No one in Texas wants to hire an interpreter!

LuciaDisturbed

LuciaDisturbed

New Member
Joined
May 28, 2006
Messages
7,718
Reaction score
3
I've been trying for the past few months to see a neurologist and a rheumologist, but NO ONE will shell out the cash for an interpreter, even though they are aware of the liability if they don't hire one. I warned them that it is a violation of the ADA laws, they tell me they don't give a flying fuck about that and that they don't want to hire an interpreter, and they won't even see me and let me write back and forth...they just can't be bothered to deal with deaf patients! I am so frustrated and I do not know what to do anymore. I seriously need a wheelchair, and I seriously need to find out what the hell is wrong with me, but no one wants to do tests and treat me. I have a harder time getting around some days, and other days I am ok. I have good days and bad days, but on the bad days and on days where there is a lot of walking involved (such as Six Flags and Sea World and Schlitterbahn Park) I seriously need a wheelchair. I can barely walk more than a block now. It hurts to walk a lot of the time, and sometimes my legs below my knees goes numb completely. My issues are really getting in the way of my quality of life and only if I had a wheelchair it wouldn't be such an issue. I never had this refusal to hire interpreters issue in Minnesota, in fact ALL the doctors and ALL the clinics in Minnesota are so scared of the liability issue that they totally insist on hiring an interpreter no matter what. But down here in Texas they don't care about liability. They just can't be bothered. They don't care. I feel like no one cares. I seriously need to know what is happening to me and why and they won't do anything. I can't get a lawyer cause I don't have the money, I am on a fixed income, so I am stuck. I can't do anything about it anymore. Because of this, I am at home most of the time stuck at the computer or watching movies all day long because I can't really do anything else outside of the home, I can't go out and have fun most of the time, the only times I ever leave my apartment is to go to the doctors or to go to deaf bowling with my fiance where all I do is sit and chat with the other deafies who do not bowl but come just to socialize. I can't even bowl more than one game, if I do bowl more than one game my hips get really pissy with me, and so does my back. I have 2 injured discs in my lower back as well as peripheral neuropathy and fibromyalgia, but I think there is something worse going on with me given the symptoms I am having right now. I don't know what to do anymore and I am so frustrated and tired and pissed and sad. My fiance is worried about me. I don't know what to do. My body is waging a war on itself, and I will lose the war if no one will help me. I try to fight, but no one will help. I can't win if no one will help me. Do any one know what to do? I need some some advice and some suggestions. And no, I'm not moving out of Texas, that is completely out of the question. I can't threaten legal action because NO ONE cares about liability, they don't even care if I try to sue. They just don't give a flying fuck. I really, really, really want my hip and my back fixed so I can have a normal life again. I can't even work. I'm on SSI/SS for a really long time. I can't depend on SSI/SS forever, I don't think it will last long, given the terrible economy nowadays. If I at least had a wheelchair, my quality of life might be better. Right now I kind of feel like an invalid, and I don't like that. I would like to go out and do fun stuff all the time, go downtown on the bus, visit the riverwalk and go to the mall and go to the art museum across town. A wheelchair would allow me to do all those things (all the buses here are accessible and have ramps and spaces for wheelchair users. I would like to go to Walmart and not have to use their awful motor carts. They suck, they are VERY SLOW (slower than a person walking!), and sometimes they make a clunk clunk clunk noise all the time that is EXTREMELY ANNOYING. My fiance even says the motor cart is VERY LOUD when it runs. I don't have a disabled parking placard because I don't have a car of my own, so my fiance has to drop me off at the front doors of Walmart or any other store, and then he has to go and search for a regular parking spot. It's pretty difficult for me. I'm tired and sick of all this. I wish someone would help me make the stupid doctors hire interpreters for me and see me and give me what I need (wheelchair, surgeries, etc). I'm just pretty frustrated right now.

Do anyone have any suggestions, ideas, whatever? Moving out of Texas is OUT OF THE QUESTION. I just want to get the damn doctors to hire interpreters and to be willing to see me. They don't want to see me at all because I'm deaf and they can't be bothered to hire interpreters or even to use paper and pen (I'm more than willing to write back and forth if necessary, it's not too much of a problem for me cause I have good English skills, but I really prefer to have an interpreter because that way I can tell the doctor EVERYTHING and it would save a lot of time, writing back and forth takes up a lot of time and I can't do it for hours. the doctors have limited times with each patient. Having an interpreter would be so much quicker and easier. It would ease a lot of communication issues for both me and for the doctors.)

Thank you in advance. Sorry if this post sounds whiny, but I am just really frustrated at this point and would really like some good advice and suggestions.
 
did you try contacting Texas ADA? or ADA hotline?
 
If you have them saying they dont care in writing?, then you are building strong case against them.

Try ACULA Im not sure the spelling but yes there is free attorney and it won't hurt to ask.

You STILL can get HC parking permit EVEN if you don't have car. If you have physical issues then go for it.
 
diehardbiker said:
If you have them saying they dont care in writing?, then you are building strong case against them.

Try ACULA Im not sure the spelling but yes there is free attorney and it won't hurt to ask.

You STILL can get HC parking permit EVEN if you don't have car. If you have physical issues then go for it.
Click to expand...

I don't have it in writing because they said it on the phone when I used VRS on VP. So I have no proof.

No. I can't get HC parking placard if I do not have my own car - it's the law here in Texas...my fiance told me this. He knows because his grandfather has a placard, and he was required to have his own vehicle in order to have the placard. The placard cannot be used on any other vehicle, only his own. So if I got my own placard, I cannot use it on my fiance's truck, it has to be my own vehicle.

I never heard of the ACULA.
 
Jiro said:
did you try contacting Texas ADA? or ADA hotline?
Click to expand...

I don't even know where.

I have had my fiance's boss, who does ADA consulting, call my doctors and tell them that their refusal to hire an ASL interpreter is against the ADA law and a violation as well, and they still don't care. Why bother? I've been putting so much energy into trying to get the damn doctors to comply with the ADA laws that I'm so tired a lot of the time. And I fail. Every time I try to get a doctor to comply with the ADA laws, it always results in an EPIC FAIL. I feel like an EPIC FAIL every time I am denied interpreting services. I try to fight for my rights, and I lose every time. This is too much bullshit for me to handle, and I just want them to just fucking comply and see me and do what they need to do to fix what the fuck is wrong with me, so that I can have a better quality of life. I feel like I am being neglected every time the doctors refuse to hire interpreters and refuse to see me just because I am deaf, even if I try to meet them halfway, offering to write on paper, giving them numbers to all 3 major interpreting agencies here in San Antonio, I give them the business cards with all the phone numbers and email address and other important information, and they still don't care. They probably toss the business cards into the trash as soon as I walk out of the clinic. I even call far in advance before my appointments to tell them I need an ASL interpreter, like more than two weeks in advance, and they still won't hire one. I am not like one of those deaf people who say nothing and then show up on the day of the appointment and demand that they get an interpreter OMGZ RIGHT NOW THIS SECOND! because I understand that there is an interpreter shortage and that you can't just get an interpreter to come on the day of the appointment, that you can't just conjure an interpreter out of thin air (some deaf people actually expect them to conjure an interpreter out of thin air as if it's magic) and scream and say "you are violating the ADA laws", I always call far in advance, give them ALL the info they need in order to contact the agencies, explain how to get one, etc. I don't make them search for an interpreter because they don't know where to get one...I try to make it easy for them to find an interpreter by giving them the business cards of all 3 major interpreting agencies here in San Antonio, and let them pick which agency they want to use. And still, they refuse. I just don't get it. Why are the doctors here in Texas such assholes? I only have ONE doctor that is not an asshole, all the rest are assholes who think that it is their right to refuse to provide an ASL interpreter to any deaf patient and even refuse to allow me to use paper and pen to communicate. It seems like they just don't want to have anything to do with the deaf people. It's really frustrating. I feel like an epic fail right now because I can't get specialists to see me just because I'm deaf. Some times I even wish I was hearing so I wouldn't have to deal with this bullshit, it's so exhausting. (no, I do not mind being deaf, it's just that sometimes it makes some things difficult).
 
Lucia,

Have you tried contacting the Lions Club in San Antonio to find out if they could donate a wheelchair or scooter to you?

Do you have Medicaid and/or Medicare? If so, they may be able to pay for a wheelchair or scooter as well.
 
Have you contract Civil Rights Division in your area and see what they can do to help you? or contract Texas Civil Rights lawyer to get a free consultation.
 
diehardbiker said:
If you have them saying they dont care in writing?, then you are building strong case against them.

Try ACULA Im not sure the spelling but yes there is free attorney and it won't hurt to ask.

You STILL can get HC parking permit EVEN if you don't have car. If you have physical issues then go for it.
Click to expand...

LuciaDisturbed said:
I don't have it in writing because they said it on the phone when I used VRS on VP. So I have no proof.

No. I can't get HC parking placard if I do not have my own car - it's the law here in Texas...my fiance told me this. He knows because his grandfather has a placard, and he was required to have his own vehicle in order to have the placard. The placard cannot be used on any other vehicle, only his own. So if I got my own placard, I cannot use it on my fiance's truck, it has to be my own vehicle.

I never heard of the ACULA.
Click to expand...

ACLU - American Civil Liberties Union
 
why not pick different doctors?
 
Lucia, it is obvious these doctors arent doctors because they care about their patients ...that means they shouldnt be doctors in the first place. What about contacting the medical license board and complain to them about those doctors along with taking everyone else's advice? I know you said you are tired...


Maybe if u contact your local news station and share your story with them and see if u can get it out in public about those doctors? The media loves to destroy the bad apples in all professions.
 
Before you judge on Texas. I do not have problem with interpreter when I went to get my eyes exam and in hospital.

You need to know which interpreter service's telephone number that you're able to hand to them where they will reach it for you.
 
Try this one Lucia:

Tell them that in order for them to treat you, you have to be able to give fully informed consent for treatment. Unless communication is interpreted, or put in writing, there is no way that you can understand everything that is being said, and therefore, it is impossible for you to give fully informed consent. Therefore, either they hire an intepreter for your visits, or you file a complaint with the ethics board for failure to get fully informed consent, and for discrimination against a person with a disability.
 
Have you try one in Austin? Austin has the excellent interpreter services as well as the hospitals around TSD.
 
jillio said:
Try this one Lucia:

Tell them that in order for them to treat you, you have to be able to give fully informed consent for treatment. Unless communication is interpreted, or put in writing, there is no way that you can understand everything that is being said, and therefore, it is impossible for you to give fully informed consent. Therefore, either they hire an intepreter for your visits, or you file a complaint with the ethics board for failure to get fully informed consent, and for discrimination against a person with a disability.
Click to expand...

Three cheers for Jillio!
 
Jiro said:
why not pick different doctors?
Click to expand...

It's not that simple. I've tried many different doctors, and NO ONE wants to hire an interpreter because it costs MONEY, and also because they can't be bothered to hire one. I'm frustrated because of that. Also, since I am on medicaid and medicare, I am limited as in to what doctors I can see.
 
Hear Again said:
Lucia,

Have you tried contacting the Lions Club in San Antonio to find out if they could donate a wheelchair or scooter to you?
Click to expand...

If I get one from Lions Club I will end up with a hospital type chair that I can't even get around in. Those are the worst kind. I've had those before.

Do you have Medicaid and/or Medicare? If so, they may be able to pay for a wheelchair or scooter as well.
Click to expand...

Not that simple. In order to get Medicaid and/or Medicare pay for a wheelchair/scooter I have to get a RX from a doctor. I can't find a doctor who is willing to see me and willing to hire an interpreter hence I am stuck and cannot get a stupid simple RX to get a wheelchair.
 
shel90 said:
Maybe if u contact your local news station and share your story with them and see if u can get it out in public about those doctors? The media loves to destroy the bad apples in all professions.
Click to expand...

No...I don't want that kind of attention. I really do not want my face on TV...so, no.
 
Back
Top