This guide will assist you with Sign Language Interpreter research and help you find articles and books, and access databases and other resources.

The tabs along the left-hand side of the page will help you navigate between topics.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me, Rachel Helbing. I am the librarian currently supporting the Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders, including the ASLI Program.

If you need an interpreter at UH, fill out the Interpreting/Captioning Request form through the Center for Students with DisABILITIES.

We have information about the career of sign language interpreters. Check out the Occupational Outlook Handbook and look up a field you are interested in. It will give you expected pay, required education and certification, job duties, and job outlook. Take a look at Discover Interpreting to learn about career paths of interpreters.

There are many types of interpreters: educational, health care, mental health, legal, trilingual, Deaf-Blind, video relay, video remote interpreting, international, and community interpreting. In addition, Deaf interpreters often work in the legal and health fields, and with the Deaf-Blind. There are also community, cued speech, and oral interpreters for the Deaf.

In Greater Houston (Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land) there are about 265 active certified interpreters, according to the Board for Evaluation of Interpreters (BEI) Public Interpreter Registry. As a state, Texas has the 2nd highest employment level of interpreters and translators (5,460), while the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex has the 7th highest employment level in this occupation in the country (1,110). Some interpreter agencies in Houston are listed below.

• MasterWord Services
• Visual Language Professionals (VLP)
• Accessible Signs
• Crabtree Interpreting Services
• Communication Axess Ability Group (CAAG)
• Visual Communication Services (VCS)

​You can also find a full list of interpreter services contracted by DHHS across Texas.

Interpreters' pay varies across Texas and across the country. In Greater Houston (Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land) the annual mean wage of interpreters and translators is $53,160. The hourly mean wage is $25.56. Across Texas the annual mean wage is $58,650, while the hourly mean wage ranges from $15-$35, depending on the area. Greater Austin (Austin-Round Rock) is the 3rd top paying metropolitan area for interpreters and translators, with an annual mean wage of $71,960 and a hourly mean wage of $34.60. 

For more information about interpreters' pay and demographics, check the most recent Occupational Employment Statistics from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics.

Also available is the Interpreting Practitioner Needs Assessment of 2012 Final Report.