Interpreting Services
Don't know sign language? Can't hear English? We have qualified
interpreters who can facilitate the communication process.
- Make sure you're being understood
- Professional
- Confidential
Deaf & Hearing Services can provide either oral or sign language interpreters
depending on your needs.
- Qualified Interpreters
- Qualified Interpreters for every day communication events
- Interpreters with special-settings skills
- Interpreters who specialize in legal, medical, etc.
- Oral Interpreters
- Oral Interpreters (especially useful for hard-of-hearing individuals)
Why do
businesses use interpreters?
-
Clear communication and equal
access to information is a right guaranteed by the ADA (Americans with
Disabilities Act).
- English is an extremely difficult language to lip-read.
If you turn your head away from a Deaf or hard-of-hearing person,
they will not be able to see what you say.
To make matters worse, only 30% of English words are visible on your
mouth. This becomes more
complicated by the fact that the few words that do show up on your mouth can
be confused with similar words, i.e. pop, mom, bop, bomb, mob, palm, mop,
pom-pom. Facial hair, accents, minimal or exaggerated mouth movements,
and other factors may also interfere. A
Deaf or hard-of-hearing person, who relies on their eyes, not their ears,
would not be sure what was said.
- American Sign Language (ASL) is not a form of English.
While many Deaf people learn English in school,
since they cannot hear it, their skills vary from individual to
individual. Like speakers of foreign languages, they may understand basic
English, but they may not be fluent.
Here is an example of a note written in ASL.
DEAF ME. ENGLISH WRITE WORD,
UNDERSTAND CLEAR ME NOT. INTERPRETER
ASK FOR ME, PLEASE. INTERPRETER
HAVE NONE, CALL TO DHS. PROVIDE CAN.
323-0757 MY LANGUAGE
BEAUTIFUL, VISUAL; ENGLISH VISUAL NOT.
English translation: I am a Deaf person.
I do not always understand written English well.
I am requesting an interpreter.
If you do not have an interpreter on staff, you can request one from
Deaf & Hearing Services: 323-0757.
My language is a beautiful, visual language; English is not visible.
Confidential
Client information
remains confidential.