Technical college pays $175,000 for not providing an interpreter
Here is the link to the story. If the link has expired, here is the article. technical-college-lawsuit-4-2008.pdf
First, I can understand difficulties in finding an interpreter but the delay was unnecessary. It was the school’s lack of becoming educated in the process of addressing this issue. They also were uneducated in finding the proper “accommodation”. The school couldn’t assess the deaf man’s needs, causing delays and decisions on their own without knowledge. Not every Deaf or hard of hearing individual has the same needs for communication.
I was a bit curious, I took a look at their program, it runs 6 hours a day, 5 days a week for 42 weeks. Hiring an interpreter at $35 an hour (I went middle of the road) would have cost the school approximately $44,000. Much higher if they scrambled and hired an interpreter from an agency. This would have cost them only 1/4 of the settlement. Many businesses and schools may bawk at the price tag associated with providing access to deaf and hard of hearing individuals. It’s a mute point. It’s simply the law.
However, being aware of the Americans with Disabilities Act gives you the knowledge to assess the situation and create alternatives to providing needs. Each individual is different and you’ll find that being wise in the options can alleviate the costs and struggles to providing reasonable accommodations. In this case, during the morning lecture, a certified interpreter should be hired. In the afternoon “hands on” class, hiring an interpreter in a training program could have been sufficient.
Currently, businesses simply do not know their responsibilities or neglect to provide access for Deaf and hard of hearing people. In the article, it is quoted “It is only recently that deaf people have begun to feel empowered to start bringing these lawsuits,” said Smit, who noted communication difficulties in the past created limited access to the legal community and school systems for deaf individuals.
While businesses fail to learn the Americans with Disabilities Act laws, more Deaf individuals are learning their rights. But more than knowing their rights, they now have the courage to stand up for their rights. Will your business be affected? Are you aware of your responsibilities under the ADA?
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April 5th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Was NAD involved in this? NO! Look at the result! NAD only gets their clients $7,500 for these kinds of things while this one does it a lot better without NAD’s involvement!
Richard
April 5th, 2008 at 6:21 pm
You actually need to multiply that number by 2, because for that many hours a team of 2 interpreters should be coordinated. Even hiring two interpreters for the full number of hours is STILL cheaper than hiring lawyers and paying a settlement. When will they ever learn.
April 7th, 2008 at 3:11 am
Interpretopia - thanks for pointing out the extra expense, glad you agree, it would have cost them quite less.
April 22nd, 2008 at 9:58 pm
Hi, there.
Just popped in to check out your blog. Great job! I actually took 3 symesters of ASL in college many, many years ago. I wanted to become an interpreter but never finished up and, like most things, if ya don’t use it, ya lose it.
Anyhow, I was going to make a comment that actually 2 interpreters should be used, at least in a college situation. Where I went to school, one interpreter would take notes while the other interpreted and then they would trade places half way through the class.
April 22nd, 2008 at 10:29 pm
Stephanie
Good point! Yes it’s grueling work alone. Thanks so much for popping in! I sure hope you’ll pop in often. I know that it’s taxing on one individual and breaks are needed. Thanks for sharing that info.
May 6th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
Right, two interpreters would be needed, and one would cost about $50,000 a year. That’s the going rate.
And make that four years. So that’s $400,000.
May 7th, 2008 at 3:18 am
Hi Wiggums,
In this case, it was a technical college and I looked up the program, which is 9 months. So based on your calculations it would have been under $100k, still less than the settlement.
I wonder what the penalty would have been if he did attend a 4 year program?