ASL Interpretation
We provide ASL Interpretation in performance venues and event spaces in the NYC area.
Consultation
Not sure what you need? We can help you figure that out during our first meeting – if guidance is what you prefer, that is a service we can continue to provide over a period of time.
Community Events
When possible, we will promote community shows and events that we provide interpretation for.
Coordination
If your space requires frequent services over a period of time, we can coordinate all of those requests that come in FOR you!
WHO WE ARE
The ASL Extension (ASLE) started out in Baltimore providing ASL interpretation for free to small theaters that could not afford the usual costs of providing interpreters. Since then, we have moved to NYC; growing everyday by connecting you, the individual or company, with the network of colleagues and other companies that work across the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Community in the NYC area.
The ASL Extension is a sole member LLC owned by Patrick Michael, but it is set up as a resource to the many interpreters, organizations, and referral companies that make up the NYC community. When you book interpreters through The ASL Extension, you are usually spending less because we do not have any staff or employees on the payroll. I am just a person with a connection to partners throughout the community that just wants everybody to make the right connection on their mission to provide exceptional interpretation services.
WHAT WE DO
We are here to support any of the interpreting needs that you, your company, and the community require. Most of our experience is in the performing arts setting. Live Concerts, Music Festivals, Drag Shows, Live Stage Plays, and others. We also work for conferences and other multi-day events.
Are you looking to find interpreters outside of these specific settings? Not a problem at all! Requests that fall slightly outside of our scope are still accepted. We help you through that process to make sure we connect you with the right entity to suit your needs.
WHY WE ARE DIFFERENT
It Doesn’t Have to be Us.
We gather all of the information from your request and make sure we give you the perfect team, whether it’s us or not! When a request is outside of our scope, or if we are not the right fit for you, we take it a step further and help you find your way to where you need to be!
Bridging the Gap
Follow Up is hard to come by. We make a real effort to connect you to the right team every time and let you know how we got there. That requires education, conversations, and we are here for all of that.
Giving back.
We are members and partners with many organizations in and around NYC. It is our goal to stay involved as much as we can so that we can match our community in the work that we do. We do this by hosting fundraisers, connecting our community to the resources that are out there, and also provide service free of charge for situations that call for it.
SERVICES
ASL Interpretation
We provide ASL Interpretation in performance venues and event spaces in the NYC area. Our goal is to make sure the team is the right fit and the connection between the concert goer and the artist is never disconnected. We do that by strongly encouraging a team of both Hearing and Deaf interpreters so that we can do the job right.
Consultation
Not sure what you need? We can help you figure that out during our first meeting – if guidance is what you prefer, that is a service we can continue to provide over a period of time. Start out by filling out a request by going to our Contact page to reach out.
Community Events
When possible, we will promote community shows and events that we provide interpretation for. We will also post events that are public to our community in different places and put them all in one place for you!
Coordination
If your space requires frequent services over a period of time, we can coordinate all of those requests that come in FOR you! Contact us to get started on what your needs might be.
Community Connections
GENERAL COMMUNITY RESOURCES
An ASL Interpreter is a person hired to provide access for both ASL users and English speakers. You should hire an ASL Interpreter whenever someone who uses ASL to communicate requests one – it is the right thing to do and the law in many spaces.
An Interpreting Agency is a company that receives requests from a client and fills the requests by sending and paying the interpreters that are sent. Most larger companies that spread outside of one region tend to lose its connection to the Deaf community – so, the smaller, the better!
We don’t like to point fingers here, however, there is an unwritten truth when it comes to larger, multi-region agencies that provide interpreters nationwide. After a certain point, they don’t have any connection to the local Deaf community that they provide interpreters for. This leads to missed opportunities and causes harm in the end.
We are one of many smaller companies that are starting to pop up in and around the NYC area. However, we take it a step further. We use our experience and connection to the other companies and organizations in the region to make sure jobs requested are being given to the group that would be the best fit, even if it is not ours!
We follow these simple steps:
- First, we go through the details of each job.
- Then, we make sure the request is within the scope of our team.
- ***Make sure another team can’t handle it better – sometimes we are not the best match!
- If it is a good fit for us, we accept the job and move forward with onboarding paperwork, and then we find you a team!
- If we are not a good fit, we introduce you to the person(s) or group that would be a better fit and make sure you are supported through the entire process. We tend to refer out to smaller companies that are community run.
Reach out to us for any specific needs you may have – we partner with many of the companies that work through these large venues and may have the answer for you!
Unfortunately, each venue and arena does it differently. This makes it very difficult to navigate when requesting accessibility needs. Some operate their interpreter requests through their box office/ticket sales while others have internal staff assigned to attend to those things head on in their Guest Services department.
