Striving to remove barriers that prevent us from building Vibrant, Diverse, Inclusive, Accessible Communities!
If you are planning a Baha'i event or gathering and you are in need of an American Sign Language ( ASL) Interpreter or Captioning Services, the first thing to do is contact the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Task Force for the Baha’i community. This Task force was appointed by he National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United States.
The task force focuses on two groups. One is the Deaf community, members of which belong to a unique culture with a unique language—American Sign Language (ASL) in the United States. For many Deaf people, English is a second language, so ASL interpretation is key to full inclusion. The other group is people with hearing loss who primarily communicate through English and may request transcripts and closed captions for events.
Their mission is to ensure that both groups can participate in Baha’i activities. The task force is endeavoring to connect with Deaf and Hard of Hearing Baha’is and ASL interpreters, to design events with captioning and interpretation, and to support local communities as they work toward accessibility.
This task force also focuses on such unique problems such as dealing with Baha'i words and the elevated English used in the Writings. In addition, are concerns for the ability to correctly deal with Arabic and Persian terms and names.
Contact information for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Task Force for the Baha’i community
Web Site: https://www.bahai.us/task-force-encourages-communities-to-make-accessibility-a-priority/
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064872183251
Email: bahai.deaf@gmail.com
If you are not planning a Baha'i event or gathering or just need another resource for figuring American Sign Language ( ASL) Interpreters or Captioning Services:
American Sign Language ASL Interpreters provides both Sign language Interpreters and Captioning services. They also provide language translators. They can provide an ASL Interpreter and/or Language translator locally at your event or provide remote services as well.
Captioning Services:
Here is a resource specifically for Captioning services. They provide multilingulal captioning for any sized event anywhere.
Interprenet Captioning Services
If you are interested in learning American Sign Language, here is a Free Resource which is a Fun way to Learn ASL at your own Pace.
Learning to say even a few words or phrases directly to a Person who is Deaf and Speaks ASL and who belongs to your Community will help remove barriers and create a more Inclusive, Accessible Community Environment! Before you know it, you will be having entire conversations, and hopefully, be building meaningful and lasting friendships along the way!