College Sued For Using Inferior Interpreters (Comments Included)
State attorney general sues PCC
Skills of interpreters are questioned in aiding hearing-impaired student
Capitol Media Services
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 11.28.2006
PHOENIX — The state Attorney General’s Office is suing Pima Community College, charging it didn’t provide the help a hearing-impaired student needed.
Legal papers filed in Maricopa County Superior Court say the college did provide sign-language interpreters so that Stacey Duvall could understand what her instructors in the pharmacy technology program were saying.
But Assistant Attorney General Sandra Kane said in at least two of the cases, Duvall could not understand the interpreters. The college, however, insisted the two were qualified and refused to replace them, Kane said.
At one point there was an in-class confrontation between Duvall and her interpreter.
Duvall filed a complaint with the Attorney General’s Office last year and withdrew from her courses this past spring. She did not graduate in May as scheduled, according to the lawsuit, “because of the stress caused by the dispute between Duvall and the college.”
College spokesman Dave Irwin said officials do not comment on current litigation.
Kane said the law is clear that places of “public accommodation,” which includes the college, cannot discriminate based on someone’s disability. But she said the law requires more.
“The statute requires the public accommodation make sure that they take steps that may be necessary to ensure that an individual is provided access,” Kane said.
She said that means doing what is necessary to guarantee someone with a disability is not excluded, denied services, segregated or otherwise treated differently because of the failure to provide necessary aids and services. And that, said Kane, means “qualified interpreters to ensure effective communication.”
Kane said by failing to provide Duvall with an interpreter the woman could understand, the college essentially denied her the ability to participate in the classes.
The lawsuit asks that Duvall be compensated for any damage she suffered. Kane said she does not know whether Duvall wants to re-enroll in the program or simply is seeking compensation.
The suit also asks that the college be punished with a fine of up to $5,000.
http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/157976.php
Comments on this Story
State attorney general sues PCC
PHOENIX — The state Attorney General’s Office is suing Pima Community College, charging it didn’t provide the help a hearing-impaired student needed.
1. Comment by Harry D. (Dog Dude (Blue heeler)) — November 28,2006 @ 3:47AMRating: 5 Thumbs Down This comment is below your threshold. (View Comment)
You all started this “we have to pander to everyone” stuff, now it’s biting you and the taxpayers on the ass
 
2. Comment by Pam S. (Pam S.) — November 28,2006 @ 6:41AMRating: 7 Thumbs Up
Would this be the same thing as when I call a gov’t. office and can’t understand the person on the other end of the phone because of their thick ‘ethnic’ accent? Because that happens ALL the time. If so, I would like to sue and be compensated.
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3. Comment by Moe C. (#3931) — November 28,2006 @ 7:19AMRating: 9 Thumbs Up
Nice, Harry. So if you’re deaf, you just don’t count. I sure hope you never lose your hearing. You probably couldn’t stand it.
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4. Comment by NightHawk P. (NightHawk) — November 28,2006 @ 7:24AMRating: 4 Thumbs Up
A big difference Pam. The Government works for the people, but you pay to go to college. It’s not like the student was going to a public grade school. Isn’t there a device a student can use to record, and print what is being said? I know there is one for the blind to use.
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5. Comment by Harry D. (Dog Dude (Blue heeler)) — November 28,2006 @ 7:48AMRating: 8 Thumbs Down This comment is below your threshold. (View Comment)
What a leap Moe 3.Did you even read my post or simply react to the name with yet another leap of Special Olympic proportions?
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6. Comment by Harry D. (Dog Dude (Blue heeler)) — November 28,2006 @ 7:56AMRating: 2 Thumbs Down This comment is below your threshold. (View Comment)
BTW Moe, one of my service related disabilities is for hearing loss due to tank main gun fire, machinegun fire and artillery fire in Vietnam…so kindly take your judgement and shove it back up your ass from where you pulled it.
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7. Comment by Paul C. (NativeRat) — November 28,2006 @ 7:57AMRating: 7 Thumbs Up
#3 Well put, Moe. We can all become disabled in the blink of an eye, and suddenly find the world a much colder place. Harry — this woman is trying to become a productive member of society. It would be easier for her, and cost taxpayers more $$, if she just applied for disability benefits and soaked up the govt freebies available to her. She’s not doing that– she’s swimming against the tide and asking for a little help, not handouts. You should be her biggest fan!
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8. Comment by Vicki S. (Vickisue) — November 28,2006 @ 8:14AMRating: 5 Thumbs Up
Harry - Thank you for your service to our country. I mean that.I don’t know if your experiences in Nam, your losses caused by that war, or society’s mistreatment of VietNam vets is the reason for your deep bitterness. Many of your comments are based in good reason, but you get negative reactions because of your hateful tone. I hope you can do what is necessary to reduce the emotional level behind your reactions, because some of what you offer here should be heard on its merits.
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9. Comment by Helmut K. (#4790) — November 28,2006 @ 9:41AMRating: 4 Thumbs Down This comment is below your threshold. (View Comment)
It’s the metal plate in his head Vicki - pay no attention to Harry.
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10. Comment by Barbara L. (barbwire) — November 28,2006 @ 10:29AMRating: 2 Thumbs Up
Charges of this nature are serious and not to be taken lightly, in that the Arizona Attorney General believes this case to have merit.The issue here is one of REASONABLE accommodation. For example: installing an amplified telephone, providing a larger computer monitor, or getting someone to assist the person with the ancillary tasks of their job.It appears, based on the information contained in this article, that PCC acted in good faith (complying with the student’s request for reasonable accommodations) in supplying this student with an interpreter, as the interpreters were “qualified.â€My gut feeling, however, having seen many people at my former employer denied “reasonable accommodations,†even though they were in a set-aside program for the handicapped, is that PCC sloughed off their responsibility.
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11. Comment by Ette L. (Ette) — November 28,2006 @ 10:41AMRating: 0 Thumbs Up
Well, I have a question.If she obviously cannot function without a qualified interpreter at school, how will she do the job for which she is training?Pharm techs don’t work alone. She’ll need to communicate with other staff and the public all day.. .in a very critical job where mistakes could be deadly. ..
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12. Comment by Nevada G. (NevadaGuy) — November 28,2006 @ 11:34AMRating: 1 Thumb Up
It’s nothing new, as this type of “poor” quality interpreters provided by institutions are causing many deaf students across the country to suffer.Please see several web sites related to this lawsuit:Lezlie Button & Clark County Community College of Southern Nevada (CCSN):
http://www.rgj.com/news/stories/html/2004/10/25/83638.php?sp1=rgj&sp2=News&sp3=Local+News&sp5=RGJ.com&sp6=news&sp7=local_news
http://www.deaftoday.com/v3/archives/2004/10/deaf_student_su.html
(Note: This case is currently under appeal in 9th Circuit of Appeal in San Francisco, CA)http://www.ada.gov/janmar02.htm (scroll down to find the related info)
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13. Comment by Moe C. (#3931) — November 28,2006 @ 3:28PMRating: 3 Thumbs Up
Harry, you say that providing interpreting services to the Deaf is “pandering.” You say this “pandering” costs money. Your implication is that the better alternative is not to spend this money. Right? It’s better not to spend those taxpayer dollars to provice access to people who can’t hear. Let them suffer in their silence, living off the dole, anyways. What they can’t hear won’t hurt them, right?furiously signing to you Just be glad you couldn’t understand that.
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14. Comment by Robert H. (Frith) — November 28,2006 @ 3:39PMRating: 3 Thumbs Up
Thank you Harry for your military service and sacrifices for our country. Understand that what I am describing below is “FYI” only, and is not meant to diminish nor dinigrate your own hearing disability. This post is meant to only provide a few insights into hardships that those born deaf or hard of hearing must contend with daily.If born deaf or with sufficiently severe hearing loss, the most immediate impact upon the individual is delayed or incomplete development of language. Persons so affected must work very hard to acquire even the most basic essentials of langauage that persons with normal hearing acquire with very little effort (merely listening).A childs brain develops very rapidly and nature intended that language be developed during infancy and early childhood. If you do not have hearing during that time frame, your brain will basically finish growing and wiring itself without auditory input. In a word, the brains of pre-lingually deaf persons are wired differently.Persons with normal hearing and normal language development rarely encounter barriers to continued growth, such as into successful careers and social contacts. Contrast this with those born deaf, who must struggle to not only acquire the language, but also attempt to bridge a communications gap in both receptive and expressive language - listening, speaking, reading and writing. All of them.
Can you make a connection here as to the breakdowns that occur in social and economic developments? Persons that become deafened later in life have usually developed language, social and job skills that will continue to carry them for the end of their lives, so the impact of a hearing loss that occurs later is orders of magnitude less in its consequences.
I don’t think that you would want to trade places with those born deaf…
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15. Comment by Jerry R. (Jetstream) — November 28,2006 @ 6:40PMRating: 1 Thumb Down
The state Attorney General’s Office is suing Pima Community College, charging it didn’t provide the help a hearing-impaired student neededI think your missing the point.
Will her employer have to hire help for her in her first job, our is everything done on computers?
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16. Comment by Moe C. (#3931) — November 28,2006 @ 7:09PMRating: 1 Thumb Up
Harry, my apologies. I didn’t realize you had a hearing impairment too. Do you sign? Do you make the use of interpreters? How about closed captions? Are they a requirement? Can you use the phone? If so, you are very lucky. If not, how do you get around it? Voice relay? Video relay? TDD/TTY? (god, not that archaic thing) Instant Messenger? (what a godsend - not only is it easy and universal, hearing people use it too, so you’re able to chat with everyone, not just other deaf people) How about in noisy social situations? Can you function? Or do you hang out primarily with deaf people?Thanks from my heart for your service to our great country. I hope you are treated well for it.
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State attorney general sues PCC
Skills of interpreters are questioned in aiding hearing-impaired student
Capitol Media Services
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 11.28.2006
PHOENIX — The state Attorney General’s Office is suing Pima Community College, charging it didn’t provide the help a hearing-impaired student needed.
Legal papers filed in Maricopa County Superior Court say the college did provide sign-language interpreters so that Stacey Duvall could understand what her instructors in the pharmacy technology program were saying.
But Assistant Attorney General Sandra Kane said in at least two of the cases, Duvall could not understand the interpreters. The college, however, insisted the two were qualified and refused to replace them, Kane said.
At one point there was an in-class confrontation between Duvall and her interpreter.
Duvall filed a complaint with the Attorney General’s Office last year and withdrew from her courses this past spring. She did not graduate in May as scheduled, according to the lawsuit, “because of the stress caused by the dispute between Duvall and the college.”
College spokesman Dave Irwin said officials do not comment on current litigation.
Kane said the law is clear that places of “public accommodation,” which includes the college, cannot discriminate based on someone’s disability. But she said the law requires more.
“The statute requires the public accommodation make sure that they take steps that may be necessary to ensure that an individual is provided access,” Kane said.
She said that means doing what is necessary to guarantee someone with a disability is not excluded, denied services, segregated or otherwise treated differently because of the failure to provide necessary aids and services. And that, said Kane, means “qualified interpreters to ensure effective communication.”
Kane said by failing to provide Duvall with an interpreter the woman could understand, the college essentially denied her the ability to participate in the classes.
The lawsuit asks that Duvall be compensated for any damage she suffered. Kane said she does not know whether Duvall wants to re-enroll in the program or simply is seeking compensation.
The suit also asks that the college be punished with a fine of up to $5,000.
http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/157976.php
16 Comments on this storyState attorney general sues PCC
PHOENIX — The state Attorney General’s Office is suing Pima Community College, charging it didn’t provide the help a hearing-impaired student needed.
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http://www.rgj.com/news/stories/html/2004/10/25/83638.php?sp1=rgj&sp2=News&sp3=Local+News&sp5=RGJ.com&sp6=news&sp7=local_news
http://www.deaftoday.com/v3/archives/2004/10/deaf_student_su.html
(Note: This case is currently under appeal in 9th Circuit of Appeal in San Francisco, CA)http://www.ada.gov/janmar02.htm (scroll down to find the related info)
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Can you make a connection here as to the breakdowns that occur in social and economic developments? Persons that become deafened later in life have usually developed language, social and job skills that will continue to carry them for the end of their lives, so the impact of a hearing loss that occurs later is orders of magnitude less in its consequences.
I don’t think that you would want to trade places with those born deaf…
Â
Will her employer have to hire help for her in her first job, our is everything done on computers?
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November 29th, 2006 at 1:18 pm
To Ette L.: there is a HUGE difference between communicating/functioning in a classroom environment (or any other lecture or group format) and the kind of one-on-one communication that occurs in most jobs. I always require an interpreter in class and at meetings and other group situations at work, but almost never for most one-on-one conversations. It is always easier to lipread someone who is looking right at you so you can see their face clearly (unlike a teacher who will be looking at all the students, not just you). And you have MUCH more control when you only have to deal with one other person because then you can ask them to slow down, or maybe write down an occasional word or repeat a line (unlike in a classroom when no one will want to take time just for you). So I use an interpreter far, far less at work than at school.
Also, depending on the job and the workplace, many jobs can be adapted. For example, if a company originally thought that a person in a given position should spend maybe 10% of their time answering the phone (i.e., it’s only one small part of the job description, NOT a key job function) then a deaf person could trade off their phone responsibilities with a hearing co worker–the hearing person takes on their phone responsibilities, and in exchange the deaf person takes on some other responsibilities that orginally belonged to the hearing person.
January 25th, 2007 at 6:38 am
Harry-read SWAP by Sam Moffie and learn more about the world of the hearing impaired (And laugh some too), you need it.