Official State of Rhode Island website

State of Rhode Island Commission on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Executive Department / Established in 1977. Restructured in 1992.

History Of Interpreter & CART Services

Year Event
1990 RICDHH created the pilot program for the Sign Language Interpreter Referral Service.
1993 After 3 successful years, RICDHH established the Interpreter Referral Service by awarding a contract to the Ocean State Center for Independent Living (OSCIL).
2003 RICDHH decided to move the Interpreter Referral Service in-house.
2009 RICDHH added the Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) service to its Referral Service on a pilot basis. The CART service, one of the other reasonable and effective accommodations offered in Rhode Island, is frequently used by hard of hearing people and cochlear implant users, as well as deaf people, in order to maximize communication access. 
2010 After a successful pilot, CART service became part of the RICDHH Referral Service permanently.
2018 The Emergency Interpreter Referral Service After Hours (4 P.M. to 8 A.M.) has been discontinued.

To see press release, click here.

For ASL version, click here.