Sec. 2.
As used in this act:
(a) "Appointing authority" means a court or a department, board, commission, agency, or licensing authority of this state or a political subdivision of this state or an entity that is required to provide a qualified interpreter in circumstances described under section 3a.
(b) "Deaf person" means a person whose hearing is totally impaired or whose hearing, with or without amplification, is so seriously impaired that the primary means of receiving spoken language is through other sensory input; including, but not limited to, lip reading, sign language, finger spelling, or reading.
(c) "Deaf-blind person" means a person who has a combination of hearing loss and vision loss, such that the combination necessitates specialized interpretation of spoken and written information in a manner appropriate to that person's dual sensory loss.
(d) "Division" means the division on deaf and hard of hearing of the department of labor and economic growth.
(e) "Intermediary interpreter" or "deaf interpreter" means any person, including any deaf or deaf-blind person, who is able to assist in providing an accurate interpretation between spoken English and sign language or between variants of sign language by acting as an intermediary between a deaf or deaf-blind person and a qualified interpreter.
(f) "Qualified interpreter" means a person who is certified through the national registry of interpreters for the deaf or certified through the state by the division.
(g) "Qualified oral interpreter" means a qualified interpreter who is able to convey information through facial and lip movement.
(h) "Qualified sign language interpreter" means a qualified interpreter who uses sign language to convey information.
History: 1982, Act 204, Imd. Eff. July 1, 1982 ;-- Am. 2007, Act 24, Imd. Eff. June 28, 2007
Last modified: October 10, 2016