Irma Sluis

Sluis was the first sign interpreter to be seen at press conferences of the Dutch government in March 2020. At the time, she was the one who was used as a sign language interpreter of all the press conferences of the Rutte III cabinet about the measures to combat the spread of the Covid-19 virus during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands. The repeated occurrence of a sign language interpreter during these press conferences led to more attention and understanding for the rights and interests of the deaf people community in the Netherlands.

On 12 March 2020, Sluis appeared as interpreter at a government press conference on the COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands, which was broadcast live on Dutch national television, and watched by millions. This was the first time the Dutch government ever used a sign language interpreter at a press conference. In March 2020, there were approximately 1.5 million deaf and hearing impaired people in the Netherlands. This community had already been lobbying for some time for the use of an interpreter at press conferences in times of crisis, primarily because important information during the Utrecht tram shooting in 2019 was not or poorly accessible to the deaf and hearing impaired. Only a few days earlier, on 10 March 2020, deaf activist Machiel Ouwerkerk expressed his discontent at the lack of interpreters by holding up a protest sign behind NOS Journaal reporter Joris van Poppel during a live broadcast, which read (in Dutch) "Where is the sign language reporter during crisis situations?". This protest action was received positively by many, and the next day an interview with Ouwerkerk was published in the newspaper Algemeen Dagblad in which he again explained the necessity of having an interpreter in live television broadcasts during crisis situations. The Dutch public broadcasting organization NPO responded, saying that they were working on a solution. The following day, 12 March, NOS used Sluis as interpreter for the first time, interpreting that day's press conference. That same day, NOS announced that for the time being—at the very least for the duration of the coronavirus pandemic—they would also use an interpreter during the evening news broadcasts of the NOS Journaal. The frequent appearances of Sluis as sign language interpreter during these press conferences directly led to more awareness among the general Dutch public for the issues that the deaf and hearing impaired community in the Netherlands deals with.

At the press conference on 15 March 2020, Sluis interpreted the Dutch word for panic buying, "hamsteren" (which has its etymological origins in the hoarding behavior associated with hamsters), for the first time when Minister for Medical Care Bruno Bruins said: "Again, I urge everyone to stop panic buying; it's not necessary, there's enough for everybody, but it's in fact the panic buying itself which is causing problems for supermarkets". The sign used by Sluis to interpret the word "hamsteren", reminiscent of the movements of the actual animal, was the cause of much hilarity, and the video clip of the event quickly became very popular on social media in the Netherlands. Later, NOS dedicated a separate news item to the meme.

On 19 May 2020, she was replaced by another interpreter at a press conference for the first time. Sluis only interpreted the initial briefing; she was replaced during the press question and answer session. NOS indicated that interpreting an entire meeting was sometimes too demanding for one person alone.

In 2001, Sluis started working as a professional interpreter, and from 2005 onwards she has worked for the NOS, the main Dutch public television broadcaster. For years, she interpreted the morning news broadcasts of the NOS Journaal on the NPO 2 channel. On 3 October 2016, the Dutch Labour Party and the Christian Union party proposed legislation to recognize Dutch sign language as an official language; Carla Dik-Faber, Member of Parliament in the Dutch House of Representatives, was interviewed on the radio show De Ochtend regarding this law proposal, while Sluis acted as interpreter—a first for the show. In 2019, Sluis appeared in the educational children's television series Het Klokhuis, in an episode called "Gebaren" ("Signs"). In the episode, she acted in a Wild West-themed sketch, in which she interpreted the last words of a cowboy about to be hanged.

Irma Sluis (born in 1971 in The Hague) is a Dutch sign language interpreter. She is interpreter in Dutch sign language (NGT) and international sign language (Gestuno) and published about the job of sign language interpreter in the Netherlands. Since 2005 she works with the Dutch broadcasting organisation NOS where she interprets the morning news.

Sluis was born in 1971 in The Hague. None of her direct family members are deaf, and therefore Dutch sign language is not her native language. She studied to become a sign language interpreter at the Instituut voor Gebaren, Taal & Dovenstudies in Utrecht, an institute for higher vocational education that was founded in 1997, the same year when Sluis started her studies. In 2001, Sluis was one of the first students at the institute to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts. In 2011, she graduated from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh with a Master of Arts in Sign Language Interpreting. She is able to interpret between Dutch, English, Dutch sign language, and International Sign (Gestuno). Sluis has experience working as an interpreter in the Netherlands and international settings at conferences, academic and higher education, linguistics, and (live) television broadcasts.