History Of Interpreter & CART Services

Since its inception in 1993, RICDHH has provided direct services by operating an American Sign Language Interpreter Referral Service throughout Rhode Island. The Captioning Referral Service was added to the program in 2010.

Using specialized knowledge and years of experience, our Interpreter Referral team will assist in referring qualified sign language interpreters and captioning providers to State government agencies, local government municipalities, private and non-profit businesses, healthcare providers, employers, K-12 schools, colleges, and colleges universities, law enforcement agencies, and many more places.

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.