IW 201: Interview Stephanie Nichols Part 1: How Interpreter Agencies Work and What the Law Says

No one is above the law. Some just try to go below it.

We all have heard of an interpreter agency, but what is it behind the curtains? I speak with Stephanie Nichols a CEO and founder of Sign Language Resource Services (SLRS) from Oklahoma. We find out how such services are provided, paid for, arranged, and some of the detailed difficulties along the way.

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Transcript

IW 201: Interview Stephanie Nichols Part 1: How Interpreter Agencies Work and What the Law Says

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[ROCK INTRO MUSIC STARTS]

00:00:02 Tim

Good morning, good evening, good afternoon. Wherever you are, this is the Interpreter's Workshop podcast. I'm Tim Curry, your host. Here we talk everything sign language interpreting the ins, the outs, the ups, the downs, the sideways of interpreting. If you're a student, a new interpreter, experienced interpreter, this is the place for you. If you want to know more, go to interpretersworkshop.com.

00:00:28 Tim

Let's start talking... interpreting.

[ROCK INTRO MUSIC ENDS]

00:00:34 Tim

And now the quote of the day by songwriter Sonny Curtis of The Crickets and later popularized by The Clash.

00:00:47 Tim

“Breaking rocks in the hot sun, I fought the law and the law won. I needed money 'cause I had none, I fought the law and the law won.”

00:00:59 Tim

That's my paraphrase of the lyrics by The Clash.

00:01:03 Tim

And while they were singing about fighting against the system and being a punk band, the lyrics show that there are consequences for breaking the law, for breaking what's right.

00:01:16 Tim

And that leads us into today's episode.

00:01:19 Tim

We're talking to an interpreter agency in the US and how it works, how it started, and how we can learn about how much they actually do, and perhaps learn a few lessons about what we should do as well, the perspectives we should have about our profession.

00:01:40 Tim

So, let's meet our guests today and get into the topic of interpreter agencies.

00:01:46 Tim

Let's get started.

[SHORT TRANSITION MUSIC]

00:01:51 Tim

My guest today is Stephanie Nichols from the USA or more specifically from the state of Oklahoma.

00:01:58 Tim

She has a master's degree in business and a bachelor's degree in, of course, interpreting.

00:02:06 Tim

She has been interpreting for, let's say, over 30 years.

00:02:11 Tim

But during that time, she has been the CEO and president of Sign Language Resource Services, or SLRS.

00:02:20 Tim

And we're here to talk about that, sign language interpreter agencies.

00:02:26 Tim

What is it all about?

00:02:27 Tim

Well, we have an expert here today.

00:02:30 Tim

Welcome, Stephanie.

00:02:31 Stephanie

Thank you.

00:02:33 Stephanie

I appreciate you having me.

00:02:34 Tim

We have known each other now for, [coughs] yes, over 20.

00:02:39 Stephanie

30. [chuckles]

00:02:40 Tim

A long time. [chuckles]

00:02:42 Tim

And we're finally getting back together to have this conversation because I realized sign language interpreter agencies around the world are different.

00:02:53 Tim

There are different systems of how to book an interpreter, how to pay an interpreter, how to contact an interpreter.

00:03:01 Tim

All of that is different.

00:03:03 Tim

So, I thought, why not delve into how it is done in Oklahoma, or perhaps even the entire US, very similar throughout.

00:03:12 Tim

But first, let's get a little bit of background of you.

00:03:16 Tim

So first, you're an ASL English interpreter but how did you become an ASL English interpreter?

00:03:23 Tim

What was the push, the reason to become an interpreter for you?

00:03:28 Stephanie

I was taking my, I was just getting my basics at a community college, and I was gonna move into, apply to become a veterinarian.

00:03:40 Tim

A veterinarian?

00:03:42 Stephanie

Uh-huh.

00:03:42 Tim

Okay.

00:03:43 Stephanie

That was my plan.

00:03:45 Stephanie

And frankly, God took me to-- there was an interpreter training program at that community college.

00:03:52 Stephanie

And so, I started taking classes and loved it.

00:03:56 Stephanie

I'm an extremely visual person, so ASL came easy to me.

00:04:00 Stephanie

And I graduated with the associates there.

00:04:04 Stephanie

I ended up marrying a Deaf man.

00:04:06 Stephanie

And we're now divorced, but I had a private practice for over seven years, during that time is when we got a divorce.

00:04:14 Stephanie

And then I started, SLRS was my private practice.

00:04:18 Stephanie

I started the agency as basically me finding myself a partner when I needed a team.

00:04:25 Stephanie

And then in 2000, I incorporated, changed the scope to become an agency, applied for a statewide bid on a statewide contract, won it, and…

00:04:39 Stephanie

That's how I got started.

00:04:41 Stephanie

I interpreted the first few several years, interpreted and worked in the office.

00:04:47 Stephanie

I don't do much interpreting anymore – at church and stuff like that, but not really for interpreting assignments.

00:04:54 Stephanie

Yeah, that's how I got started.

00:04:56 Tim

So initially it was not your passion to become a sign language interpreter.

00:05:02 Tim

It just happened to fall into your lap as you were going to college.

00:05:05 Tim

That's interesting, huh.

00:05:06 Stephanie

Yeah.

00:05:08 Stephanie

I saw an interpreter at a conference when I was young.

00:05:13 Stephanie

I saw Deaf people when I was six.

00:05:15 Stephanie

I remember that really distinctly.

00:05:17 Stephanie

And I remember thinking, oh, that's so cool.

00:05:19 Stephanie

And then I saw an interpreter interpreting at a conference, and I went out and talked to her.

00:05:24 Stephanie

So, I knew that the college that I was going to had a program, but I didn't know much about it.

00:05:29 Stephanie

And so, I talked to her about it, and she's the one that mentioned it.

00:05:32 Stephanie

And that's when I started looking into it.

00:05:35 Stephanie

So really, my first semester, of getting basics, I added an ITP class and then completely switched gears just after that first semester.

00:05:45 Tim

Yeah, yeah.

00:05:47 Tim

That happened to a lot of us back in that era because it wasn't well known.

00:05:52 Tim

And I think in a lot of countries, it's still not well known as a profession.

00:05:57 Tim

I just wonder how that's changed today.

00:06:00 Tim

Do you know if there are more people who go into it because they know the profession?

00:06:06 Stephanie

Yeah, I would say so.

00:06:08 Stephanie

When we first started, just like you're saying, our customers, our hearing customers, it was tough for them to look at it as a profession.

00:06:18 Stephanie

We would often hear, “You charge how much to help these people?”

00:06:22 Stephanie

“Why wouldn't you just want to come and help these people?”

00:06:25 Stephanie

We got a lot of those kinds of statements.

00:06:28 Stephanie

Now it's commonly known as a profession, at least here, I think in most places in the States.

00:06:35 Stephanie

But that's 26 years later.

00:06:37 Stephanie

I would say the first 10 years, there was a lot of that.

00:06:42 Tim

Yeah, yeah.

[SHORT TRANSITION MUSIC]

00:06:48 Tim

Let's dive right into the agency then.

00:06:50 Tim

You started the agency just as I need a team and it's hard to find a team.

00:06:57 Tim

And then you decided to start the agency.

00:07:01 Tim

But how did that work?

00:07:03 Tim

How did you get interpreters working through the agency?

00:07:08 Tim

How did that manifest itself?

00:07:10 Stephanie

Yeah.

00:07:11 Stephanie

So, my private practice is when I started hiring my own, my teams.

00:07:17 Stephanie

So, I would hire a team when I needed one, and then I would say, when I get paid, I'll pay you.

00:07:23 Stephanie

And that's sort of how we went.

00:07:25 Stephanie

And then in 2000, when I started the agency, I purchased a…

00:07:31 Stephanie

There was a company, a sole proprietorship, a couple that had a small agency.

00:07:37 Stephanie

And I purchased their database and their equipment.

00:07:41 Stephanie

But I didn't get a clientele list.

00:07:44 Stephanie

I didn't get interpreter contracts, anything like that.

00:07:46 Stephanie

I was just basically purchasing some bones to try to help me get started.

00:07:52 Stephanie

And as an interpreter myself, I knew most of these.

00:07:56 Stephanie

So, I was able to, because it's hard when you're the new person.

00:08:00 Stephanie

There was another agency in Oklahoma that was very well respected.

00:08:04 Stephanie

I worked for them.

00:08:05 Stephanie

Everyone worked for them.

00:08:06 Stephanie

And, you know, now I'm competing against them.

00:08:09 Stephanie

And so, I always had this sense of, oh, I didn't want to do that.

00:08:13 Stephanie

There's two major cities in Oklahoma and they were in the other one.

00:08:17 Stephanie

And so, I didn't market my company in that city for a long time, like years and years and years, because I didn't want to, I wanted to maintain a good relationship with that other agency. [chuckling slightly]

00:08:28 Stephanie

So, getting interpreters on board wasn't a problem because I was friends with most interpreters.

00:08:34 Stephanie

Getting companies to call me, that was, you know, we had to spend a lot of money on advertising, money that we didn't have because we were a brand-new company.

00:08:42 Stephanie

I got a very small SBA (Small Business Association) loan,which basically helped me cover payroll. [Tim: Yeah]

00:08:49 Stephanie

But it was tough at first.

00:08:51 Stephanie

It's hard.

00:08:52 Stephanie

It's hard to get that going.

00:08:55 Stephanie

I've always been, I'm a competitive person.

00:08:58 Stephanie

And so, if I ever saw shortcomings in the profession, I always tried to make sure, or in service provision, I always tried to make sure then that was our strength.

00:09:09 Stephanie

And so, I would get customers that way.

00:09:12 Stephanie

I knew a lot of Deaf people, and so I think there was a lot of Deaf people that wanted to support me.

00:09:16 Stephanie

And so, they would tell their doctor, “Hey, call this new agency.” [Tim: yeah]

00:09:22 Stephanie

And so, like any new business, you have to scrape up money, and you have to scrape up service providers, [Tim: yeah] and then you gotta go find customers.

00:09:31 Stephanie

And God has blessed me.

00:09:32 Stephanie

God has blessed this company.

00:09:34 Stephanie

And so, I'm very happy…

00:09:36 Stephanie

It took years, but the first couple of years I would work 80 hours a week. [Tim: Mm-hmm]

00:09:42 Stephanie

Blood, sweat, and tears.

00:09:43 Tim

When you were first starting it, because they didn't know about an agency or didn't really know about interpreting, how did you get them to pay you?

00:09:52 Stephanie

So, in Oklahoma, the Department of Rehabilitation Services had funds to pay for interpreting services.

00:10:02 Stephanie

So, which is odd because in, in ‘73, the Rehabilitation Act was passed, and then in ‘90, the ADA was passed.

00:10:11 Stephanie

And so, during this time when the country, for the most part, was learning, oh, we, you know, if I'm a company, I need to make my services accessible…

00:10:19 Stephanie

In Oklahoma, we have the Department of Rehab Services that just would keep paying for interpreting services.

00:10:25 Stephanie

So that's the contract that I bid on and won.

00:10:28 Stephanie

I would, anybody could call me, and if you were seeing a doctor, if it had anything to do with finances, if it had anything to do with legal matters, then the Department of Rehab Services would pay the interpreter.

00:10:40 Stephanie

So, anybody could call me and say, hey, I'm going to go see so and so.

00:10:45 Stephanie

And we documented it and we sent the interpreter and then we got to bill the state.

00:10:50 Stephanie

So that's very weird.

00:10:51 Stephanie

That's a very odd way of this happening.

00:10:55 Stephanie

In 2003, I believe it was 2002, 2003, the Department of Rehab Services decided they were not going to do that any longer.

00:11:04 Stephanie

And we had a few months’ notice.

00:11:07 Stephanie

And then they stopped doing that.

00:11:09 Stephanie

So, there was an enormous learning curve of doctors who had never paid for the interpreting services that had used them quite a bit to now start realizing they were going to have to start paying for the service.

00:11:22 Stephanie

And that was very challenging.

00:11:25 Stephanie

Where the country had 10 years at that point to start figuring things out, 10, 13 years to start figuring out, oh, we have to pay for this [Tim: Mm-hmm] Oklahoma was just new to it.

00:11:36 Stephanie

So, there was a lot of advocacy that had to happen, a lot.

00:11:41 Stephanie

And advocating is tough to do because you sound like a salesman.

00:11:45 Tim

Yeah.

00:11:46 Stephanie

“You are required by law to provide this service, and we can do it for you for X amount of dollars.” [Tim chuckling]

00:11:51 Stephanie

So, it was challenging. [Tim: yeah]

00:11:52 Stephanie

It was challenging.

00:11:54 Stephanie

We'd have one person call an advocate and then somebody else called to, you know, it was tough. [Tim: yeah]

00:12:00 Stephanie

But we did it and that’s, so a lot of educating is how we got people to pay us.

00:12:05 Stephanie

So, I have a service agreement and I always had that a company needs to sign, basically outlining our rates, policies and procedures.

00:12:15 Stephanie

And so, they knew going in, you are going to be paying for this service.

00:12:19 Stephanie

There, of course, there's loss with any business. [Tim: yeah]

00:12:22 Stephanie

And so, we've had customers that don't pay us, but we just don't provide for those customers.

00:12:28 Tim

Yeah.

00:12:29 Stephanie

A couple, I've gone to small claims for if it was big enough, so.

00:12:32 Tim

Yeah, yeah.

00:12:34 Tim

So, in the beginning, I guess, every time you would have an organization, a doctor's office, what have you, every time they would order services, for the first time, you would send them a service agreement. [Stephanie: Mm-hmm]

00:12:48 Tim

And that would be for, say, one year or unlimited time, but they would know these are the prices. [Stephanie: Mm-hmm]

00:12:56 Stephanie

Well, they would know.

00:12:57 Stephanie

Often the person that signs contracts and - isn't the one who orders services. [Tim: yeah]

00:13:02 Stephanie

So, there's always that.

00:13:04 Stephanie

But yes, in theory, they would know that there was a cost for the service and approximately how much that would be.

00:13:11 Stephanie

One of the hardest sells in this profession, which I don't know how it is in Europe, but we have a 24, our state has a 24-hour cancellation policy.

00:13:19 Stephanie

That's the typical cancellation policy that we see.

00:13:23 Stephanie

That's a hard one.

00:13:24 Stephanie

That's a hard sell.

00:13:25 Stephanie

Because most agencies have a cancellation policy, it's a little bit easier.

00:13:29 Stephanie

You can say no matter where you go, you're going to have a cancellation policy.

00:13:32 Stephanie

But no, no customers hate that.

00:13:35 Tim

Yeah. Yeah.

00:13:36 Stephanie

So, there's some things that are a tough sell.

00:13:39 Tim

Yeah.

00:13:40 Tim

Even if for a doctor, if a patient doesn't show up for some reason, they still have to pay the interpreter, and I can see them not liking that at all.

00:13:49 Stephanie

No, they don't like it at all.

00:13:51 Tim

Do you still deal with that?

00:13:52 Stephanie

Where doctors are, oh, yeah.

00:13:55 Stephanie

A doctor has, you know, a $25 no show fee.

00:13:59 Tim

Yeah. [chuckles]

00:14:00 Stephanie

Versus the $100 you're going to pay to have an interpreter.

00:14:03 Tim

Yeah, yeah.

00:14:05 Tim

You know, we're more specialized than doctors, I guess. [sarcasm]

00:14:10 Stephanie

They don't see it that way. [both chuckling]

00:14:11 Tim

No, they don't. They don't see it. No.

00:14:14 Stephanie

Schools, [Tim: Mm-hmm] in terms of along the same lines of having a hard time with customers paying for the service, school districts was a challenge.

00:14:27 Stephanie

And the reason, well, one of the biggest reasons at first was it was inconceivable that they were going to pay an interpreter more than they would a teacher, [Tim: Mm-hmm] for example. [Tim: yeah]

00:14:38 Stephanie

That was just not something that they were willing to do.

00:14:43 Stephanie

And so, we finally have educated them enough over the years to realize that if you're going to get a good interpreter, you will often be paying them at least what you pay a teacher and sometimes more. [Tim: Yeah, hmm]

00:15:00 Stephanie

So that can be challenging.

00:15:01 Stephanie

We started a pre-payment, and I bet a lot of other agency owners can relate to this, or at least this was pretty common in Oklahoma.

00:15:11 Stephanie

We started a pre-payment requirement with attorneys and counselors, private practice attorneys and counselors. Because…

00:15:20 Tim

Counselors, you mean…?

00:15:23 Stephanie

…like mental health [Tim: therapists] therapists and things like that.

00:15:25 Tim

Okay.

00:15:25 Stephanie

Because often though, I mean, there's a lot of professions where you don't pay your people until you get paid, but those are two big ones.

00:15:34 Stephanie

Most counselors, a lot of counselors, you know, bill an insurance company or bill the insurance provider or attorneys bill their client when they get paid, you know, when a settlement's been reached.

00:15:45 Tim

Yeah.

00:15:45 Stephanie

And we would have attorneys just not pay all the time. [Tim: hmm]

00:15:51 Stephanie

So pretty much if you were an attorney's office and you called us, we have a prepayment requirement.

00:15:56 Stephanie

We have a special service agreement for you. [Tim chuckling]

00:15:58 Stephanie

So it was, it can be challenging.

00:16:03 Stephanie

It can be challenging to get paid.

00:16:06 Tim

It's interesting.

00:16:07 Tim

It's the legal areas that don't want to pay, but they should know the law that says they should pay.

00:16:15 Stephanie

You would think.

00:16:16 Tim

You would think.

00:16:16 Stephanie

I have had to educate judges many, many times.

00:16:20 Stephanie

They just don't understand.

00:16:22 Stephanie

They call frustrated and angry and they're putting their foot down.

00:16:26 Stephanie

It's like, here's the law.

00:16:28 Tim

I hear stories on the podcast from people talking about judges and the judges just feel they can say, this is the way it is. No.

00:16:38 Tim

Or we have a limit.

00:16:40 Tim

Some of them, there's a law that says we can only pay you this much because of in the law itself, which is usually much lower than, say, a community interpreter.

00:16:51 Stephanie

Oh, yeah.

00:16:51 Stephanie

We have that in Oklahoma.

00:16:52 Tim

It's that's frustrating.

00:16:55 Stephanie

It's very.

00:16:56 Stephanie

And then, you know, when you see that price, that the law is saying that that's what they can pay, then we know that that's going to exclude you from getting a qualified interpreter.

00:17:09 Tim

Yeah.

00:17:10 Stephanie

Because it's so much less than a qualified interpreter charge. [Tim: Mm-hmm]

00:17:14 Stephanie

For all district courts, the Supreme Court in Oklahoma sets the rate.

00:17:18 Tim

Oh, my goodness.

00:17:20 Tim

Well, let's not get into legal discussion here, but I was going to say, well, you get what you pay for.

00:17:28 Stephanie

Or you don't get anything.

00:17:29 Tim

Or you don't get anything. [chuckling]

00:17:30 Stephanie

And then Deaf people in Oklahoma in district courts just have very poor services.

00:17:36 Tim

That's insane.

00:17:38 Tim

Well, you should be, you know, doing it for free for those poor people that you're helping.

00:17:42 Stephanie

For those people. Exactly.

00:17:44 Tim

Yeah, those people.

[ROCK TRANSITION MUSIC STARTS]

00:17:48 Tim

Speaking of poor people, why not support your local podcaster?

00:17:53 Tim

[coughs] (That's me.) …by clicking on the link in the show notes and Buy Me A Coffee.

00:17:57 Tim

Thank you.

00:17:58 Tim

Now, let's go back.

[ROCK TRANSITION MUSIC ENDS]

00:18:03 Tim

Okay, so let's delve a little bit deeper into the details of how things work so that everyone has a perspective on this, because I know later when we start talking about deeper ethical or philosophy, that sort of thing, they'll have a different picture in their head, and I want them to be on the same page as we are now.

00:18:23 Tim

In the U.S., well, for Oklahoma at least, and I think it should be similar throughout.

00:18:31 Tim

Right now, after what you've just said, you get paid by the people who are ordering the services, which is not the Deaf client, but the hearing organization, the doctor, university, what have you, correct.

00:18:48 Stephanie

Correct.

00:18:49 Tim

Okay, so you bill them and then you pay the interpreters.

00:18:53 Stephanie

We pay the interpreters no matter. [Tim: Uh-huh]

00:18:57 Stephanie

We pay interpreters, we pay staff and we pay W2 and 1099 folks twice a month.

00:19:04 Stephanie

And it does not correlate with our billing.

00:19:07 Stephanie

We pay interpreters, yeah, no matter.

00:19:09 Stephanie

And then we bill, we bill consumer, we bill customers, we do.

00:19:13 Tim

Right.

00:19:14 Tim

Okay, so

00:19:15 Tim

Let me clarify, the way you said that you said some legal forms in the US.

00:19:22 Tim

So let me clarify.

00:19:22 Tim

You have, in other words, you have staff members who are employed by the agency, and then you have, for lack of a better term, freelancers who are contracted by you to do the community work and so forth, interpreting.

00:19:37 Tim

The staff members, I assume you mean secretarial work or people calling on the phone, what have you as well as staff interpreters?

00:19:47 Stephanie

Yes.

00:19:48 Stephanie

So, we have two office workers.

00:19:51 Stephanie

We have an office manager slash scheduler, and she has an office assistant, and then I have an executive assistant, and then me.

00:20:01 Stephanie

And then we have 12, right now we have 12 staff interpreters.

00:20:06 Tim

12 staff interpreters.

00:20:07 Tim

Okay.

00:20:08 Tim

Wow.

00:20:09 Stephanie

Yeah.

00:20:09 Tim

And then how many do you have on the list or the roster of interpreters that are freelance, as it were?

00:20:17 Stephanie

About 50.

00:20:17 Tim

About 50. In Oklahoma?

00:20:20 Stephanie

Now, we cover the whole state.

00:20:21 Tim

Yeah.

00:20:22 Tim

Okay.

00:20:23 Stephanie

Now, some of those people work full-time. [Tim: Mm-hmm]

00:20:25 Stephanie

Some of those people work, you know, a couple of jobs a week.

00:20:29 Tim

Right.

00:20:30 Tim

Right.

00:20:31 Stephanie

Some of those people only work during the summer for us.

00:20:36 Tim

Right.

00:20:36 Tim

Yeah.

00:20:37 Stephanie

So that's not 64 full-time interpreters. That’s what I’m saying.

00:20:42 Tim

Right.

00:20:42 Tim

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

00:20:44 Tim

That would be a lot.

00:20:45 Stephanie

Yeah.

00:20:45 Tim

So, yeah.

00:20:48 Tim

So, interpreters can have the choice to work full-time as a staff, for you anyway, or full-time, say, at a school, full-time as an employee, or they can be practicing on their own freelancing in Oklahoma.

00:21:06 Stephanie

Yeah, I would say in Oklahoma, the typical options are you are either a W-2 or an employee person at wherever, a school.

00:21:17 Stephanie

Most interpreting employees are either at an agency, at a school, or at a call center. [Tim: Mm-hmm]

00:21:25 Tim

Yeah.

00:21:25 Stephanie

Like Sorenson?

00:21:26 Tim

Okay. Yeah. Online.

00:21:28 Stephanie

That's the typical employment W-2 opportunity.

00:21:33 Tim

Okay.

00:21:34 Stephanie

And then a 1099 is an independent contractor.

00:21:38 Stephanie

And then they have options of drumming up their own business, working for agencies, doing both.

00:21:46 Stephanie

We have some people that only work for us.

00:21:48 Stephanie

We have some people that work for all agencies. [Tim: Mm-hmm]

00:21:51 Stephanie

Just as an agency, a contractor, I can't control what a contractor does.

00:21:58 Stephanie

I either buy their service or I don't.

00:22:00 Tim

Yeah, I just wanted to clarify that.

00:22:03 Tim

Okay.

00:22:04 Tim

I think we've mentioned it already, but do, well, who books the services?

00:22:09 Tim

Are there times when you have Deaf clients booking the services or not?

00:22:15 Stephanie

Rarely.

00:22:16 Stephanie

If a, so our primary, we'll say venue, our primary type of work is medical.

00:22:23 Tim

Okay.

00:22:25 Stephanie

So, doctor's offices, hospitals, specialist hospitals, clinics, private practice doctors, they call and book the service because they are responsible to pay for it. [Tim: right]

00:22:41 Stephanie

If a Deaf person calls us and says, hey, I've got a doctor's appointment next week, we educate that person that you will need to call your doctor's office and request an interpreting services, and encourage them to call us if they're brand new to us. [Tim: Mm-hmm]

00:22:55 Stephanie

We've been around long enough that most organizations know to call us.

00:22:59 Tim

Yeah.

00:23:00 Stephanie

And then, so we can't take an order for a medical appointment, let's say, from a Deaf person.

00:23:07 Tim

Yeah.

00:23:08 Stephanie

So, a lot of people misunderstand that, like, if a Deaf person's going to a funeral, they are responsible for the interpreter.

00:23:15 Stephanie

That is almost never the case.

00:23:18 Stephanie

In fact, in the ADA, Title 3 of the ADA, which says public accommodations, one of the first examples it gives, the government gives on an instance where the organization would need to pay for the interpreter is a funeral home. [both chuckle]

00:23:34 Stephanie

Funeral homes must make their services accessible.

00:23:37 Stephanie

And I think people think, okay, well, if the customer chooses to, if the funeral home's customer chooses to have a funeral in a church, that ex-nays it, and it does not.

00:23:48 Stephanie

The funeral home is required to make its services accessible, no matter where the Deaf person chooses to have it, or the family or whatever.

00:23:56 Stephanie

You can have it in a park, at a church, at the funeral home's chapel.

00:24:02 Stephanie

It doesn't matter where, the funeral home is required to make its services accessible.

00:24:06 Stephanie

And it is illegal to pass that cost on to the family, to the customer.

00:24:12 Stephanie

So often they will.

00:24:15 Stephanie

You need to read your invoice to make sure that that's not part of the charge.

00:24:20 Stephanie

And I think we see that a lot.

00:24:23 Stephanie

But so, a wedding, a wedding might be a time where the Deaf person orders services. [Tim: Mm-hmm]

00:24:30 Stephanie

If they're at a venue, if they've rented a venue, the venue is required to make their services accessible.

00:24:37 Stephanie

One comparison that I give that customers, hearing customers that don't know anything about what we do,

00:24:44 Stephanie

An example that I give that I think helps them understand is, let's use the Americans with Disabilities Act as an example.

00:24:50 Stephanie

So that's the latest one that was passed in 1990.

00:24:54 Stephanie

And it said, if you are, basically, if you are an employer, and you have 15 or more employees, you need to make your services accessible.

00:25:06 Stephanie

If you're a city or local government, you must make your services accessible.

00:25:10 Stephanie

If you have your business open to the public, you must make that accessible.

00:25:14 Stephanie

Title 1, Title 2, Title 3.

00:25:16 Stephanie

A lot of people get these two things confused.

00:25:17 Stephanie

Well, I guess I have a, a shop that I sell things that, or let's say a doctor's office.

00:25:23 Stephanie

I have a small doctor's office, but I have less than 15 employees, so I don't have to provide for my patient.

00:25:28 Stephanie

If you have less than 15 employees, you don't have to provide a service for your employees.

00:25:32 Stephanie

But the title three says, if you are making your services accessible to the public, you must make them accessible to the public.

00:25:40 Stephanie

And it has nothing to do with how many employees.

00:25:42 Stephanie

So, two different, a lot of people get those confused.

00:25:46 Stephanie

So, one thing that our hearing customers seem to understand is, Title, the Title 1, Title 2, Title 3, Americans with Disabilities Act, calls an accommodation, and an auxiliary aid. [Tim: Mm-hmm]

00:25:59 Stephanie

So, an interpreter is an auxiliary aid.

00:26:03 Stephanie

Braille is an auxiliary aid.

00:26:06 Stephanie

A ramp is an auxiliary aid.

00:26:10 Stephanie

Those, they're all classified as auxiliary aids.

00:26:13 Stephanie

So, the thing used to help the disabled person become able to do the thing [Tim: Mm-hmm] is called an auxiliary aid.

00:26:22 Stephanie

So, you wouldn't say, where some doctors might say, well, I've told the patient to bring their own interpreter, you wouldn't say to a wheelchair patient, bring your own ramp.

00:26:34 Tim

Right.

00:26:34 Stephanie

Same law, they're both accommodations, called accommodations, auxiliary aids under the law.

00:26:41 Stephanie

Hearing people, hearing customers, understand that.

00:26:45 Stephanie

You would never say to your patient, bring your own ramp.

00:26:48 Stephanie

So, saying to a Deaf person, bring your own interpreter is the equivalent.

00:26:52 Tim

Yeah.

00:26:53 Stephanie

You would never say to a person, just crawl.

00:26:57 Stephanie

If we don't provide a ramp, you can just crawl.

00:27:00 Tim

Yeah.

00:27:01 Stephanie

And we can't, then we also wouldn't say to a Deaf person, well, we don't have an interpreter here, just read lips or just try your best. [Tim: Mm-hmm]

00:27:10 Tim

You said something earlier that I think I need clarification on about a venue.

00:27:16 Stephanie

A wedding venue?

00:27:17 Tim

Like a, yeah, a wedding venue that you're renting a hall for your wedding, and they have to provide services?

00:27:24 Stephanie

Yeah, they have to make their services accessible.

00:27:27 Tim

Like the wedding ceremony or do you mean…?

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00:27:35 Tim

Yes, I guess we'll have to wait until next week for the full answer.

00:27:39 Tim

“Those poor people” When you think about it, we've come a long way over the decades of sign language interpreting profession less and less people have the wrong attitude.

00:27:52 Tim

Awareness of who we are and the services that we provide and the minorities that we work with, they're all becoming more and more understood by those in the majority.

00:28:05 Tim

In the US, they do have laws that specifically target how accessibility is provided, how services are provided, and how you can't get around the law.

00:28:17 Tim

You can't fight it.

00:28:19 Tim

There will be consequences.

00:28:21 Tim

It allows for services to be provided by quality interpreters.

00:28:27 Tim

It means that interpreter education has to develop even more to provide that quality service, that quality understanding by new interpreters, older interpreters, and even the clients we serve.

00:28:43 Tim

The more research that is out there, the more understanding and depth we have for what it is we do and how we interact with the public and the clients we serve.

00:28:53 Tim

And it reminds us of the goal.

00:28:55 Tim

These laws, these ethical codes, the policies by organizations, they remind us of the goal.

00:29:04 Tim

It's about accessibility, the quality accessible service.

00:29:10 Tim

And it's not just the interpreters that have this responsibility of feeling that burden of teaching or educating or making people aware of what we do.

00:29:21 Tim

It's also interpreter agencies taking on that role.

00:29:24 Tim

And sometimes it's better that they are the people in the middle, advocating for the clients, advocating for the interpreters, and taking on roles that we don't see every day.

00:29:38 Tim

Sometimes that system is made fun of, is insulted, but I think a lot of times it's misunderstood.

00:29:46 Tim

And working together is how we improve it all.

00:29:49 Tim

So next week, we'll learn a little bit more from Stephanie and all about interpreter agencies.

00:29:56 Tim

Until then, keep calm, keep interpreting the law.

00:30:02 Tim

I'll see you next week.

00:30:03 Tim

Take care now.

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