(In)accessibility of the deaf to the television contents through sign language interpreting and SDH in Turkey

Research on Turkish Sign Language has gained momentum since its official recognition as a full-fledged language in 2006, but sign language interpreting still remains as an under-researched field in Turkey. Departing from this lack, the present study aims to present the current situation of media accessibility for the Deaf in Turkey, to find out perceptions and thoughts of Turkish Deaf individuals regarding the options provided for the Deaf community to access the television contents, and to prove the hypothesis that accessibility of the Deaf to the television contents through sign language interpreting and subtitles is still an unresolved issue in Turkey due to various reasons. Considering the fact that sign language is available, though limited, on Turkish televisions since 1993, but no study has been carried out on the subject within the scope of translation and interpreting studies by Turkish scholars so far, this research contributes to the efforts on Turkish Sign Language interpreting by hopefully paving the way for further research to understand the Deaf community, to improve sign language interpreting services and to train more qualified interpreters.