South Dakota’s Accessibility Pilot
Accessibility is something we talk about frequently in our government blogs, but usually in the context of the ease of getting to public records. Extract offers automation software that classifies and indexes files like public records and redacts personally identifiable information (PII) from them if necessary.
In these cases, we’re referring to accessibility after the fact. Records are made available online to the public and they no longer need to schedule an appointment and travel to a government office to review something like the details of a court case or land maps.
This is all well and good for citizens as they have equal access to public records. Even non-native English speakers can go through documents at their own pace to be sure they’re understood. Those who don’t speak English as their first language run into much larger accessibility challenges with live, in-person activities.
There are 25 million Americans that don’t speak English and 65 million speak a language other than English in their home. While services for interpreting and translation are offered, it’s usually a state or county decision as to how that is implemented.
In larger metropolitan areas like New York or Los Angeles, getting adequate translation services tends to be easier because of the concentration of non-English speakers. In places like South Dakota, where only 7% of the population doesn’t speak English, and people are much more spread out throughout the state, solutions have been difficult. Court offices have been using telephone interpreter services, which requires clumsy handoffs between the office and caller.
Things are a bit easier in-person in the courtroom, but even there, requests for services have been increasing.
To solve this problem, South Dakota is piloting a translation program in five counties, procuring iPads that can translate text and use the court’s existing videoconferencing translation contract. At $750 for the iPad and $40 monthly for a data plan, the cost pales in comparison to recruiting translators and has the added benefit of being able to handle any language. If the plan ends up rolling out to the entire state, the total cost will be $40,000 for the technology and $2,500 monthly for the data plans.
This technology is being provided to citizens for free and will be available to use in the courtroom and in dealing with clerks for administrative tasks.
It’s important to understand that just granting access to something doesn’t make it accessible. Particularly in court documents, there can be specific terminology that is particularly difficult for speakers of other languages, but also English speakers with less proficiency. Ensuring that citizens can meaningfully participate is a premiere goal in government agencies and access and accessibility go a long way toward achieving that.
