RID was invited to join the consumer groups at meetings with the five Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Commissioners’ offices to discuss ongoing issues related to VRS and interpreters. The ex parte filing, highlighting the key points made during the meetings held on Monday, September 28, 2015, are available here.
Excerpt from the letter:
On September 28, 2015, Claude Stout, Executive Director, Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Inc. (“TDI”); Zainab Alkebsi, Policy Counsel, National Association of the Deaf (“NAD”); Tina Maggio, Sr. Director of Programs and Services, Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, Inc. (“RID”) (together, the “representatives”) and the undersigned participated in separate meetings with Maria Kirby, Legal Advisor to Chairman Tom Wheeler; Rebekah Goodheart, Legal Advisor to Commissioner Mignon Clyburn; Travis Litman, Legal Advisor, and Jennifer Thompson, Special Advisor to Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel; Amy Bender, Legal Advisor to Commissioner Michael O’Rielly; and Nicholas Degani, Legal Advisor to Commissioner Ajit Pai.
The representatives asked that the Commission move forward with a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”) to consider proposals recommended in the Joint Proposal of All Six VRS Providers (“Joint Proposal”)1 and in particular a new speed-of-answer (“SoA”) benchmark and a trial for skills-based routing and deaf interpreters.
The full ex parte filing is here.
Advocating for interpreters is an important part of the RID Mission.