We offer more than
just interpreting!

We understand that not everyone knows ASL so it can be tough to know if an interpreter is effective and doing a good job. HSDC helps with that! Every interpreter that works with HSDC has been personally vetted and has passed our standards for qualification. Since professional interpreters are highly trained and possess skills and knowledge that a colleague or family member does not, you cannot substitute either colleagues or family members for professional interpreters, especially as there is no guarantee of quality, accuracy, or confidentiality of information when using a person who works in your office or a family member. In many cases, it’s easy for unintended damage to be done by someone trying to help, whether it’s a misunderstood message, censoring of sensitive information or a personal bias that can influence a professional outcome.

Businesses and community organizations are responsible for paying for sign language interpreting services to comply with the terms of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) mandates that “title II entities (State and local governments) and title III entitles entities (businesses and nonprofit organizations that serve the public) communicate effectively with people who have communication disabilities.”

There is a two-hour minimum charge for interpreting services, also known as a call-out fee. This fee is an industry standard for several reasons, chief among them that it helps keep interpreters in the field. Interpreters are rarely able to work 40 hours like a standard office job due to the unpredictable nature of appointments, time lost to traffic and commuting, and the physical impossibility of booking back-to-back appointments to fill their day. This fee is one more way of addressing the national shortage by increasing interpreter retention.

ASL is not a signed form of English nor is it a universal language used by deaf people around the world. Since English and ASL are in no way the same language, asking a Deaf person who has requested an interpreter to use captioning or auto-captions is still asking that person to access information in a second language or one in which they may not have proficiency.

There’s never too much advance notice! Interpreters are a scarce resource, and demand far exceeds the supply. The farther in advance you can plan the better! This is especially true for in-person interpreting. However, if you have a sudden need that’s popped up on short notice, it’s not a problem! We will always try to find an interpreter for every request, no matter how soon it’s happening.

Interpreting is a taxing activity both mentally and physically. Therefore, the general rule is that any assignments over 90 minutes should have two interpreters so that they can take breaks every 15 or 20 minutes. These breaks ensure that the interpreter is mentally fresh when they resume work. Please note, assigning two interpreters for any requests over 90 minutes is just a general guideline. Some shorter assignments might need two (or three) while some longer assignments might be fine with just one. Our team of schedulers are well-trained to know how to cover each request, and we will never assign more interpreters than are absolutely needed. A Deaf interpreter (DI) most often works in a team with hearing interpreters. A DI is an individual who is deaf or hard of hearing and possesses excellent communication skills in both American Sign Language and written English. The DI has been trained in the role and ethics of an interpreter and may also have specialized training in use of gesture, mime, props, drawings, home signs, and matching sentence structure and language development of the deaf person they work with.