Thursday, October 17, 2002
Hawaii Says Aloha to E.O. 13166
A shortage of help for Hawai'i residents struggling against a language barrier has reached what some observers consider critical proportions that soon could land the state in the midst of a federal lawsuit before it's resolved.
The legal threat that looms over everyone — every state or county office, every private doctor or other contractor who receives federal money — is an executive order, among President Clinton's last acts. The order, upheld by the Bush administration, compels any individual or agency that receives federal money to provide services to speakers of all languages.
The article makes an unexpected admission: E.O. 13166 will raise the pay of interpreters:
The pressure placed on government to comply with equal-access laws has been minimal, said Alohalani Boido, a Spanish-speaking court interpreter currently pressing the judiciary for better pay. One reason interpreters are in short supply, she said, is that the pay is too low to keep them in the profession any longer than it takes to get a "real job."
And few pay attention to the constituency they serve, Boido said.
"Who needs interpreters? They're people who are poor and brown," she said. "They're at the bottom of the social heap."
|posted by Jim on 6:13 PM|
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