Since Gateway hosted the Town Hall meeting on Monday, December 9th, a lot more information has surfaced about the upcoming Maryland law. The effect date for the Maryland Interpreting Law has been pushed back to January 1, 2026 while the State Board of Sign Language Interpreters (SBSLI) works out its rules and regulations. This will entail the new requirements for all sign language interpreters to be licensed, a change that has both promising and challenging implications for those requesting sign language interpreting services. While the goal of this law is to ensure consistent quality in interpretation services, there are concerns about its potential impact, especially considering the existing shortage of qualified interpreters.
The Nuances of Maryland’s Interpreter Licensing Law
The new law requires all sign language interpreters in Maryland to be licensed through a newly formed state board, SBSLI. The regulations of this new law are intended to standardize interpreting services, ensuring that interpreters meet essential qualifications and adhere to professional ethics, which are important in all areas of life and more critical in settings like healthcare, education, and legal contexts.
However, the path to licensing involves more than simply applying and paying a fee. In order to work in Maryland, interpreters will need to meet new specific requirements that come with a cost. These new requirements are a step in the right direction, but the lack of clear guidelines and the short implementation timeframe are causing much concern. Moving the law’s effective date will help interpreters, agencies, and business partners who are worried about meeting the new standards without knowing the exact requirements.
The Potential Impact on Accessing Accommodation Services
What we do know is that one result for this law is to increase confidence in the quality of interpreting services across Maryland. Licensed interpreters will be vetted for their skills and professionalism, which means better support in environments where precise communication is essential; the bar will be raised. The key question, however, is whether the interpreting field is prepared for this significant upgrade.
This effort comes with a major risk: a potential shortage of interpreters. This provides a compelling reason for the SBSLI to further revise its rules and regulations. While the Americans with Disabilities Act (a federal law) and various state laws and regulations in the U.S. have emphasized that effective communication is the key criterion for evaluating the qualifications of interpreters, Maryland’s law may change focus away from this fundamental point. Typically, the determination of whether interpreters have facilitated effective communication rests with the individuals using their services. This has been whether they hold national certification or not, even though national certification is the industry standard, but the interpreting field has significant barriers in achieving certification outside of traditional academic routes. Also many of the interpreting communication systems used by those who use interpreting services do not have certifications (signed English, Cued Speech, Deaf-Blind Tactile/Protactice). The only national certification offered by RID states they assess ASL and not the other popular language system preferences.
Furthermore, a caveat with national certifications is that the interpreter passed the performance certification on the day they took the test (for me it was over 20 years ago), but holding certification is not a panacea for effective communication. How someone performed on the day they passed their national test only has a little indication to what the person can interpret effectively today. Yes, one can safely assume that holding national certification is a predictor that the interpreter can interpret most content in most settings, but it is only one of many factors if their effectiveness. This is why it is vital that interpreting agencies, those using interpreting services, and the businesses paying for the service work together diligently to strategically match interpreters with consumers for specific interpreting requests to ensure an optimal outcome, effective communication. The truth is, for many, national certification isn’t a criteria that they are seeking because the language needs they have are outside of RID’s certification’s purview.
A larger issue that will be worked out is that currently the rules and regulations draft only acknowledges several certification bodies, yet some have ceased offering certifications, and there are very few testing sites in Maryland. Without revisions, interpreters are more likely faced to go out of Maryland to attain certification to be able to work in Maryland. While this creates extra financial and logistical pressure on interpreters, it can also lead interpreters to discontinue their work in the interpreting field, retire early, or move/work outside of Maryland.
To complicate things further, none of the certification organizations (national or state) currently provide specialized certifications for many settings (medical, platform, legal) or for language systems other than ASL, such as Signed English or tactile communication for Deaf-Blind individuals; both which are widely used signing methods. The new regulations may result in skilled non-certified interpreters, who can proficiently translate between spoken English and signed English, being unable to meet the SBSLI requirements to work, even if their services are preferred, effective, and requested by those needing it. Without careful planning, certification limitations may undermine individuals’ autonomy when selecting their own language access accommodation (i.e. sign language interpreters) that will be most effective for them. The regulation’s emphasis on state requirements might overshadow the crucial need for user-centered assessment of communication effectiveness. This is especially important because there are not official certifications for all the different sign systems used in Maryland or for all the settings interpreters work within. So, there’s work to be done before this system is ready for everyone.
These are some of the barriers we will be facing in the upcoming year. Interpreters’ responses have been all over the board, and unfortunately, some reasons are why the existing interpreter workforce may shrink as practitioners struggle to meet new licensing requirements. Some interpreters have said they will leave the profession altogether, others claim only to work in DC or Virginia, some will move to a different state, and many are working diligently to attain the knowledge and skills needed to achieve national certification before the rules and regulations go into effect. The challenge for the latter is that workshops and training to support interpreters to meet the standards the state law is proposing have not been plentiful and none from the State at this time. There are some training sessions online and also in-person workshops happening around the U.S., but are typically hard to find.
This means those who are willing to rise up to the proposed standards are unfortunately doing so without a much of a roadmap. During a recent meeting of Maryland’s State Board of Sign Language Interpreters (SBSLI), one member shared that they foresee that the number of interpreters meeting SBSLI standards may decline before it improves. This situation could lead to a significant lack of language access for individuals relying on sign language interpreters. Institutions such as hospitals, schools, and the court systems may encounter additional challenges, and fewer options, to effectively comply with legal requirements to provide sign language interpreters as accommodations to those they serve.
The impending licensing requirements raise significant concerns left to be addressed regarding its potential effects on individuals’ rights to language access via sign language interpreting services. With current interpreter shortages, particularly in rural areas, alongside seasonal variations in demand, new State requirements may create further obstacles for timely and effective communication to happen for individuals seeking sign language interpreters as accommodations.
The new licensing requirements for interpreters in Maryland carry both the promise of enhancing the quality of interpreting services and the peril of exacerbating existing access issues. While the intent to elevate the standards for sign interpreters is commendable, there are a lot of challenges to work out still. If regulations are too stringent, coupled with the lack of specialized certifications for diverse language systems, or the addition of State specialties, may marginalize experienced interpreters, diminishing the choices available to individuals in need of their services. As Maryland navigates this complex landscape, it is imperative that all stakeholders prioritize the voices and experiences of those who depend on interpreting services, ensuring that the mechanisms employed to enhance quality do not inadvertently endanger access. Without thoughtful strategies to address these challenges, the laudable goal of improved service quality may ultimately undermine the very accessibility that the law intends to promote.
Maryland’s new interpreter licensing law marks a pivotal moment in the landscape of sign language interpreting services. While it brings new challenges, particularly the risk of interpreter shortages, it also opens the door for significant improvements in service quality. Gateway is ready to face these challenges head-on, providing the training, virtual services, and advocacy needed to ensure that Marylanders receive the interpreting services they deserve.
https://odhh.maryland.gov/state-board-of-sign-language-interpreters-sbsli/
https://www.pacodeandbulletin.gov/Display/pabull?file=/secure/pabulletin/data/vol54/54-40/1415.html
by Dave Coyne
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Gateway connects people to their worlds and aids individuals in their ability to understand and to be understood. Gateway has grown into an organization that serves more than 4,000 children and adults every year, helping them communicate more effectively. With programming both on our Baltimore campus and through community-based programming, we provide education, access, and medical support to anyone who needs it.
We envision a society where everyone can understand and be understood and where everyone is treated with integrity, compassion, and equity.