CART Services for the Deaf

In an effort to promote the integration and inclusion of employees with disabilities in the workforce, Applied Development continues to broaden its scope of work in disability management. Our efforts in practicing proficiency of 504 and 508 compliance is demonstrated through our emphasis on providing assistance for employees with disabilities. Our current contracts have allowed Applied Development to add providing Computer Assisted Realtime Technology (CART) Services to our list of capabilities, but this is just one of many ways that Applied Development strives to expand their knowledge and expertise in disability management within the Federal sector.

Although American Sign Language (ASL) is the main form of sign language for the deaf community in the United States, not all those that are deaf or hard of hearing are fluent. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires reasonable accommodations for employees to supply services to guarantee effective communication with people with impaired hearing. CART Services are another form of professional translation that can fulfill this requirement as they act as a form of real-time captioning. The National Court Reporters Association (NCRA) describes this service as “the instant translation of the spoken word into English text using a steno-type machine, notebook computer and realtime software.” These transcribed captions can be displayed on a screen or monitor for the client, or in a variety of other ways.

Applied Development takes pride in their ability and passion to support compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act by providing CART Services for deaf or hard of hearing employees of federal agencies, including the Department of Defense Office of Diversity Management and Equal Opportunity (ODMEO). Communication is essential to the consistency and quality of one’s work environment. We want to continue to give agencies the option to expand their employee base by providing the translating services needed to help those with hearing impairment. We do our job so that others are able to do theirs.