Review of Sign Language Interpretation Services and Service ...

access to public services and the capacity to participate in civil society as a right.They point to the investment made in integrating access for people with physicaldisabilities into the environment, and want to see a commitment to access to signlanguage interpretation as a right. Many in the Deaf community saw therecognition of Irish Sign Language as the first language of Deaf people as a keymeans for ensuring that communication access becomes the norm.One public service provider raised the question of how to guarantee funding forinterpretation on a demand-led basis in situations where the legislative provision isa discretionary provision, as in the case of the health services, and where there arecompeting demands for funding. Different solutions may be needed for differentorganisations, in line with their differing legislative frameworks.For Deaf people, and representative organisations, the strong view is that Deafpeople must be able to participate fully in all aspects of civil society, and thatprovision will be needed to make that participation possible.4.4.3 A scheme of entitlementsStakeholders discussed the ways in which a scheme of entitlements might bedelivered, and, again, a range of views was expressed. The possibility of anallocation of funding/hours of interpretation to an individual Deaf personregistered as having an entitlement (an allowance along the lines of the DisabilityAllowance concept) was raised as a possible way forward. However, some Deafpeople had concerns about such an approach, both in principle and in practice.The provision of a limited number of hours of interpreter time does not sit easilywith the concept of needs-led access and participation. At a practical level, thetransfer of the burden of administering the allocation could rest with the Deafindividual, and this would pose difficulties for many Deaf people who strugglewith poor literacy levels.4.4.4 Who pays?Closely allied to these issues was the question of who should pay forinterpretation for different purposes. There did not appear to be any question inthe minds of the Deaf community or public service providers but that publicservice providers should pay for interpretation to enable Deaf people to accesspublic services. However, there were differing views about payment for socialinterpreting, commercial services and payment for services in grey areas such asaccessing private healthcare. On the one hand, there was the view that sincecommunication is inherent in the business of daily living, an equality approachshould mean that Deaf people should not have to pay for interpreting in anycircumstances. Another view was that the debate about the precise nature ofentitlement, and the scope for some means testing of entitlement, simply has nothappened in Ireland. Yet another view was that there would be scope for a mix ofapproaches including some provision for an allocation to individuals for socialinterpreting, alongside entitlement as of right for accessing public services.Review of Sign Language Interpretation Services and Service Requirements in Ireland • page 67