Translated Deaf Self

A concept coined by Alys Young, Jemina Napier, and Rosemary Oram describing how deaf signers' lifelong experiences of being encountered, represented, and inter-subjectively known by others occur in a translated form. The term captures the ontological consequences of routine mediation by hearing interpreters and written/spoken-language systems: deaf people's identities, biographies, and professional selves are constituted through ongoing translation, not merely affected by it. The concept is influential in sign language and deaf studies because it highlights that sign language technologies do not just translate language — they shape deaf people's sense of self and their recognition by hearing societies.