CDI key terms

A Deaf interpreter holding the RID CDI credential, distinct from a general assumption that every Deaf person is certified or qualified for every setting.

Review of the actual languages, goals, access conditions, demands, and professional skills needed before and during an interpreting service.

The combination of language varieties, modalities, gestures, literacy resources, and other meaningful practices a person may use in context.

The participant’s ability to express preferences and make their own decisions within the encounter, supported rather than replaced by interpreting.

Linguistic or discourse information carried through relevant facial, head, or body features, not automatically reducible to extra emotion.

A way of using language in relation to purpose, situation, and social relationships, which can affect how a message is understood.

Reference interpreted through a contextual viewpoint, such as who, where, or when an expression identifies within the actual discourse.

A textual representation used to discuss signed language that may omit spatial, temporal, and nonmanual features of the original event.

Time used to receive, analyze, retain, and produce meaning, balanced with memory and interaction rather than treated as an error by itself.

Maintaining which person, place, object, or idea each expression refers to across a message, preventing unintended mergers or reversals.

An appropriately attributed correction or clarification that restores communication without hiding material uncertainty or inventing content for smoothness.

An arrangement in which a message passes through coordinated language stages, making the quality and clarity of each feed important.

Protection of assignment-related information according to professional and applicable legal obligations, including appropriate limits, records handling, and authorized sharing.

A private or professional interest or relationship that may interfere, or appear to interfere, with responsibilities in the interpreting situation.

The distinction between interpreting and other tasks such as clinical diagnosis, legal advice, evaluation, or deciding a participant’s substantive choice.

Ongoing learning, practice, feedback, and reflection directed toward maintaining and improving competence for the actual work an interpreter undertakes.

A person’s stated workable arrangement for language and sensory access, considered with the setting rather than inferred from a diagnostic label.

Communication accessed through touch using the person’s agreed approach, requiring appropriate competence, consent, positioning, and ongoing feedback.

Relevant information about surroundings, people, and interaction that may support participation when not directly accessible through the person’s sensory channels.

An access strategy some people use with remaining vision and agreed physical contact to help follow signing, not a universal DeafBlind preference.

A planning discussion that establishes relevant roles, language pathways, logistics, correction signals, and other arrangements needed for effective joint work.

A team member contributing to accurate service through agreed monitoring, preparation, feed, and assistance rather than being treated as an inactive observer.

Clear identification of whose message or professional intervention is being conveyed, preventing interpreter process statements from being mistaken for consumer content.

Appropriate transfer of relevant access and message information between professionals, with confidentiality protected and unresolved issues accurately identified.