DRO Advocate Encourages Rogue Valley's Deaf Community to Self-Advocate for New Technology

Rogue Valley deaf community says new technology can help them communicate

Deaf community in Rogue Valley promotes video remote interpreting technology to ease communication

August 30, 2010
By Vera Westbrook
for the Mail Tribune

The Rogue Valley's deaf community hopes to persuade businesses and public agencies to take advantage of new technology that can help them communicate more effectively.

Called video remote interpreting, the technology helps deaf and partially deaf people and those with speech impediments to talk with others without waiting for an interpreter to come in person.

Nine people belonging to Deaf Services of Southern Oregon have formed a committee to spread the word about the new technology to businesses, health professionals, hospitals and police departments.

Roquel Wilson, a longtime advocate for the deaf in the Rogue Valley, said cities such as Roseburg, Florence and Bend already are using the technology. Jackson County Circuit Court is the only place using it locally, said Wilson, who is deaf.

The technology allows a certified American Sign Language interpreter to appear on a viewing screen (such as a television or computer monitor) similar to a video conference call. It requires the business or public agency to spend several hundred dollars on equipment and costs $2 per minute.

Wilson said out of 132 certified sign language interpreters in Oregon, only four live in the Rogue Valley to provide services to some 500 deaf and partially deaf people in the area.

Trying to schedule an interpreter can be difficult at any time, let alone in an emergency, committee members said. Video remote interpreting companies, which hire interpreters throughout the country, can provide someone immediately 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Committee member Bob Schultz said he doesn't like discussing personal information at a doctor's office in the presence of a live, local interpreter.

"We know the four interpreters," Schultz said. "If a live interpreter is in the room, I don't feel comfortable with a doctor." He prefers discussing personal information with someone he doesn't know on a screen.

"If they're on a screen, it feels less personal," he said.

Providence Medford Medical Center is looking into providing the video remote service, a spokeswoman said.

Video technology also is available on telephones, replacing the outdated TTY/TDD text devices. It's known as a video relay service, and it's free for those with communication disabilities. It is funded by the Interstate Telecommunications Relay Fund created by the Federal Communications Commission.

Wilson said hearing people are unfamiliar with the system and sometimes hang up because of the delay in connecting with an interpreter or because interpreters identify themselves with a four-digit number that people mistake for a telemarketer.

Video relay service interpreters talk with the hearing person, then communicate to the deaf party via sign language using a video camera and the Internet.

For more information about video remote interpreting, contact Deaf Services of Southern Oregon via its website, www.dsso.org.

Vera Westbrook is a reporting intern for the Mail Tribune and can be reached at intern1@mailtribune.com.

Source available here.