Levelling the Playing Field with (In)accessible Technologies?

How Technological Revolution has Changed the Working Conditions of Blind Translators

Abstract

With the development of new technologies, the number of assistive devices/technologies at the disposal of persons with visual impairments has steadily grown. It would thus seem that translation professions have become more accessible. However, it seems that there is a growing gap between the competences indispensable for sighted and blind translators. The more technologically advanced the world of translators becomes, the more surplus technologies have to be mastered by the blind. And some of the digital tools which have become a blessing for sighted translators, such as CAT tools, are hardly accessible for the blind. Yet these challenges are not discussed outside the community of blind translators, except for only a handful of papers from a few translation scholars. So, is translation accessible for persons with visual impairments? This question is addressed on the basis of 15 in-depth interviews with blind and low sighted translators from Poland, analysed within the theoretical framework of Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of capitals.