Deaf community urges creation of State Interpreting Standards Board to address interpreter shortage

Testimony at the Human Services Committee hearing on Feb. 20 centered on House Bill 6932, which would establish a State Interpreting Standards Board to set qualifications, maintain a grievance process and expand pathways for sign-language and tactile interpreters in Connecticut. Presenters representing consumer and provider groups said the state faces a long-running shortage of in-person interpreters — particularly for medical and tactile interpretation for deafblind clients — and that remote/video interpreting often fails to meet patients’ communication needs.

Advocates described multiple, concrete problems: lengthy waits to secure in-person interpreters; a tiny pool of nationally certified interpreters based in Connecticut (testimony listed 66 hearing certified interpreters and eight certified deaf interpreters as state‑based); an aging interpreter workforce; a single in‑state interpreter training program with low enrollment; and inadequate tracking of interpreters’ qualifications and location. Luisa Gasco Sobolewski, co‑chair of the Governor’s Advisory Board for Persons who are Deaf,…