Translator for deaf people praised

Published 21 Aug 2010 07:00 0 Comments

A BRACKNELL woman has been nominated for a national award for her work with deaf people.

Julie Whitaker, who quickly translates speech into text using specialised typing machines, has been shortlisted for an award from charity Signature, formerly known as CACDP, which campaigns for better communication to enable deaf people to have full access to all areas of public life.

Ms Whitaker has been nominated for the Communication Professional of the Year category for her work as a Speech to Text Reporter (STTR), translating court proceedings and other vital information from speech into almost instantly available text on a screen.

She is a partner at Martin's Heron-based agency STTRs Direct and was nominated by one of the other partners, Lisa Cordaro, who said: "Any problem, Julie's always there to help and she is excellent at the job. She's the best reporter in the country." Ms Whitaker has been working in the field for more than 20 years and is able to translate more than 200 words per minute.

She was also instrumental in the development of the Association of Verbatim Speech to Text Reporters and helped with Signature's consultation on qualifications for STTRs.

Jim Edwards, Signature's chief executive, said: "All of the nominations are truly remarkable and speak volumes for the amazing work happening all over the UK. It will be hard to pick our winners as they all deserve so much credit."

Awards for the winners of the five categories will be presented at a ceremony in London on November 12.

www.signature.org.uk/awards

Tweet

This article appeared in Villager 18 Aug 10

Post a comment

Your Comment:

Registered users log in here

Username or email

Password

If you are registered with us, you can login here. If you are not registered, do so now.
Once logged in you wont have to complete word verification each time you post.

Prefer not to register?

Screen Name *required

Email (not displayed) *required

Usernames must be 4 - 20 characters. Registration only takes a few minutes. Registered users can also take part in competitions and other features of the site.

Word Verification:
Enter the text as shown.

Return to the main index, get more from this section or browse our News archives.

Follow @bracknellnews