My husband and I have been in the middle of making out new Wills. We did have a Will, but it was showing signs of old age and definately not acknowledging the new "laws of the times". When a married couple flies the friendly skies hither and yon, it is comforting to know that if you wind up shark bait, that your estate(s) will be dispersed in a timely and appropriate manner.
First we had to find a lawyer with a license in both Oregon and Washington since we own property in both states. For the first couple of meetings with our lawyer, I did not demand an interpreter, trusting my husband to keep me "informed". Well THIS did not work, and I became very weary of being "invisible". Plus, my husband is very HOH from age, and it appears that I can read lips better than he can HEAR, so at home we went "around and around". Not fun! And very unecessary! (Have I mentioned that I am Irish??!)
I also need to explain that my husband and I are "older" and remarried late in life and both of us have families from prior marriages.
So, my husband called the lawyer's secretary and asked for an ASL interpreter. We live in a small town on the Oregon Coast and interpreters are extremely difficult to come by AND most of them are personal friends! The secretary promised to "look into the matter" and phoned my husband back and forth giving him several telephone numbers, instructing us to call and make the arrangements. My "deaf antennae" went up! Up high! And then higher! I told my husband that it was the lawyer's office's responsibility to find, hire and book (and PAY) the interpreter, not ours and that it should have been done long ago. I reminded him that if we had been immigrants, we would have had an interpreter "pronto"!!
Keep in mind we are dealing with a law office here! What happened to the ADA Law? Where is "it" hiding?? Geeze, Louise! No wonder lawyers have a bad name!
Well, I am happy to tell you that it all turned out okay, tho my Irish temper kept insisting on rising to the occasion. The terp showed up and tho she is a personal friend she is one that I can trust. We all left the meeting feeling satisfied with the results, and everyone exited happy. 'Kind of.
However the terp did make a comment (which I agreed with) that we would most likely be "docked" for her services when we received our final bill for making out the new Will. ~~ Sigh ~~ where are my rights?
Lantana
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We all know that ADA is worthless to us, we all know that. Wow, as much as I'd love to live in Astoria whenever we can settle down one day but I can imagine how difficult it could be getting an ASL interpreter there.
ReplyDeleteHmm...
Keep eye on the bill and if they did dock out of your pocket paying for an interpreter, you have every rights to object. Please keep us posted and I'd love to back you up.
I've been there, done that believe me.
Hugs
-SG
I am glad to know everything turned out OK. You did a great job advocating for interpreter services. Well done. If you are charged for the interpreter services, please contact me -- Rosaline.Crawford (at) nad.org
ReplyDeleteSome lawyers know about the ADA but disagree with the providing interpreter part. Very much! One lawyer walked out of his office when I asked him to pay the interpreter.
ReplyDeleteHere in Rochester, just about every lawyer I have met or heard about refuses upfront to pay. They get around it by asking you to find and bring in the interpeter, and refuse to pay because "it was not authorized in writing first."
Once I heard an interpreter dropped his bill because he did not want to charge the client just because the lawyer refused. He will not interpret for lawyers again. Another interpreter sued the lawyer, I don't know if he won.
On the other hand, in this area doctors are willing to provide interpreters and are very nice about it.
Good job advocating for a terp! Be sure to thank the attorney for providing one in case you need to do business with them again. :)
ReplyDeleteAt the end of our meeting, I made a little "speech" through the interpreter making sure that the lawyer knew that I appreciated NOT BEING INVISIBLE. And he apologized for not having one for our past visits, he was under the impression that I was a skilled lipreader, which I am, "but". Very few hearing people understand the dynamics involved with lipreading. Seems like the more educated a hearing person is the less they comprehend!
ReplyDeleteThe billing is a joke. They will just find a clever way to tack on the cost of the terp on our bill. I am wondering now, how the immigrants deal with the subject of interpreters, they do not appear to have a problem! And THEIR terps are very well paid.
Lantana
Hi Lantna.
ReplyDeleteIt's a frustrating learning experience when we're not provided with an interpreter, but we lip-readers need to own up to our part of the problem. We need to not assume that we can get by without an interpreter or back up form of communication like a note taker.
If we go into a meeting "hoping" our spouse or family member will keep us informed, or we do not ask for an interpreter right away, the hearing people make the same assumption your lawyer did - that we don't need one.
I had this very experience and it was eye-opening. I called a meeting at my son's school back when he was in second grade because I has some concerns about his delay in fine motor skills. My goal was to have him assessed to rule out any possible learning difference and assess his need for support.
Like you, I'm a good lip reader. Spoken English is my first language. I wanted to communicate proficiently using my own voice and with my husband there (who signs ok, but does not have a terp attitude) I assumed I would be able to follow.
Wrong!
I went through 2 meetings without asking for an interpreter, assuming I could get by, but after the second meeting I came home in tears.
Like you, I was invisible. They spoke only to my husband and he was not the linguistic processing machine I needed. He wrote chicken scratch notes that I couldn't read. He was there as a father, not an interpreter. So this was my bad.
Here I was a School Counselor, a Parent Educator, equally, if not more, knowledgeable than some of the people at the meeting. But they did not know this. They only saw me as a disabled, quiet mom whose husband would fill her in after the meeting.
Phooey!
So, I wrote a long e-mail, owning and apologizing for my part of the problem for not asking for an interpreter right away. Then I made it clear that it was a learning experience for me as a hearing mom of an only child in the public (hearing) school system.
The point was that I could not assume, even though I'm a good lip reader, that I cold get by without an interpreter. From that moment on, I required a terp for EVERY school meeting! The school, after looking into the ADA laws, happily provided me with terps and have been wonderful at this ever since. It was just something we had to learn about ourselves and how we work together.
You should have seen the difference at the following meetings! I was a mover and a shaker! Got things done. They were like, "Whoa! Where did this lady come from?!" What a difference ACCESS makes! I won't ever make that mistake again!
(Did I mention I also have Irish blood in me?) ;)
~ LaRonda
I meant: for me as a deaf mom, not a hearing mom of an only child... My brain took a temporary hike there for a moment...
ReplyDelete~ Laronda
Life is no fair!
ReplyDelete