Guidelines for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students

The Office of AccessABILITY at Hunter College, through the Deaf & Hard of Hearing Program (DHHP), provides a variety of high-quality interpreting and transcription services to accommodate our students’ needs.

DHHP is responsible for providing these services only for registered classes, and activities
required by those classes, as confirmed by CUNY faculty members.

Below is a comprehensive guideline of all the office policies and procedures for students registered with DHHP. This guideline was created in order to make sure that all students registered with DHHP are able to fully benefit from their academic experience at Hunter College and in the most reasonable manner.

DHHP students are eligible to take advantage of early registration for classes each semester.The sooner you register, the sooner the office is able to arrange for interpreters for your classes. Should you wait and register late, the Office may not be able to guarantee that aninterpreter will be available as of the first week of classes.

Before registering, students should meet with an Academic Advisor to choose an appropriateclass schedule and course load. The Office of AccessABILITY can assist you in setting up an appointment, if necessary. Graduate students should meet with an advisor within their own department. Upon registering, students will submit a form on which the instructors can indicate all activities to take place outside of regular scheduled class time (i.e. trips, presentations, etc.) Having a sense of requirements ahead of time will allow the office to set-up interpreters well in advance and be prepared for the cost of services. As soon as you have registered for your classes, make an appointment to see the Coordinator for Interpreting Services, so that you can discuss and arrange for your interpreting needs. First priority will be given to Hunter College’s in-house interpreters; remaining slots will be filled by agency interpreters.

In the event that no interpreter has been found for your class by the beginning of the semester, a letter will be provided for you to take to the faculty to ask for their assistance as every attempt is made to, at least, provide a note taker until an interpreter can be secured. Again, the earlier you register, the sooner an interpreter can be assigned to your class.

While planning your schedule, please make sure to allow sufficient time in between classes to allow for extended test-taking hours.

Students must make sure that their Financial Aid forms have been submitted in a timely manner and that their status is up-to-date in order to prevent delays in their tuition payment. Failure to do so will affect their ability to keep a class and would, therefore, affect any note takers or interpreters assigned to those classes.

Students should not register for more classes than they can afford.

Should you decide to drop or withdraw from a class once the semester has begun, you must provide the Office of AccessABILITY at least 24-hours’ notice before the next class.

Always share any schedule changes with the Coordinator to ascertain if there will be any academic consequences as a result.

If you know, in advance, that you will be absent from a class, you must provide a minimum 24-hour notice so that we can cancel the interpreters. You must notify the Office as soon as you know that you will be absent. If you fail to do so, the office will consider your absence as a “no-show”. After two no-shows, interpreting and note taking services will be suspended for that class. The student will need to meet with the Coordinator of Interpreting Services and provide documentation of a valid reason for the absence (i.e. medical/family emergency). Only once satisfactory documentation has been provided will services be reinstated.

If you know you will be arriving late to class, you must contact both the Office of AccessABILITY as well as your interpreters to let them know. You must email the Office of AccessABILITY first, so that your interpreter, note takers and/or the agency may be contacted immediately. If there is no contact from the students, the interpreters will wait 20 minutes for a one- hour assignment, 30 minutes for assignments that are between one and three hours and 45 minutes for assignments of three or more hours.

Should you arrive after the given timeframe, without having contacted the Office and interpreters, there will be no interpreters in the classroom and your lateness will be considered a no-show. In the event you arrive to class where there are no interpreters, you are still responsible for securing notes from that day’s class from a classmate.

If an instructor cancels class, it is your responsibility to inform both the Office of AccessABILITY as well as your interpreters as soon as you know. Only informing the interpreters is not sufficient; you must notify the office as well.

Should you need an interpreter beyond normal class hours (i.e. a meeting with a professor, test, presentation, etc.), you must submit a request at least 48-hours in advance. If it is a last-minute request, the Office cannot guarantee that an interpreter will be available.

We ask that students do not make arrangements with interpreters on their own. All interpreting requests must come through the Office of AccessABILITY and DHHP.

All requests for interpreters must be submitted during working days and office hours via email. Emails received during the weekend or after office hours, will be processed during the following day’s working hour.

Changing the Interpreter

All of the classes are covered by either Hunter College staff interpreters or by agency interpreters. We hope you will be satisfied with the interpreters assigned. We allow for a two-week probationary period for the interpreters, during which time you are able to decide if they are a suitable match for your course. You must inform the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Office within the first two weeks of the semester if you are dissatisfied, at which point a change can be made. After the initial two-week period, unless the interpreter does something particularly egregious, there will be no switching of interpreters. In that condition, the Coordinator will meet with and/or observe the interpreter to see if there are means by which performance can be improved. If there is no marked improvement, the Coordinator will assign a new interpreter to your class.

We would appreciate it if you also fill out the Interpreter Evaluation Form linked below.

Interpreter Evaluation Form

Should you have any questions or concerns throughout the course of the semester, please feel free to contact the Coordinator of Interpreting Services or the Office of AccessABILITY at any time.