Senior researcherHU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht

I’m a deaf researcher working on sign languages, interpreting and language technologies.

I study how interpreters and technology mediate interaction for deaf people, and who gets to decide how that works.

Contact / work with meRead my publications
Portrait of Maartje De Meulder

What I work on

Ongoing

Interpreting as an institution

How interpreting shapes sign languages and deaf people’s lives, and how deaf people shape it in return, instead of assuming it is a given good.

Current focus

Language technologies in deaf interaction

What changes when machines become actors in conversations with deaf people, and how these tools should be governed.

Selected publications

All publications →
2026From interpreter to algorithm? Language ideologies, access labour, and (in)dependency in Deaf-AI interactionsASSETS ’26 · with Angelini, Tran & Spiel2025Speculating Deaf Tech: Reimagining technologies centering deaf peopleCHI ’25 · with Angelini & Spiel · Best Paper Award2025Deaf in AI: AI language technologies and the erosion of linguistic rightsLanguage and Law 12(1) · Open Access2024Systemic biases in sign language AI research: A deaf-led call to reevaluate research agendasLREC-COLING 2024 · with Desai, Hochgesang, Kocab & Lu

Talks, advice and media enquiries

maartje.demeulder@hu.nl