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A Deaf man at a local school for the Deaf sexually assaulted a young Deaf Mexican woman

A Deaf man at a local school for the Deaf sexually assaulted a young Deaf Mexican woman.     Her parents knew only Spanish spoken language.   She did not know Spanish, and her ASL skills are not fluent enough to comprehend interpreters. She had a Victim of Crime advocate who did not know ASL or Deaf culture.

The D.A. called in the Deaf woman and her parents to get their statements to prosecute the perpetrator.  The family drove two hours from a rural area for this meeting in a suburban area where the Deaf school is located.

The Deaf woman's VOC advocate received permission from the Deaf survivor to contact a local Deaf DV agency for this meeting.  The advocate who is also Deaf herself asked the DA if there would be an interpreter. At first he said that the DA office did not have the money to pay for interpreters during interview and can only be used during court sessions.  The advocate explained about the Deaf survivor's right to have access at all times in each step of the court case.  The DA finally said that he would do his best to ensure access for the survivor.

When the advocate showed up, she saw that there was a Spanish translator for the parents.  The Deaf woman did not have an interpreter.  Instead she had a signer who took some American Sign Language classes but never took interpreting training. The signer was coworker the DA pulled in conveniently last minute.  

The advocate and the survivor could not follow the "interpreter.”  The advocate finally said, "Time out!" and gestured for a private meeting with DA.  The advocate tells the DA by writing on a paper, "This is not an interpreter."

The VOC advocate DA apologized. The meeting had to be postponed. The Deaf survivor felt re-victimized by the system. She was nervous all night about the pending meeting with the DA and had been looking forward to getting it over with.  Now she will have to go through this ordeal again.   The parents were upset about the long drive for an unproductive meeting.

Any part of the court procedure, including interviews with the law enforcement, DA meetings, family meetings, and court sessions, the Deaf survivor should have a CERTIFIED LEGAL INTERPRETER.

Interpreters working with legal cases should have legal interpreting training background because of unique legal words, which require appropriate ASL concepts to be conveyed to Deaf survivors.

There are situations in which a professional American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter will assess and notify DA, law enforcement and/or court officials that there needs to be a Certified Deaf Interpreter in order to provide effective communication.  The Certified Deaf Interpreter (CDI) is an individual who is deaf or hard of hearing. In addition to proficient communication skill and general interpreter training, the CDI has specialized training and/or experience in the use of gesture, mime, props, drawings and other tools to enhance communication. The CDI has knowledge and understanding of deafness, the Deaf community, and Deaf culture. The CDI possesses native or near-native fluency in American Sign Language. In this case, the Deaf survivor came from a Spanish speaking family, so American Sign Language is not adequate alone for communication. She needs to have CDI (CDI).

Deaf survivor tend to be swamped with the system and not know her access rights, especially with interpreters, so VOC advocate and DA can confer with the Deaf advocate to present options for the Deaf survivor to choose. The arrangement should be made allowing enough time to find interpreters for the meeting sessions.  The emphasis should be "Meet the Deaf survivor where she is."

If there are no Deaf DV agencies in the area, VOC advocate and DA (or any hearing service providers) can contact one of 20 DV/SV agencies and confer with them via Video Relay Services.  The Deaf survivor can confer with the Deaf advocate through videophone.  

Courts usually have their own interpreting coordinator.  DA and defense attorneys asking for interpreters will commonly get a response from the coordinators that interpreters cannot be provided outside of the courtrooms for meetings.

DAs, Law enforcement, defense attorneys will benefit from a list of phone numbers to contact individual certified legal interpreters or ASL interpreting agencies in their areas.

For a meeting longer than one hour, there should be a team of two interpreters to take turns to ensure quality services.  The mind only can handle 20 minutes of language translating at a time.  Also interpreting for more than 20 minutes can cause serious repetitive body injuries such as carpel tunnel. This also applies to Certified Deaf Interpreters.  Certified legal interpreters will not accept interpreting for more than an hour because it does violate the ethics of interpreting.

Number one excuse made by service providers is, "We have no budget for interpreting.”   Budget is not an excuse as a barrier for Deaf survivors and may be in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).  An interpreting fund for Deaf survivors should be budgeted or itemized.  Relationships need to be established with interpreter referral services so that there is an appreciation of potentially time-critical services.  Some agencies itemize interpreting funds under COMMUNICATIONS.

Using Interpreters