New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo now provides in-frame interpreter after judge’s order

Today there was an in-frame interpreter on New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s daily briefing on Covid-19. The interpreter is a Certified Deaf Interpreter named Arkady Belozovsky and the Feed Interpreter is Jeff Harris. 

The interpreter was placed in a PIP screen to the right of the video and was in a rather small frame. It seems like he took up 10% or less of the screen, which is below the World Federation of the Deaf’s guideline of the interpreter having at least 25% of the screen. 

I received three messages by people who showed what it looked like.  

[Images]

Thank you three for sending the images. You can observe some differences. Some had the interpreter blocked by a logo. Some frames were small. Those who sent me the images said they were not completely satisfied. But it’s a step forward. 

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How did this happen? U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni ordered Gov. Cuomo that he was to immediately provide in-frame interpreting. The order was issued on Monday. On Tuesday she released a written order/opinion. This decision was a result of a lawsuit filed by Disability Rights New York on behalf of four deaf individuals who lived in New York state. 

Judge Caproni said “a public entity discriminates against a disabled individual when it fails to provide “meaningful access” to its benefits, programs, or services. If meaningful access is not provided, it is discrimination. The judge said Gov. Cuomo’s office argued that they do provide meaningful access in a multiplicity of ways — such as closed captioning, an online ASL stream, or visual PowerPoint slides. The judge said the Court disagrees and pointed out that the online ASL interpretations are not readily accessible to deaf plaintiffs who do not have internet access. The judge said closed captioning do not accommodate Plaintiffs who cannot read English. 

The judge said Gov. Cuomo was “cavalier” because he argued that deaf plaintiffs did not take advantage of various methods of access they provided. The judge said that was cavalier. In the footnotes of the judge’s opinion, it explains that the accommodations provided should not have to rely on deaf individuals having internet access. The footnotes pointed out that some channels that broadcast the briefings did not provide closed captioning or did not caption questions from the audience. The in-frame interpreting would effectively satisfy those needs. 

The judge said that Gov. Cuomo, in his response to the lawsuit, did not argue that providing in-frame ASL interpreters would alter the nature of the briefings or cause a financial burden. The judge said 49 other Governors in the country and the Mayor of New York City provide this accommodation. 

The judge said she granted a preliminary injunction because she believes that if the court waited until the court process plays out and the end of trial, deaf plaintiffs would be harmed because they would miss out on important daily updates about Covid-19.  

So now with New York providing in-frame ASL interpreters, all 50 states have had some form of ASL interpreters for their press briefings. It took a lawsuit and a federal judge’s order for New York to finally provide one. I will continue to be on this issue and provide updates as I get them.