OBJECTIVE 1.1 This section introduces you to the profession of medical interpreting.
It is a young profession in rapid evolution. In many respects, the
After completing this United States is a world leader in this field. By the end of this section
section, you will be able to: you will have a clear understanding of medical interpreting as a
profession, including its history, evolution and current practice. You
Define and discuss the will also explore the different categories of medical interpreters.
medical interpreting
profession.
Learning Content
Communicative autonomy
Controlling our own communication
What is communicative autonomy?
DEFINITION Medical interpreting is part of a larger profession called
Communicative autonomy community interpreting. Community interpreting facilitates
Communicative autonomy
access to community services, including healthcare, education
The capacity of each party in an and human services, for patients and clients who do not speak
encounter to be responsible for the language of service.
and in control of his or her own
communication. The authors of this textbook propose that the primary purpose
Bancroft et al. (2015, p. viii) of community interpreting, including medical interpreting, is to
support communicative autonomy. Let us take a moment to define
and clarify this concept.
Communicative autonomy simply means our capacity to be responsible
for and in control of our own communication. In other words, if
we have communicative autonomy, we understand what is going
on and what is said. As a result, we can make informed decisions.
For many people, communicative autonomy is possible only if
professional interpreters are present. In medical interpreting,
communicative autonomy is essential.
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