§ 5-71-3. Definitions.
(1) "Board� means the state board of examiners for interpreters for the deaf.
(2) "Certified� means any individual who is a certified member of the Registry of Interpreters
for the Deaf, Inc. (RID), its successor agency, or other agencies as approved by the
department in consultation with the board.
(3) "Certified deaf interpreter,� "deaf interpreter,� or "deaf intermediary interpreter�
means any individual who is deaf or hard of hearing and who is a certified member
of the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, Inc. (RID) or its successor agency approved
by the department in consultation with the board.
(4) "Consumer� is an individual who is deaf, deaf-blind, hard of hearing, or an individual
with a disability who does not share a common means of communication. This may include,
without limitation, American Sign Language (ASL), visual, gestural, auditory, and
tactile mode of communication.
(5) "Deaf-blind interpreting� means linguistic information through sign language acquired
by individuals who are deaf-blind through their preferred methods depending on the
causes of their combined vision and hearing loss, their background, and their education,
such as close-vision interpreting and tactile interpreting, while spoken language
is conveyed into sign language (e.g. ASL), and sign language (ASL) is conveyed into
spoken language.
(6) "Department� means the Rhode Island department of health.
(7) "Director� means the director of the department of health.
(8) "Educational interpreter� means an individual who has specialized certification (elementary
and secondary education for grades kindergarten (K) through twelve (12)) and is a
certified member of RID or its successor agency approved by the department in consultation
with the board in the provision of sign language interpreting to students who are
deaf, hard of hearing, or deaf-blind in grades preschool through twelve (12).
(9) "Emergency� means an urgent circumstance that demands immediate action in order for
a consumer to avoid imminent harm or loss. In the event of an emergency, the consumer
may elect to use the services of a nonlicensed interpreter as set forth in regulations
promulgated by the department.
(10) "Intermediary interpreting� means interpreting services rendered by a deaf person
to facilitate communication between another deaf person and a licensed interpreter.
(11) "Interpreter� means any person who engages in the practice of interpreting as defined
in subsections (5), (10), (12), and (15).
(12) "Interpreting� means conveying spoken English into American Sign Language (ASL), or
conveying American Sign Language into English, or interpreting English to and/or from
a visual gestural system.
(13) "Screened deaf interpreter� means any person who is deaf or hard of hearing and who
presents proof of an active state screening, or its equivalent, and presents proof
of successful completion of an examination as approved by the department in consultation
with the board.
(14) "Screened interpreter� means any person who presents proof of an active state screening,
or its equivalent, and presents proof of successful completion of an examination as
approved by the department in consultation with the board.
(15) "Transliterating� means conveying spoken English into manually coded English, or conveying
manually coded English into spoken English (sign-to-voice), or conveying English on
the lips so that it is accessible to speech reading (e.g. oral transliterating, or
any auditory communication as a visual form in English such as cued speech).