No one in Texas wants to hire an interpreter!

Nan_Mathews said:
Lucia you have every right to be "disturbed" by all of this. Here in Angelo, it's just the same. One terp moved, the other is a 19 yr old college student. I certainly can't take him to most md visits, besides, he also works at another job. Fair seems to have nothing to do with it. San Antonio is awfully close to Corpus, like what - two hours? The Del Mar college there has a terp school. Could you call and ask for a volunteer? You may be surprised. In order to turn in a Dr., you must call the medical board in Austin, you can also email them. Just click on Place a Complaint and this link will take you there, I hope.
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The problem is with the doctors, not the interpreters. We have three major interpreting agencies right here in San Antonio alone so we have many interpreters. It's the doctors who are being such assholes about hiring an interpreter.
 
LuciaDisturbed said:
The problem is with the doctors, not the interpreters. We have three major interpreting agencies right here in San Antonio alone so we have many interpreters. It's the doctors who are being such assholes about hiring an interpreter.
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Yeah, but if you called the terp school, you might be able to find someone to go with you for no charge. I'm sure the doctor wouldn't object to you bringing your own interpreter. Yes, they SHOULD be providing it themselves, but the important thing is getting the care you need, not proving a point about the ADA.
 
Etoile said:
Yeah, but if you called the terp school, you might be able to find someone to go with you for no charge. I'm sure the doctor wouldn't object to you bringing your own interpreter. Yes, they SHOULD be providing it themselves, but the important thing is getting the care you need, not proving a point about the ADA.
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Yeah, if I want a crappy student interpreter. Uh, no. I want a professional certified interpreter, not a student one. I am concerned about confidentiality issues and the level of quality of the ASL being used. I want to make sure that I am understanding my doctors fully and that I am being understood by my doctors fully, that there are no misunderstandings, etc. Misunderstandings can really fuck up doctor-patient relationships, you know, and cause a lot of problems too.
 
LuciaDisturbed said:
Yeah, if I want a crappy student interpreter. Uh, no. I want a professional certified interpreter, not a student one. I am concerned about confidentiality issues and the level of quality of the ASL being used. I want to make sure that I am understanding my doctors fully and that I am being understood by my doctors fully, that there are no misunderstandings, etc. Misunderstandings can really fuck up doctor-patient relationships, you know, and cause a lot of problems too.
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Once again you find a reason why a suggestion someone has made to help you is unacceptable. (I wasn't the one who suggested a student terp, I was just clarifying Nan's message.) I think you have received at least a dozen ideas to help you in this thread, and you have rejected every single one of them. Why ask for help if you're going to say no to everybody who tries to help you?
 
Etoile said:
Once again you find a reason why a suggestion someone has made to help you is unacceptable. (I wasn't the one who suggested a student terp, I was just clarifying Nan's message.) I think you have received at least a dozen ideas to help you in this thread, and you have rejected every single one of them. Why ask for help if you're going to say no to everybody who tries to help you?
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*sighs*

It is a valid reason. Would you want a crappy uncertified unqualified ASL interpreter terping for you at a very important doctor's appointment? I think not. I know I wouldn't!

I want a CERTIFIED QUALIFIED ASL INTERPRETER not a crappy student interpreter! Are you telling me I should settle for less? I am not going to settle for less. I see so many Deaf people whine about unqualified or crappy interpreters and how it is so uber-important it is to have a qualified certified ASL interpreter and then now you all are telling me to settle for less by suggesting a student interpreter? That just does not make sense. I. Will. Not. Settle. For. Less. I want a certified and qualified ASL interpreter, and nothing less, period.

You all are complaining that I've been rejecting the ideas. Not so. It was just that I have tried them ALREADY. I am still trying. Currently I am having my current doctor refer me to a new neurologist and a new ortho doc in hopes that maybe the new ones will be willing to hire an ASL interpreter. I've explained this problem to my current doctor, and he said he would help me. I am waiting to hear from him. So, please, all of you, stop claiming that I am rejecting all of you people's suggestions when you have not realized that I just have ALREADY TRIED THEM ALREADY. What part of ALREADY do you not understand?
 
Nan Mathews -

According to the ADA laws we as Deaf people have full rights to an fully certified and fully qualified professional ASL interpreter at our doctor's and other medical appointments, so why are you suggesting that I settle for something less? I refuse to jeopardize the communication between myself and my neurologist or my ortho doctor by using an student interpreter who might know nothing more than the ABC's or have sloppy signing or is just simply not acting in a professional manner (such as violating the confidentality that professional ASL terps are required to keep). I want to be able to communicate fully and easily and be able to be understood easily using an qualified certified professional ASL interpreter than to use a crappy student terp who does not even know the medical terms frequently used by specialists and who will be very likely to misunderstand me and as a result misinterpret something I was trying to tell the doctor and possibly fuck up the doctor/patient communication. I want to make sure I understand everything and I want to make sure I am getting the right treatment I need, and I want to make sure I know all the information I need to know so I can make the appropriate medical decisions for myself. All of you are acting like this isn't important, that it's more important to whine to the other organizations just to support an agenda than it is to get an actual certified qualified professional ASL interpreter hired so that I can talk to my doctors! Writing back and forth on paper with pen is not going to cut it at all for me because it takes up a lot of time to just write down one question and have the doctor answer it. I want the ability to have the time to ask many initial questions and have them all answered all in my first 1-hour appointment, and a certified qualified professional ASL interpreter will allow me to do that. Paper and pen will only draw things out over a longer period of time and it would take many appointments to have all of my initial questions answered and that is not efficient at all. An certified qualified professional ASL interpreter will make the appointment more efficient for me by giving me access to faster communication between myself and my doctors. That's why it is so fucking important to me, and you all need to understand that. This is serious business. A crappy student interpreter will only end up misunderstanding me and will misinterpret a lot of shit that I am trying to say, and that could mess everything up. I refuse to put my health and life at risk by doing that. If the doctors would just be willing to pay for a certified qualified professional ASL interpreter for me it would make everything so much easier for both the doctor and me (the patient). Instead, by refusing to hire one, he not only is making things difficult for BOTH of us but he is also putting my health and life at risk due to misunderstanding and miscommunication (especially when surgery become involved!). I hear horror stories of this ALL THE TIME. Please do not tell me to take this kind of risk.


As for Etoile -

Yeah, but if you called the terp school, you might be able to find someone to go with you for no charge. I'm sure the doctor wouldn't object to you bringing your own interpreter. Yes, they SHOULD be providing it themselves, but the important thing is getting the care you need, not proving a point about the ADA.
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Etoile, I thought you would be aware of this kind of thing I just mentioned above possibly happening but obviously you are not. Student interpreters are NOT qualified at ALL to interpret in a medical setting, period. If you want me to get the care I need, do not tell me to get a student interpreter just cause they are free. I am not in this to prove a point about the ADA - I just want a damn certified and qualified professional ASL interpreter so I can talk to my doctors without ending up with a lot of miscommunication and misunderstandings between myself and my doctors, period. I will not settle for less.
 
Here is where you are making your mistake. The ADA does not guarantee you an interpreter, qualified, certified, or otherwise. It guarantees you "reasonable accommodation". That can be a terp, but it doesn't have to be. In the case that a terp is provided, the ADA provides for that terp to be "qualified." There is nothing in the ADA about the terp being "certified."

Businesses are also exempted from providing any accommodation for an employee or a customer/patient/client that would create "undue hardship." If that doctor's office has 15 or fewer employees, not to include the doctor, then they are exempt from providing any accommodation at all.

You need to look at the laws in their entirety, and not just at the part that you think benefits you or guarantees you something.

Adding criteria to your request that make it difficult to fulfill only increases the chance that you, alone, will be responsible for meeting your needs.
 
LuciaDisturbed said:
As for Etoile -



Etoile, I thought you would be aware of this kind of thing I just mentioned above possibly happening but obviously you are not. Student interpreters are NOT qualified at ALL to interpret in a medical setting, period. If you want me to get the care I need, do not tell me to get a student interpreter just cause they are free. I am not in this to prove a point about the ADA - I just want a damn certified and qualified professional ASL interpreter so I can talk to my doctors without ending up with a lot of miscommunication and misunderstandings between myself and my doctors, period. I will not settle for less.
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Of course I'm aware. I'm quite well versed in the right to interpreters. I'm also aware that in the real world, you don't always get exactly what you want. Sometimes you have to make do. If you don't want to bring your own interpreter, and the doctor won't provide one, YOU figure it out. Sometimes it sucks to be a deaf person, but it's who you are, and YOU need to figure out how to handle the situation. You aren't special, Lucia. Other deaf people face this EXACT same problem every day, and they find a way to deal with it. If you're incapable of doing so, that's fine, but don't come whining to us. We've tried to help you, you won't take help, fine. Go figure it out on your own.
 
I'm asking as a fellow AD'er not to jump on each other's throats here in this thread.

I've gotten to know Lucia more and more in PMland rather than clash with her opinions on the board. I encourage you to agree to disagree. Get to know Lucia in PMland. She does have a lot going for her on her plate.

I do feel for Lucia. Some of you may see her as an angry, whining person but to me, she's a very sweet and sensitive Lucia.

Do get to know her as it won't hurt to send a PM to each other.

Remember to agree to disagree or walk away from the thread if you cannot respect the OP's opinions.
 
Lucia,

Please do not flame me for suggesting this, but what about using a laptop or Blackberry?
 
Mrs Bucket said:
I'm asking as a fellow AD'er not to jump on each other's throats here in this thread.

I've gotten to know Lucia more and more in PMland rather than clash with her opinions on the board. I encourage you to agree to disagree. Get to know Lucia in PMland. She does have a lot going for her on her plate.

I do feel for Lucia. Some of you may see her as an angry, whining person but to me, she's a very sweet and sensitive Lucia.

Do get to know her as it won't hurt to send a PM to each other.

Remember to agree to disagree or walk away from the thread if you cannot respect the OP's opinions.
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Speaking as someone who has known Lucia since 2006, I can say this. She is a loving person, but nobody is perfect. The critisism she is getting in this thread is warranted. We've tried helping her. I've tried helping her via IMs, but she poo pooed every one of my suggestions as well. Lucia is just going to have to figure this out on her own, I'm afraid. :aw:
 
*sigh* this is nothing new. I would take someone any day that knew ANY sign (e.g. Lucia's "uncertified unqualified ASL interpreter ") any day than no one at all that couldn't help.
 
Oceanbreeze said:
Speaking as someone who has known Lucia since 2006, I can say this. She is a loving person, but nobody is perfect. The critisism she is getting in this thread is warranted. We've tried helping her. I've tried helping her via IMs, but she poo pooed every one of my suggestions as well. Lucia is just going to have to figure this out on her own, I'm afraid. :aw:
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I know I am speaking from personal experience here.

I see a lot of myself in Lucia when I was very conflicted. I would be very complicated and put up a lot of walls. I would purposely make myself very difficult for others to approach me.

Call it an emotional defense tactic. This is why I feel the need to reach out to Lucia and ask of others to take it easy although I know it is too much now.

An emotional defense tactic would be to shun logical advice and go the very opposite way when it makes no sense at all. I know because I did that myself. It's also a form of control tactic.

I can understand how the members who participated in this thread feels and I can understand how Lucia feels.
 
jillio said:
Here is where you are making your mistake. The ADA does not guarantee you an interpreter, qualified, certified, or otherwise. It guarantees you "reasonable accommodation". That can be a terp, but it doesn't have to be. In the case that a terp is provided, the ADA provides for that terp to be "qualified." There is nothing in the ADA about the terp being "certified."

Businesses are also exempted from providing any accommodation for an employee or a customer/patient/client that would create "undue hardship." If that doctor's office has 15 or fewer employees, not to include the doctor, then they are exempt from providing any accommodation at all.

You need to look at the laws in their entirety, and not just at the part that you think benefits you or guarantees you something.

Adding criteria to your request that make it difficult to fulfill only increases the chance that you, alone, will be responsible for meeting your needs.
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Don't y'all like to throw a wrench in my wheels?

The neurologist and the ortho doctor both had more than 15 employees. I know because I actually asked on the phone. They're just being selfish assholes.

Well, I consider a certified or qualified interpreter "reasonable" accommodation. You're telling me I am asking for too much? Screw y'all. I'm tired of being oppressed and not being given accommodations that I NEED. I feel I deserve a qualified interpreter who can sign good and clearly and can spell all the medical terms right if they cannot sign it. I don't want an interpreter that I cannot understand. Is that too much?

I give up. I'm done. I guess I will live the rest of my life in pain and doing nothing because I can't work nor attend school due to my pain from my severe hip dysplasia and my back injury. I have not been able to do much lately, in fact I was not able to do anything very much at all this week because my pain was intense. All I am ever asking is for a very good interpreter so I can communicate with my specialists and get them to FIX my hip and FIX my back so I can have my life back! I want to attend school and get my degree in graphic design so I can finally WORK! I am tired of being on $700 a month pittance of SSI. I'm tired of being on food stamps. I'm tired of being on the dole and being looked down on and being called a welfare bitch because I am on taxpayers money. I am 28 years old but I feel like I am 70. I would for once be able to work and earn my own damn money so people can shut up about it. You think I like being on the dole and doing nothing? No. I'm tired of it. None of you understand. I am tired of being in pain. You have no idea how bad my pain is these days. I NEED SURGERIES. I am tired of living in a broken body. That's why I need a good interpreter who can sign damned good so I can make sure I understand everything so I can make the appropriate medical decisions. I don't want a crappy interpreter, misunderstand stuff, and end up making the inappropriate medical decisions due to getting the wrong information that is being translated to me from the doctor to me and a lot of things being lost in translation. Jillio, I thought you knew how important it is to have a qualified interpreter, but apparently you don't.

Despite having Obama as our president now, this country still sucks.
 
Etoile said:
Of course I'm aware. I'm quite well versed in the right to interpreters. I'm also aware that in the real world, you don't always get exactly what you want. Sometimes you have to make do. If you don't want to bring your own interpreter, and the doctor won't provide one, YOU figure it out. Sometimes it sucks to be a deaf person, but it's who you are, and YOU need to figure out how to handle the situation. You aren't special, Lucia. Other deaf people face this EXACT same problem every day, and they find a way to deal with it. If you're incapable of doing so, that's fine, but don't come whining to us. We've tried to help you, you won't take help, fine. Go figure it out on your own.
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Who said I was special? I never said I was special. I never even thought I was special.

I'm just concerned about miscommunication and misinformation. I want to make sure I get the right information from my doctors so that I can make the appropriate medical decision. I AM trying to figure it out. It's not easy.

You seem to think you are better than me, you and the others. I'm always the underdog. I'm tired of it. Guess what, you are no better than I am. I have a feeling y'all are judgmental of me.
 
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