ASL, CART and tactile interpreting
Book an interpreter or a live captioner.
Tell us the date and what you need. A coordinator emails within one working day with the names of the interpreters who said yes.
- Free for disabled residents attending public events
- Ten days' notice for most events, 48 hours for medical
- Deaf and DeafBlind members choose their interpreters
- Two interpreters for anything over 90 minutes
Prefer video phone? VP (555) 016-2201
Request received. .
A coordinator will email you within one working day. If the event is less than 48 hours away, call or VP us now.
How booking works
Three working days, usually
Most bookings are confirmed within three working days.
Step 1: You tell us
Use the form, email, call or VP. We need the date, place, length and who will be there.
Step 2: Interpreters say yes
We ask the roster in order of who the Deaf attendees prefer. You get their names along with the confirmation.
Step 3: We send the prep pack
Slides, song lyrics, speakers' names and anything read aloud go to the interpreter 48 hours ahead.
Step 4: Afterwards, two questions
Did it work? Would you book them again? Deaf attendees answer first, and their answers shape the roster.
Questions
Who pays, and other things people ask
Who pays for the interpreter?
If you are a disabled Madison or Dane County resident going to a public event, nobody: we cover it from donations. If you are an organization hosting the event, you pay the interpreter's rate of $65 an hour (two-hour minimum) and we add nothing on top.
Our church isn't covered by the ADA. Do we still need to do this?
Religious organizations are exempt from the ADA's public-accommodation rules. Deaf people still come to church. Our congregational rate is half price, and we can split a regular Sunday interpreter between two churches.
What is CART?
Communication Access Realtime Translation: a trained captioner types every word as it is spoken, shown on a screen or on the attendee's phone. It suits hard-of-hearing and late-deafened people who don't sign.
What if it's an emergency?
For medical appointments we can usually find someone within 48 hours. For a hospital emergency, the hospital must provide an interpreter by law. Ask for one, and call us if they say no.
Can I request a specific interpreter?
Yes, always. Write their name in the form. If they are not free, we will tell you who is before we confirm.
Downloads
Guides for event hosts
Large-print, screen-reader-tagged PDFs, plus plain text versions on request.
- 310 KBDownload
Event access checklist
Thirty things to check, from the parking lot to the slides, in the order you meet them.
EventsAug 20264 pages
- 120 KBDownload
Writing an access line for your flyer
Six sample sentences that tell disabled people they are expected.
EventsAug 20261 page
- 1.1 MBDownload
Live captions on YouTube, Facebook and Zoom
Step-by-step settings with screenshots, and where automatic captions fail.
CaptionsSep 20268 pages
- 95 KBDownload
Working with an interpreter: a host's one-pager
Where they stand, what to send ahead, and why you look at the Deaf person, not the interpreter.
InterpretingJun 20261 page
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