Table of Contents
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Episode Summary
Carol Valendia, founder of Equal Access Language Services, discusses her journey advocating for language access and equity. She highlights the issue of 11 million children in the US acting as interpreters, emphasizing the need for professional language services. Carol cites Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act as key laws promoting language access. She stresses the importance of cultural competency and the role of human interpreters, even with AI advancements. Carol also introduces “Unheard Voices,” an initiative to end child interpreting, encouraging organizations to integrate language access into their identity and educate themselves on relevant laws.
Highlights
- 2:18 Carol Velandia’s journey into the language industry
- 6:04 Definitions of language access and health equity and barriers to them
- 9:11 Examples of language access policies
- 16:33 Keys to running successful language access programs
- 19:33 Language access in education
- 21:48 Ending the practice of child interpreting
- 26:58 Changing the narrative around children interpreting
- 28:33 Common misconceptions around providing language services
- 31:26 The rise of AI and the role of human interpreters
- 35:27 Interpreters advocacy role
- 38:08 Steps to push language access forward
