Michigan raises sign language interpreter standards, but state has interpreter shortage

From The Grand Rapids Press in Michigan. In the picture, Misti Ryefield, left, interprets for Katie Prins, executive director for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services of Michigan.

Marty Jansen was up bright and early for a 7 a.m. appointment with his heart doctor. An interpreter, he was told, was on the way.
Sure enough, in walked a spoken Spanish interpreter. A nice guy, Jansen recalls, but not much help to a deaf person.

"I had to wait an hour for (an American Sign Language) interpreter to come," said Jansen, 70, through an interpreter. "They didn't have an excuse. (The doctor's office) obviously didn't look at my form."

And then there was the time an interpreter failed to inform Jansen a heart procedure would be uncomfortable. And the time an interpreter did not understand the meaning of "saline," a common term in medicine. And the time an interpreter did not know the sign for "stress test."

"There were many words she didn't know," said Dianne Jansen, Marty's wife of 46 years, who also is hard of hearing.

The staff at Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services of Michigan hear stories like Jansen's all the time.

"It's surprising every day that that's still happening," said Nan Soper, an interpreter referral specialist at DHHS.

"Most of the places that call me have no clue about what they're required to provide."
Providing qualified interpreters for medical appointments and other purposes is not easy. Since 2007, the state has tightened regulation of ASL interpreters by requiring certification. The law applies to public and private entities including banks, courts, doctors, employers, funeral homes, libraries and schools.

"There is a severe shortage of Sign Language interpreters in Michigan," Sheryl Emery, director of the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth's Division on Deaf and Hard of Hearing wrote by e-mail. While deaf advocates laud the new standards, they also have more work to ensure society complies with the law. That includes educating workplaces and drumming up more interpreters.

Michigan ranks seventh nationally with a hearing loss population of about 870,000, including more than 90,000 deaf people. In the region of the state that includes Kent and Ottawa counties, there are 65 registered interpreters for a deaf population of about 11,500.

A state study forecasts a gap between interpreter supply and demand may exist for the next 15 to 20 years. A new certification test is set to debut this fall, according to Emery.

"The demand is exceedingly high," Emery wrote. Katie Prins, executive director of DHHS, uses a video phone to communicate with other deaf people through call centers where interpreters relay signs 24 hours a day. That's one example of potential employment in the field, she said through an interpreter.

"We're hoping that more people can see there are jobs available," said Prins, 29, who was hired last year to lead DHHS. "The economy's difficult here, but we do have a niche in the market."

Angela Grzemkowski, a program advisor for Lansing Community College's sign language program, has heard some of the interpreter horror stories, like one about a deaf-blind woman who awoke with a double mastectomy without knowing about the operation.

Until 2007, interpreters could work without state certification. But the Deaf Person's Interpreter Act changed that. "We're seeing a lot of second career people," she said. "The field is growing by leaps and bounds.

"We're happy about (the new standards) just for the sake of those consumers. You should have heard the testimony when that law was going into effect. It was just heart wrenching."

LCC, which has produced half of the working interpreters in Michigan, graduated 18 students in July and another 34 are entering the program this fall. It takes about two-and-a-half years to complete the coursework.

Other Michigan schools offer the program, including Baker College, Madonna University and Mott Community College.

At LCC, students pick up 800 signs in the first 16 weeks. But the process is far from glamorous, cautions Soper, the referral specialist at DHHS.

"It's not that easy," she said. "It's learning a second language.

DHHS recommends people first take a non-credit sign language class to whet their appetite. Fall classes at DHHS start Tuesday.

Without the accompanying signs, the needs of deaf people like Marty Jansen may continue to go unsatisfied.

"It's kind of like the unknown disability," said Deb Atwood, DHHS business manager. "You can see people in a wheelchair, but you can't see a deaf person."

As a result, an interpreter headache like what Marty Jansen experienced "happens all the time," she said. So Jansen and his wife are speaking out for all to hear. "We want to make sure it doesn't happen again," Dianne Jansen said.