For University of Illinois students who have a documented hearing loss, DRES will provide qualified sign language interpreters or speech-to-text services.
Immediately after registering for classes, students requesting these services must inform the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) Access Specialist of the classes and times for which interpreters/transcribers will be required. The DHH Access Specialist will endeavor to schedule service providers in accordance with qualifications and experience. After the interpreters/transcribers semester schedules are set, students will be notified.
DRES Interpreters are to be treated with respect and dignity. If there is a problem, Deaf students/staff/patrons should discuss the issue in a kind, calm, manner directly with the interpreter. If an agreement cannot seem to be reached, then both parties should notify the Interpreter Coordinator at tcowsert@illinois.edu or 217-244-6972. If a DRES student wants to change interpreters in a schedule, they must discuss their concerns to the Interpreter Coordinator. Change(s) in interpreter assignments may/may not be able to be made, but all concerns will be listened to, discussed, taken into consideration, and a plan will be made for the future.
*Students must submit Interpreter/TypeWell/CART requests to DRES with at least 2 weeks’ notice (or 10 business days excluding holidays) in advance to get coverage. Students may submit these requests with less than 2 weeks’ notice, but there is no guarantee coverage will be available. If you know you have important events coming up, plan ahead and get your requests in early. Remember DRES business hours are Monday-Friday, 8am-5pm. Any requests received after hours will not be addressed or processed until the next business day.
Synchronous REMOTE Class policy
Due to high demand of closed captioning services, DRES will be focusing its efforts on closed captioning asynchronous courses during remote instructions and any video shown in live sessions. For synchronous courses that are being recorded and posted for review/supplemental material, preference is being given to live captioning. Live captioning will also result in a transcript that can be synced to the recording by the professor after the live session is posted to MediaSpace.
If a student decides that they don’t require live captioning, but is unable to attend a class, they can request closed captioning for any session by filling out this form.
- Live-Synchronous Remote sessions that are recorded, need live captioning.
- If refused accommodation, then closed captioning happens for each request of live session only.
- Asynchronous Remote sessions will get closed captioning.
*For users of Video Remote Interpreter or Live Captioning: Once your VRI interpreter or Live Captioning transcriber is assigned, you will be given directions for connecting to the remote interpreter/transcriber. It is your responsibility to follow the directions given to you before your event. If you do not follow the directions and do a practice run to make sure everything is working before the event then there is no guarantee the process will go smoothly. We will help you if assistance is needed, but to ensure a successful experience, you are responsible for practicing how to set it up ahead of time.
For community members or patrons (non-student) who would like to request an Interpreter or Live Captioning service, please contact the department or campus unit sponsoring the event. If you are unsure who to contact, please call DRES at 217-244-6972 or email dres-interpreting@illinois.edu to make the request.
For University events or departmental requests which require an Interpreter or Live Captioning services, the sponsoring entity will need to submit the Interpreter Event Request Form or CART/TypeWell Live Captioning Request Form at least 2 weeks in advance. *If a request is submitted less than 2 weeks (or 10 business days excluding holidays) prior to the event there is no guarantee we can get a live interpreter or TypeWell services (they may have to be remote services). To cancel services, call the DRES office at 217-333-4600 no less than 48 hours prior to the start of the scheduled event. In case of a lesser notification, the event sponsor will be charged at the identified hourly rate for the minimum number of hours stipulated.
***Check our DRES Billing (Non-Student) page for billing rates