The reason Sarah Houston, a resident of Flint’s sixth ward, has offered public comments multiple times sharing her belief that the Flint City Council should provide American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters at all meetings is simple: she wants local government to be accessible to all residents.
“I have deaf family members who live here in the city of Flint,” said Houston, who has been an ASL interpreter herself for more than 20 years. “I don’t know if anyone is even aware that they can (participate in meetings) because it has been so inaccessible that they don’t even go through the fight (to attend).”
Providing accommodations, including interpreters, is not just a suggestion, it is a legal requirement for local, state, and federal government bodies. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires that governmental entities need to, “… ensure that communication with people with (hearing, vision, or speech) disabilities is equally effective as communication with people without disabilities.”
The city of Flint does have a process for deaf or hard of hearing people to request an interpreter or other accommodations at city meetings. They can contact the clerk’s office at (810) 766-7413. But the city doesn’t have a teletypewriter (TTY) system, a text-based communication tool used by deaf or hard of hearing people to make phone calls, so someone has to call the city on their behalf.
City meetings are closed-captioned on YouTube, so deaf or hard of hearing people can follow along and get the information, but that doesn’t allow them to participate or interact in the same way a resident who can hear is able to.
Scheduling an interpreter can also be a challenge even if one is requested. The city needs at least 48 hours notice to find one, but recommends as much time as possible. Theresa Miracle, executive director of the Communications Access Center, which provides interpreters when requested, said that CAC typically needs two weeks’ notice to secure an interpreter.
Houston’s hope is that the city to remove those many barriers by just paying for interpreter services at all meetings.
“I would like to see them always providing access,” she said. “I would like to see them thinking of access first, being proactive instead of having to be reactive. And that way people will feel more comfortable coming to these things so that they don’t have to call and ask for an interpreter. What if the person answers the phone and they don’t know what an interpreter is, or they’re asking me to bring my own, or they don’t know the agency? It’s just such a hassle that a person shouldn’t have to do just to gain access (to their government).”
Diana McKittrick, a longtime advocate for deaf and hard of hearing people across Genesee County, said that municipalities that use request processes don’t consider the undue burdens those cause on taxpaying residents who simply want to participate in their local government.
“When you think of attending (a meeting at the last minute), oftentimes (that’s) not enough time to get an interpreter,” McKittrick said. “When requesting an interpreter, we often have to justify why we need it. It is about the functional equivalent that communication access is available at all times. Hearing folks do not have to request for a seat at the meeting. They just show up or not show up. That is what deaf Flint residents want: be recognized as a member of the community and communication access provision(s) as a normal way of doing business in Flint.”
Cost as a Barrier for the City
Members of the City Council are sympathetic to and understand the point Houston has made in her public comments, but for the city, cost is their challenge. Council President Ladel Lewis, PhD, who represents the second ward, said that the city can’t afford to have interpreters on standby at all meetings, but they do have a responsibility to provide them when requested.
“It is our duty to ensure that every resident has access to our meetings,” said Lewis, who noted that she has used ASL interpreters at meetings within her ward. Those meetings aren’t “official” city meetings, but she believes in the importance of being able to communicate effectively with all residents.
According to information Miracle provided, interpreting services for an evening meeting would cost about $154 for the first two hours, and then $38.50 per half hour after those two hours are reached. Municipalities also pay mileage to interpreters. Including committee meetings, there are usually at least four City Council meetings per month, and although meetings don’t regularly go deep into the night (or early morning) anymore as they have in the past, 2-4 hours for a meeting is a fair estimate. Seven of the last eight meetings streamed on the Council’s YouTube page have gone longer than two hours.
Interpreting services for just City Council meetings could feasibly cost $300-$400 per meeting, with at least four meetings per month. That cost would go up if more than one interpreter is needed, which can sometimes be the case in longer meetings or in meetings that have multiple speakers. Both Lewis and Tonya Burns, who represents Houston in the sixth ward, conceded those funds would not be easy to find in the city budget.
“Ideally, absolutely, I would love to have someone there to interpret (at all meetings) for our deaf community,” she said. “And I’ve asked, do we have it in the budget? And it is a reality that Flint doesn’t have those funds.”
Burns does believe Flint should find a funding source and prioritize making interpreters available, suggesting the city should even explore if there are grant opportunities to help fund interpreting services. Miracle said she’s not aware of any grants that specifically fund interpreters for local municipalities, but there are examples of state and local governments receiving funding to improve communications accessibility in other ways. Lewis said she was able to partner with the Community Foundation of Greater Flint to help cover interpreter costs at events in her ward in the past.
Burns hopes Houston continues to raise the issue and bring attention to it.
“I appreciate her and want her to continue to raise her voice and awareness,” Burns said. “It’s so important we have space for everyone in Council, so I hope Sarah continues to push forward.”
Challenging Federal Landscape
There are mechanisms in place to file complaints when governmental bodies don’t follow ADA guidelines or provide interpreting services when requested. There are federal and state forms where those complaints can be submitted.
But there are currently complications at the federal level because Donald Trump’s administration is disputing some ADA compliance guidelines. White House press briefings in previous administrations included an ASL interpreter. However, when Trump took office in January, they stopped using interpreters during those briefings. A lawsuit was filed in May challenging that decision, and a preliminary injunction issued in U.S. District Court last week ordered interpreters to be returned to those proceedings while the lawsuit plays out, but it remains to be seen if the administration will comply.
The administration’s defense centers on their interpretation of what “reasonable accommodation” means, arguing that closed captioning provided during the briefings was sufficient. The judge who issued the injunction rejected that argument, but also denied the plaintiffs’ request that ASL interpreters be provided at all press briefings by the vice president, first lady, and second lady and declined to require that interpretation be provided to news networks and uploaded to the White House website and social media. The lawsuit will continue to play out in the court system, but how courts continue to interpret what “reasonable accommodation” means for the government will be key to how local municipalities decide to follow or not follow ADA rules.
For local advocates, that answer is simple common sense and inclusivity: governments and other public organizations should do everything they can to remove barriers so residents can participate in meetings and events, both for those residents and for the entities themselves to better communicate with and understand the entire population of people they serve.
“I try to teach people that when someone asks for an interpreter, it is not just the deaf person who needs it, the service provider needs it as well,” McKittrick said. “I have seen and experienced system barriers in healthcare, education, employment and community involvement.”
Some Local Municipalities do Have Interpreters
Beverly Brown, PhD, a Genesee County Commissioner representing District 4 which includes Michigan School for the Deaf, was instrumental in making sure an interpreter was present at all Genesee County Commission meetings beginning in 2023. Her motivation was simply to make sure that anyone who wants to participate in county government has the ability to.
“Number one, it’s about equity and making sure that all populations can actively engage in government,” Brown said. “It was an accommodation to me that was necessary. And I think the rest of the board, too, concurred after hearing a lot of public comment.”
Mott Community College’s Board of Trustees began using ASL interpreters at all of their regular meetings around 2020, when their meetings went virtual during the COVID-19 pandemic. Trustee Art Reyes II said that it has just become “common practice” for the board in the years since they’ve moved back to in-person meetings.
Brown noted that there isn’t data to show whether having an interpreter present has increased participation in County Commission meetings from deaf or hard of hearing residents, but that also isn’t the main point: the priority is simply to make it easy for them to participate if they want to, just like any other resident.
“They’re constituents just like everybody else,” Brown said. “The boards that have challenges with that or they’re considering it, they should take a second look at whether or not or to what extent they’re serving all of their constituents. For us, there was some concern about the expense of it, but we just had to do what we had to do in order to accommodate our constituents. It’s essential to make those accommodations for residents.”
Flint Community Schools, like the city of Flint, also doesn’t have interpreters present at all board of education meetings. Accommodations can be requested through the district, but FCS did not respond to multiple requests to share the details of that process for this story.
Inclusive Government
Providing ASL interpreters at meetings as a standard is about supporting residents who need those services, but the larger message it sends is simply that everyone in the community matters.
“I’m just very proud that the Michigan School for the Deaf is in Genesee County and that it sits in my district,” Brown said. “I’m very proud that we can serve that community (that comes) from across the state here in Genesee County, and I regard it as an asset.”
Deaf and hard of hearing residents will always have a fierce advocate in McKittrick, who has been involved in the Genesee County community for decades.
“I am retired but never will retire from advocating for our deaf community,” she said. “I probably will continue to do that until the grave.”
She hopes local governments go even further than just providing interpreters, though. She believes more deaf and hard of hearing voices are needed and should be sought out within government and other organizations that serve the community.
“I often wondered if there are any signing deaf individuals on any of the committees or boards of all those different organizations that are part of the mainstream life of the city of Flint?,” McKittrick said. “My guess would be zero. I wonder if any deaf individuals who lived in Flint were ever asked to serve on a committee for any city of Flint event? Probably not. The deaf exist as if invisible even though you have the Michigan School for the Deaf just down the road and FAD club (Flint Association of the Deaf) that was founded in 1919 and still going strong. How can you forget to get an interpreter? Why do they have to ask for one?”
Houston also plans to continue advocating for interpreters present within the community. She also cites Michigan School for the Deaf’s presence here, and the large number of people who have stayed here in the area after attending as reasons to keep raising awareness of the issue.
“It shouldn’t be waiting for a person to request (an interpreter),” Houston said. “As a city, they should do their due diligence to always provide sign language interpreters at all of their events because they have the school in their city and people have settled after graduation in Genesee County and in Flint, they’ve settled here. That’s common courtesy for your citizens, you know? It’s access, it’s just communication. That’s all they’re asking for.”
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