Translation and accessibility

Whenever accessibility is addressed within translation studies, it is most often linked to audiovisual translation in its media accessibility varieties, audio description and subtitling for deaf and hard of hearing audiences (or captioning), all of which is connected to persons with disabilities. In this chapter, we hope to move beyond the usual notions of translation for access to sustain the belief that translation happens, in a variety of forms, every time there is mediation between people and the world around them. This is said in the belief that translation and accessibility intertwine in the development of the ideal conditions, that is, achievement spaces, through which each person can overcome existing or perceived barriers, to engage in productive ways in everyday life. By expanding the notion of ‘text’ and ‘translation’ beyond traditional logocentric understandings, in consonance with the growing paradigms of complexity thinking and user-sensitive design, we propose that translation studies expands its realm and engages with other disciplines to capture the full nature of human interactions as unique co-created communicative events.