Senator Harkin's Disability Commission Wants Interpreting Stories

From the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF) preserveIDEA@dredf.org

IDEA Rapid Response Network (RRN)

Briefing #13 July 18, 2002

This alert comes from Deaf California News and Senator Harkin's staff. They are asking for good and bad experiences with interpreting for people with hearing impairments, from clients or from interpreters. Send stories in a professional format to Senator Harkin's staff at Howie.Kent@harkin.senate.gov.

Here is the original letter from Howie Kent:

I am writing to you for Senator Tom Harkin's disability commission. We are doing research for the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). We are researching the possibility of adding an amendment to said bill to include stricter guidelines for hiring interpreters in the educational field.

What I am asking from you is if you had any stories relating to your experiences with NON-qualified interpreters not being certified and whatnot. We want both good and bad experiences. Good experiences with qualified interpreters and bad with non-qualified, you get the idea. I would like these stories as soon as possible please. I know you are all very busy, but I appreciate your input. I would also appreciate if you forwarded this message to as many people as you can send out to. The more the better our chances of convincing the U.S. Senate this is a necessity to improve education for deafness.

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