{"id":61539,"date":"2018-10-26T18:54:39","date_gmt":"2018-10-27T00:54:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-offering-free-sign-language-interpretation-services\/"},"modified":"2018-10-27T00:54:39","modified_gmt":"2018-10-27T00:54:39","slug":"colorado-offering-free-sign-language-interpretation-services","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-offering-free-sign-language-interpretation-services\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado offering free sign-language interpretation services"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=c3cba78e-1823-4ed9-824c-a1165c2e675b&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" alt=\"The state of Colorado has started a two-year pilot program to provide free sign-language interpretation for residents in rural areas.\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">The state of Colorado has started a two-year pilot program to provide free sign-language interpretation for residents in rural areas.<\/span><span class=\"credit\">Amel Emric\/Associated Press file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>People in need of sign-language interpretation services can request them for free under a pilot program being offered by the state of Colorado.<\/p>\n<p>Rural residents who are deaf, hard of hearing or deaf and blind can receive the interpretation services for medical, legal and work-related reasons, among others, according to a news release.<\/p>\n<p>Front Range residents have access to established sign-language interpreting services, but there are few certified sign-language interpreters available in rural areas, said Trish Leakey, auxiliary services manager for the <a href=\"https:\/\/ccdhh.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Colorado Commission for the Deaf, Hard of Hearing and DeafBlind<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The shortage of interpretors \u201cis a frequent barrier for communities who seek effective communication between the general community and individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing or deafblind,\u201d she said in an email to <em class=\"Nimrod Ital\">The Durango Herald<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>The staff at Southwest Center for Independence, a nonprofit that serves people with disabilities, have not had a problem finding interpreters, but any help the commission can offer with interpretative services would be beneficial to the deaf community, said Martha Mason, executive director of the center.<\/p>\n<p>Colorado\u2019s Joint Budget Committee allocated $1.4 million to the two-year pilot program to provide free interpretative services. The pilot program will also offer sign-language interpreter training, Leakey said.<\/p>\n<p>So far, the pilot program has received 45 interpreting requests, mostly from Alamosa, Grand Junction and Pueblo, she said.<\/p>\n<p>Residents can request interpretation if they are attending a town meeting or a library program. It is also available for people attending a job training workshop, a job interview or a meeting with a supervisor.<\/p>\n<p>To evaluate the pilot program, the state is collecting data about requests for interpretation and surveying people who receive the services, Leakey said.<\/p>\n<p>Anyone in need of interpretative services can request them through <a href=\"http:\/\/colorisp.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">colorisp.com<\/a> or by calling (720) 457-3679.<\/p>\n<p><em class=\"mwc_shirttail\"><a href=\"mailto:mshinn@durangoherald.com\">mshinn@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two-year pilot aimed at rural areas<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":61540,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[2045,1347,28,29,668],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-61539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-disabled","tag-government-health-care","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter","tag-public-health"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61539\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61539"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=61539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}