Question:  I am the office manager for a physician, who is a sole practitioner in a rural area of our state. I received a call from a deaf individual who was using phone relay services to make an appointment. The Doctor has seen this patient in the past and the woman's mother has interpreted for the visits. Now the patient is stating that we are responsible for getting an interpreter and paying for the interpreter.

The cost of the interpreter is more then the Doctor charges the patient's insurance for the visits. The Doctor would be losing money if she were required to pay for an interpreter. Are we responsible for providing and paying the interpreter? Why can't we have the mother continue to interpret for the visit?

Answer:  The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires covered entities to provide effective communication with individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing. A place of public accommodation is required to take steps that may be necessary to ensure that no individual with a disability is excluded, denied services, segregated or otherwise treated differently than other individuals because of the absence of auxiliary aids and services.

The term auxiliary aids and services includes qualified interpreters, note takers, computer-aided transcription services, written materials, telephone handset amplifiers, assistive listening devices, assistive listening systems, telephones compatible with hearing aids, closed caption decoders, open and closed captioning, telecommunications devices for deaf persons (TDD's), video text displays, or other effective methods of making aurally delivered materials available.

The ADA does not require a place of public accommodation to provide a qualified sign language interpreter in order to communicate with individuals with hearing impairments. The ADA requires a place of public accommodation to provide an effective means of communication. In determining when a qualified sign language interpreter is necessary an entity should consider the duration and complexity of the information that is to be delivered. In many instances involving the delivery of complex information in medical settings writing notes would not be an effective means of communicating and would warrant the provision of a qualified sign language interpreter. Family members or friends may be unable to be impartial or confidential while interpreting in a medical setting and for this reason the ADA deems it inappropriate to require a family member or friend to serve as the interpreter.

A covered entity must provide an appropriate auxiliary aid or service unless the public accommodation can demonstrate that taking those steps would fundamentally alter the nature of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations being offered or would result in an undue burden, i.e., significant difficulty or expense. If a public accommodation refuses to provide an auxiliary aid because it would result in an undue burden and/or alter the nature of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations offered by the public accommodation an alternative auxiliary aid or service must be provided, if one exists, that would not fundamentally alter the nature of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations offered by the public accommodation.

A public accommodation may not impose a surcharge on a particular individual with a disability or any group of individuals with disabilities to cover the costs of providing an auxiliary aid. The cost of providing an auxiliary aid should be regarded as an inherent part of doing business. Covered entities may be eligible for tax credits when furnishing necessary auxiliary aids and services needed to communicate with individuals with disabilities. If you wish to receive additional information regarding the rights and responsibilities of individuals and covered entities and tax credits available under the ADA you may contact the Great Lakes Center by calling (800) 949-4232 (V/TTY) or via our online contact form.

The Great Lakes ADA Center disseminates publications related to all aspects of the ADA to inform and raise awareness of disability issues and to foster voluntary compliance with the ADA.  The Great Lakes ADA Center disseminates materials including posters, regulations and technical bulletins on various ADA topics.