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Nonprofit zoom pricing11/19/2023 ![]() ![]() “Make sure you give your event participants a deadline by when they need to request accommodation, so that you have – at bare minimum – at least two weeks to line up your interpreter,” she advised. ![]() ![]() Brandice pointed out there’s an extreme shortage of ASL interpreters, especially for in-person events. “They’ll tell you which one is best locally.”īrandice Mazick, an ASL interpreter for Temple University for more than two decades, is a regular interpreter for Disability Pride Philadelphia events, working through an agency. If I were to fly out to Chicago, I’d call my friends in Chicago and ask them: who are the best interpreters in town?” If you’re holding a local event and your deaf participant is local, “Ask the deaf person,” Jeff advised. “Networking is the best way to find folks,” according to Jeff. He added that some interpreters have special expertise, such as legal or medical. “There are thousands of agencies in the United states that provide ASL interpreter services, both in-person and virtually,” said Jeff Bravin. The American School for the Deaf actually has its own agency that offers sign language interpreting services to the public on a fee for service basis, Source Interpreting. In fact, Zoe put us in touch with Jeff Bravin for this article. Our members are pretty proactive about reaching out to us as well.” When there are attendees requiring ASL interpretation, the Alliance is fortunate to have a close relationship with the American School for the Deaf, which is located in West Hartford, CT. If they answer ‘yes,’ we reach out individually, asking how we could best meet their needs. “For our in-person conferences, we always ask if participants need any accommodations. “We have a handful of members who need ASL interpretation at our conferences,” Zoe said. We asked Zoe Schwartz, who helps line up both ASL interpretation and captioning for the CT Community Nonprofit Alliance (The Alliance), the statewide association of community nonprofits in Connecticut, about her experience. “Send out your registration form asking, ‘What accommodations do you need?’ Allow your audience to let you know.” “The best way to know what your audience will need is to ask them,” Jeff said. It’s akin to a native Spanish speaker who can read some English but may prefer to attend events in Spanish.” Ask Your Audience about Their Needs Somebody like me may be able to read and write just as well as anyone else, but for other individuals, ASL is their native language they would rather watch an event in their native language. “Each of those groups has different needs, and we have to adjust our approach. “Within our community we have deaf, hard of hearing, and deaf-blind community members,” explained Jeff Bravin. Transcription of the words being spoken won’t convey the same nuance or even the actual meaning for deaf ASL speakers. For some deaf audience members, providing captioning rather than an ASL interpreter is essentially forcing them to translate into another language while they read. For many community members born deaf, ASL is their first language and English is their second language. American Sign Language (ASL)ĪSL is a complete language, separate and distinct from English. We spoke with Jeff Bravin, Executive Director of the nonprofit American School for the Deaf, who is deaf, and who generously shared his thoughts with us for this article during a Zoom interview with an ASL interpreter. Options such as closed captioning, live transcripts, and American Sign Language interpreting are more available than ever, even to organizations on a tight budget. These days, almost everyone has become more comfortable with remote technology. ![]() In this article, we’ve curated resources and outlined strategies that can help individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing feel welcomed and participate fully. Whether your nonprofit is getting back to in-person gatherings or still holding virtual events, you will want to ensure that events of all kinds are accessible to people of all abilities. One important aspect of inclusiveness is disability inclusion. As we know better, we do better, and sometimes new technologies can help as we seek to increase equity and create a sense of belonging for all community members. Many nonprofits have been working for years to define, refine, and implement their commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. ![]()
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