Preparation of Individuals Who Are Visually Impaired for Employment as Spanish Interpreters

This article proposes a solution to the unemployment rate of individuals with visual impairments: training Spanish speakers who are visually impaired to become Spanish interpreters. Interpreting was selected as a viable pathway to employment because it requires the professional to work with the spoken word. It presents fewer accessibility barriers than translating, which requires the professional to work with written documents that may not be in an accessible format (e.g., images, inaccessible file types). The authors believe that with proper advisement and subsequent training, fluent Spanish-speaking students who are visually impaired could find employment in the field of interpretation either in the court system or in the medical field.