Theresa Barker-Simms was raised in a large Deaf Family and is fourth generation Deaf. She currently lives with her husband who identifies as Non-Status Metis and their daughter, along with 2 dogs in Ontario, Canada.
Theresa started interpreting at a young age for her parents, friends and family. She became involved with Deaf-Blind interpreting as a teenager, and that started the interpreting spark. Becoming a Deaf Interpreter was not something that Theresa thought she could do, as it was not a well-known profession in Canada. Only later in life was she able to meet others who were doing Deaf Interpreting and that inspired her to further her education and take workshops to work towards her goal of becoming an interpreter full-time.
Theresa has lived in various places- in two completely opposite sides of the globe, from Africa to the Northwest Territories in Northern Canada. She is also currently the president for Canadian Association of Sign Language Interpreters (CASLI) formerly AVLIC.
Theresa has taken various trainings in the US, as well as multiple workshops under the IMI seminars. To date, Theresa is currently the only Deaf Interpreter in Canada who has taken the Mental Interpreting Health Training workshop. She is one of 3 other Deaf Interpreters in Ontario that work full-time as a freelance interpreter. She often works in court, legal, mental health, medical, media interpreting and various other settings.
Theresa started taking seminars from BMC in 2018 and that was when the light bulb went off and IMI just made sense! Theresa is always eager to take further workshops under BMC as well as others, most recently, Our Vygotskyan Journey. Theresa has also recently joined the facilitating team here at BMC. She enjoys talking, reading, walks, camping/hikes and being outdoors with her family.
