The Impact Of The Coronavirus Pandemic On Sign Language Interpreters' Economic Conditions And Social Relationships

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic on "changing the nature of work, social relations, economic conditions, and technology use among Arab sign language interpreters". To achieve this purpose; an e- questionnaire was prepared, verifying its validity and reliability, and was applied to (115) sign language interpreters in a number of Arab countries. The results of the study showed a negative impact of the Coronavirus pandemic on changing the nature of work, economic conditions had a high degree, social relations, and the use of technology in remote interpreting to a moderate degree.

The results also indicated that there were no statistically significant differences at the level of significance (α≤0.05) in the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic on changing the nature of work, economic conditions, social relations, and the use of technology in remote interpreting. Depending on the gender variable, the number of years of experience of the sign language interpreter, the scientific qualification of the sign language interpreter, or the variable of the presence of a deaf relative to the interpreter.