Settlement reached over ASL interpretation of White House Covid briefings

A lawsuit over the American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation of White House coronavirus briefings has concluded with a settlement, the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) has announced.

The case, first launched during Donald Trump’s tenure as president, saw the NAD secure a “historic win” in September 2020, when a judge ordered for an ASL interpreter to be visible on the White House’s official livestream and for the feed to be made available to TV networks.

On Thursday, the NAD said in a press release that the legal action had been dismissed by both them and the White House, following the adoption of a new policy by the administration in April 2021.

Howard A. Rosenblum, the charity’s CEO, said: “Our historic achievement last fall in obtaining a federal court order compelling the White House to provide ASL interpreters for coronavirus briefings is now bolstered by the current Administration’s new policy expanding this access to all press briefings.”

The NAD explained that all briefings from the President (Joe Biden), Vice President (Kamala Harris), First Lady (Jill Biden), Second Gentleman (Douglas Emhoff) and the Press Secretary (Jen Psaki) will be interpreted – not just those about the coronavirus.

Ian S. Hoffman, from law firm Arnold and Peter who represented NAD, added: “For too long, the Trump White House shut deaf Americans out of its press briefings, including those about the coronavirus pandemic.

“The deaf community deserves access to all communications from the highest levels of their government, so we applaud the new White House policy and its commitment to provide ASL interpreters for all press briefings.”

In January, Ms Psaki informed reporters of the availability of an ASL interpreter for future briefings, stating that it was “part of this administration’s accessibility and inclusion efforts”.

Photo: Cameron Smith/The White House via Flickr.

By Liam O’Dell. Liam is an award-winning Deaf freelance journalist and campaigner from Bedfordshire. He can be found talking about disability, theatre, politics and more on Twitter and on his website.