Programs that offer the services of trained bilingual individuals who are proficient in either or both English and French, and one or more foreign languages to help people whose command of English or French is inadequate to communicate their needs.

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Programs that offer the services of people who are proficient in sign language, one of a variety of communication systems in which hand and body movements represent words, ideas, objects, actions and other concepts, to help people who are deaf or have hearing impairments and hearing individuals communicate with one another. Included are programs for individuals who are proficient in American Sign Language (ASL), Quebec Sign Language (LSQ) as well as those who use systems like Signed Exact English (SEE), Conceptually Accurate Signed English (CASE) which involve manually coded English, signed French which involve manually coded French, cued speech in which words spoken by lips are supplemented by cues which aid speech reading, and oral transliteration in which words spoken by an individual are silently mouthed to the deaf person accompanied by appropriate facial expressions and gestures to facilitate conveyance of the information. Sign language interpreters interpret in two ways: voice-to-sign and sign-to-voice. Voice-to-sign means the interpreter is signing to the deaf person what the speaker is saying. Sign-to-voice means the interpreter is voicing to the hearing person what the deaf person is signing. Some individuals want an interpreter who can perform both roles. Others prefer to speak for themselves and limit the interpreter's role to signing to them.

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Programs that allow people who are deaf, hard of hearing or have speech impairments to communicate through a communications assistant with people who use a standard telephone or the Internet. The communications assistant relays TTY (text telephone or telecommunications device for deaf and hard of hearing individuals) to the telephone user and types that person's response back to the TTY user. Three options when using a telephone relay service are voice carry-over (VCO), hearing carry-over (HCO) and speech-to-speech (STS). VCO allows a person with a hearing impairment to speak directly to the other party and then read the response typed by a communications assistant. HCO allows a person with a speech impairment to hear the other party and relay the TTY response back to the telephone user through the communications assistant. STS provides assistance for people with speech disabilities who have difficulty being understood on the phone. STS communications assistants are specially trained in understanding a variety of speech disorders, which enables them to repeat what the caller says in a manner that makes the caller’s words clear and understandable to the called party. The relay service allows individuals with communication disorders to communicate with all telephone users. Telecommunication relay services can be reached by dialing 711.

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Programs that allow people who are deaf or have a hearing impairment and feel more comfortable expressing themselves through American Sign Language (ASL) to conduct video relay calls with family, friends or business associates through a certified ASL interpreter via a broadband Internet connection and a computer equipped with a video camera. The video interpreter signs the telephone conversation with an ASL user and voices to a hearing person via a standard telephone allowing the participant to see expressions and gestures during the call.

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