CART Recommendations and Report
The following is an excerpt from the FCCDHH 2006 Report to Governor Bush:
While many deaf consumers utilize American Sign Language (ASL) or other interpreters, Communication Access Realtime Translation (commonly known as "CART") services are used primarily by hard-of-hearing and late-deafened consumers. There is currently no certification or licensure in place for Florida's CART providers.
In 2005, the Florida Coordinating Council for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing assigned a Task Force to explore certification and licensure for interpreters and CART providers. While the interpreter group pursued licensure, the CART group explored (and continues to explore) many options of regulation.
CART Task Force Determinations & Recommendations
- Credentialing of Florida CART providers and regulation of the quality of services is desired to protect consumers;
- There is a shortage of qualified CART providers, and as a result, the CART profession in Florida is not mature enough for licensure;
- CART trainings are crucial to increasing the number of qualified providers and improving the quality of services.
- Current national certification programs test the technical skills necessary for many CART providers. These programs do not adequately test the non-technical aspects of CART.
- Condensed Text Services should not be included in CART Credentialing (see addendum)
- Florida's CART consumers should be directed to the most qualified and nationally certified CART providers in Florida and should be educated on standards and provided a vehicle for complaints.
Addendum
CONDENSED TEXT SERVICES
CART TASK FORCE RECOMMENDATIONS
The law that established the Florida Coordinating Council for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (413.271, Fl. Stat. 2004) required that the FCCDHH develop a report and recommend policies that address the needs of the deaf, hard of hearing, and late-deafened persons. Specifically, the Council was tasked to prepare a report by January 1, 2006, to include recommendations for standards for, and licensure of, sign-language interpreters and providers of Communication Access Realtime Translation services (CART) and other accreditation standards for service providers that are not subject to regulation by the state. The Council formed a Task Force to accomplish this goal.
The Task Force split into two groups for economy of effort - the interpreting licensure group and the CART licensure/accreditation group.Early on, the CART group realized that there are other modalities of speech to text services available (collectively called Condensed Text Services and hereinafter referred to as CTS for purposes of this report), which could be included in the effort to set accreditation standards, ultimately leading to licensure. These various modalities include but are not limited to C-Print (TM) and the Typewell Educational Transcription System. These services, while not verbatim or "word for word," are utilized in certain situations, primarily post-secondary educational settings.
The CART Task force recognizes these speech to text services yet struggled with the task of including CTS in the accreditation effort at this time. The rationale for this assumption includes the following observations:
- Widespread confusion exists between CTS and verbatim CART or Realtime Captioning, which prohibits the consumer from making an informed choice as to what service they actually need and receive.
- Condensed Text Services are offered as a low-cost replacement for verbatim CART, not always considering the needs of the end-user (consumer).
- D/HOH/LD consumers requesting CART or Captioning in Florida's schools, colleges and universities commonly receive CTS instead.
- No standardized training exists across the continuum of Condensed Text Services.
- No independent and objective testing or national certification standards exists for Condensed Text Services, thus rendering it impossible to adequately compare the quality and consistency of services provided through standardized and quantifiable testing methods and test results.
- Some consumers prefer CTS to CART and should be allowed to choose the preferred method after being educated about the differences.
To conclude, the CART Task Force expects these issues to be resolved in the future as the profession of Condensed Text Services evolves and national certification standards are initiated, which will alleviate our present concerns.Thus, the provision of verbatim communication access is the only modality considered for CART accreditation by the Task Force at this time.