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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0335.013 1998-2000 RECEIVED TESTIA40NY (Ime._-_..__.°- By.._-~-.~..~, ON (~J;ar9;_ Data BILL NO. 126, CD-2 _.~County Cooney ' RELATING TO A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE RELATING TO INTERPRETER SERVICES FOR DEAF AND HARD-OF-HEARING PERSONS To the Chair and the Council members: My name is Francine Aona Kenyon and am the founder and president/owner of Hawaii Deaf Advocates that promotes full accessibility for services to Deaf and hard-of-hearing persons and advocacy for the Deaf Community. I support the Bill 126, CD-2, relating to a bill fot' an ordinance relating to interpreter services for deaf and hard-of-hearing persons. The purpose of this ordinance is to provide equal access to deaf and hard-of-hearing persons to council and committee meetings as part of the council's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. This ordinance provides for (1) the real time captioning of a televised meeting and (2) the avai]ability of qualified interpretive services when requested by a deaf or hard-of-hearing person to assist at a meeting. I congratulate you for your hard-working efforts to improving full access to deaf and hard-of-hearing persons at the council and committee meetings both in public and on television. I also applaud your action of developing a more advanced system for real time captioning or sign language interpretive services. However, I would like to recommend that you consider amending the Paragraph (2) to the Section ~3- 4, Substitution of more advanced system as follows; (2) "The system improves the accessibility of deaf and hard-of-hearing persons to council and committee meetings by: (a) Listing all agenda items that are Deafness-related issues on the top of the agenda as a priority to maintain at affordable cost; (b) Adding the infrared loop system in all conference and meeting rooms; for hard- of-hearing persons; and, (c) Working closely with Mayor's Commission on Persons with Disabilities regarding the Deafness-related issues. Again, I compliment your fine work to make this effort possible to help deaf and hard-of- hearing persons receive better services within the City and County of Honolulu. Comm. No. J~~?5. ~J(j File No. COLA Ref. To: P Ref. Date IIFC ] ~ o F ~ HAWAII STATE y ",ss' ~ COORDINATING COUNCIL ON DEAFNESS E 'I D~~S t O 919 Ala Moana Boulevard, Room 101 Honolulu, Hawaii 96814 (808) 586-8130 (TTY) (808) 586-8131 (Voice/TTY) FAX (808) 586-8129 s a 't O N = May 25. 1994 = v' ° T. r- C ~ ORAL TESTIMONY TO THE CITY COUNCIL r`r. o -rr-i IN SUPPORT OF BILL NO. 126, CD-2 ° RELATING TO INTERPRETER SERVICES FOR DEAF AND HARD-OF-HEARING PERSONS - The Hawaii State Coordinating Council on Deafness (HSCCD) supports the intent of this Bill. However, HSCCD recommends a few changes be made, which aze detailed in our written testimony submitted to you today. HSCCD feels it should be required that Sign Language intetpreters be certified, and that accessibility should be provided for Deaf and hard-of-hearing citizens whether as observers or as participants at your meetings. With these changes, the bill will more fully address the legal mandate of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) for access to local government. Thank you for this opportunity to give input on this innovative measure. Marianne Chung Program Coordinator Misc. Com. No. - ~8® HAWAII STATE O C ,r `~'E ~ ' COORDINATING COUNCIL ON DEAFNESS t r 919 Ala Moana Boulevard, Room 101 Honolulu, Hawaii 96814 A~\~.~ ~o~ (808) 566-8130 (TTY) (808) 586-8131 (VoicelfT'Y) FAX (808) 586-8129 TE,,,.~.~\~~ May 25. 1994 TESTIMONY TO THE CITY COUNCIL IN SUPPORT OF BILL NO. 126, CD-2 RELATING TO INTERPRETER SERVICES FOR DEAF AND HARD-OF-HEARING PERSONS The Hawaii State Coordinating Council on Deafness (HSCCD) supports the intent of the Bill Number 126, Committee Draft 2 relating to Interpreter Services for Deaf and T-Iazd-of-Hearing Persons. HSCCD is a State agency that was established to improve communication, coordination of, and access to, services for persons who are Deaf, hard-of-hearing and deaf- blind. The Council therefore assumes great interest in endeavors that would affect Deaf, hard- of-hearing and deaf-blind individuals. HSCCD is pleased that the City and County government is considering adding real-time captioning to the provisions of this bill. HSCCD concurs with the report findings of Calvin Azama of the Office of Council Services, dated April 7, 1994. Real-time captioning will certainly open up the City Council and Committee meetings to the deaf and hazd-of-hearing individuals who would not benefit from asign-language interpreter. In addition to certified si;n-language interpreters, real-time captioning can also be utilized for meetings and conferences as well as for television broadcasts. Howe~~er, a few changes are suggested as follows: (1) Change the definition of "Sign language interpretation" in Sec. 4- .1 Definitions to mean: "the interpretation by certified interpreters who can effectively interpret or transliterate between Sian Language and spoken English." This would differentiate professional interpreters from si<,ners who may have only completed some Sign Language classes. A signer does not automatically become an interpreter. One must have valid national (or local) certification before one can represent him/herself as an interpreter. Attached for your information is a copy of a Fact Sheet on HSCCD's Administrative Rules and Utilization of Interpreter Services. ~_1 Delete subsections (d) of Sec. 4- 2 Real time captioning of televised council or committee meetine and (b) of Sec. 4- 3 Sign language interpretation services. We understand these sections to say that captioning and/or interpreters would not be required for a nt[mber of situations, such as anon-televised meeting or a request for interpreter services past a deadline. However, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) precludes the denial of imerpreting and/or captioning services to a Deaf or hard-of-hearing person who wishes to visit and, or to participate in a local government meeting. Every effort should be made to make the Cite Council and Committee meetings accessible to every interested citizen, including Deaf and hsrd of-hearing persons.