Description | General Eligibility | How to Apply
Services | Cost | Contact

Description

The Dane County Department of Human Services is committed to making sure that services and information are made available to all customers including those with limited English proficiency and individuals who may have physical, hearing, speech, or visual impairments which require special accommodations.

General Eligibility

Language services, where needed for interaction with the Dane County Department of Human services, are provided at no charge. The Dane County Department of Human Services selects the provider of language services.

How to Apply

No formal application is required. If an individual is in need of language services, the Dane County Department of Human Services will secure and provide them.

Services

Non-English Speaking or Limited English Speaking - Interpreters for non-English speaking Dane County customers are provided when necessary for interviews, investigations, or appeals. If a foreign language interpreter is needed, we will seek the assistance of Dane County Department of Human Services staff that can provide the necessary translation. If an adequate staff interpreter is not available, we may contact an appropriate area advocacy organization or other available resource. Many documents used by the Dane County Department of Human Services are available in Hmong and Spanish. Documents can also be translated into other languages as needed for customers.

Individuals who need interpreter services for non-agency needs may be referred to area advocacy organizations such as Centro Hispano (608) 255-3018 or United Refugee Services (608) 256-6400, or given a list of available foreign language interpreters.

Sign Language Interpreting - There are two methods of sign language interpretation.

• Interpreting: which is largely used by people who are Deaf whose first language is American Sign Language (ASL).
• Transliterating: which is a form of English signing and is used largely by people whose first language is English (i.e. became deaf later in life, or who were mainstreamed into a regular public school setting).

Dane County recognizes that it is the responsibility of each consumer to request needed and/or preferred accommodation services in a timely manner. County department staff will acknowledge stated preferences on accommodation requests. The County seeks to provide requested services through a mixture of program and structural modifications as appropriate to each individual situation. County departments shall provide requested accommodations by first making all possible programmatic modifications prior to considering structural changes.

The accommodations services portion of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is designed to ensure that there are timely accommodation and communication services between service providers and consumers with physical, hearing speech, or visual impairments. It is the goal of Dane County to provide reasonable, reliable, timely, qualified and efficient accommodation services to its residents.

Questions regarding public services accommodations should be directed to Richard Johnson, the Dane County ADA Coordinator, at (608) 267-1520 or at johnson.richard@co.dane.wi.us.

Cost

Language services, where needed for interaction with the Dane County Department of Human services, are provided at no charge.

Contact

For more information on language services, contact the Dane County Department of Human Services Public Relations at (608) 242-6431