GUIDELINES FOR STANDARDS OF PROFESSIONAL AND ETHICAL CONDUCT.docx

MCDHH’S GUIDELINES FOR STANDARDS OF PROFESSIONAL & ETHICAL CONDUCT FOR CART CAPTIONERS

The following are the principles of professional and ethical conduct and accompanying guidelines to protect and guide CART Captioners, consumers, and the public to ensure for everyone the right to communication access under the American with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) and other pertinent state and federal laws.

A Court Reporter[footnoteRef:1] that has received additional training and approval as a CART Captioner, when functioning in the role of a CART Captioner, is engaging in a type of “interpreting” using the term in its broadest meaning. Since Deaf, Oral Deaf, DeafBlind, Late-Deafened and many Hard of Hearing people as well as the hearing people in agencies accustomed to using interpreters see CART Captioners as a type of “interpreter”, these individuals who use CART Services also tend to expect from the CART Captioner the same standards of professional conduct on the job and the same for the ethical behavior as they would of an Interpreter for the Deaf. Therefore, the MCDHH Standards of Professional & Ethical Conduct for CART Captioners are related to those promulgated and in long standing use by the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, Inc. in conjunction with the ethical standards of the court reporting profession. [1: MCDHH recognizes that Court reporting is not the only route of entry into the CART profession – March, 2011.]

The MCDHH Standards of Professional & Ethical Conduct for CART Captioners are as follows:

A. The CART Captioner will preserve the privacy of a consumer’s personal information and whereabouts gained during provision of CART Service.

Guidelines: A CART Captioner provides service in four general types of settings: in the courtroom or in other proceedings within the legal system; in the classroom; in an open forum or meetings in the presence of an audience; or in a private setting. Courtesy and discretion are always required of the CART Captioner. Common sense and professional judgment must be exercised at all times, lest a casual word or action betray a consumer’s confidences or violate a client’s privacy. Especially where CART service is provided in a private setting, privacy of the consumer’s information and privacy of the person must be maintained. CART trainees may be present at an assignment with the CART Captioner to gain on-the-job experience only after securing the consent of the (payer and the Deaf or Hard of Hearing) consumer in situations that are otherwise private and/or confidential.

B. The CART Captioner will at all times render an instantaneous English text translation of the spoken English as nearly word for word as possible while striving to convey the content and spirit of the speaker’s message.

Guidelines: Since CART service is provided as an auxiliary service for communication access and a verbatim record is not mandatory, the CART Captioner renders a translation as nearly word for word as possible. Substitute language, which is computer-translatable, may be employed but only to reduce the occurrence of un-translated text in the CART realtime output so long as the content and spirit of the speaker’s words are conveyed.

The CART Captioner strives to render as faithful and accurate a translation (word-for-word) as possible, omitting nothing and adding nothing.

The CART Captioner may not counsel, advise or interject personal opinions for any reason while engaged in a paid assignment.

C. CART Captioners will accept assignments for which they are qualified, using discretion and professional judgment regarding the nature of the assignment and skill level required to render appropriate CART service.

Guidelines: A CART Captioner must accept only assignments that s/he is both qualified to perform and temperamentally suited to perform. In assessing the requirements of a prospective assignment, the CART Captioner should take into consideration (1) his/her familiarity and experience with the subject matter, (2) the relative importance of complete precision in translation in terms of the nature of the event and impact on the individual, and (3) the duration in hours of the assignment in order to judge whether s/ he has the requisite background and stamina to provide a consistent high quality of service to the consumer throughout the assignment’s duration.

D. The CART Captioner will request compensation for services and ascertain particulars of billing/payment in a professional and judicious manner.

Guidelines: CART Captioners shall be knowledgeable about fees, which are appropriate to the realtime reporting profession in general and to the CART Captioning profession in particular. When negotiating rates for assignments, the CART Captioner shall charge an appropriate fee consistent with the CART Captioner’s certification, level of skill, length of experience, and nature of the assignment.

There are circumstances where it may be acceptable for CART Captioners to provide services without charge. This should be done with discretion, taking care to preserve the integrity and self-respect of the consumers. When providing pro bono services, care should be taken so that the livelihood of other CART Captioners will be protected.

Details regarding CART services, including who is responsible for payment, the agreed upon rate, whether CART output will be ordered, or specifically what additional projection related services are to be provided shall be arranged with the CART Referral Specialist and the requester at the time the CART Captioner accepts the assignment. These details should not be discussed at the job site except in private with the person in charge. Questions regarding payment should only be discussed with the payer or person-in-charge on site and should never be discussed with a consumer or other participant at a job site.

According to the view of MCDHH, neither provision of printout of electronic output or verbatim certifiable transcript is a primary facet of CART Services.[footnoteRef:2] Any request for an actual printed transcript will be treated as a request for transcript. In other words, if this is the only request, the requester will be referred to court reporting firms in general. If it is a request in addition to a CART Service request, the additional court-reporting request will be presented to the CART Captioner to be referred for separate negotiation between the requester and the CART Captioner as a court reporter function. [2: The primary role of the CART Captioner and CART Services in general is the provision of communication access – March 2011.]

A CART Captioner may be required to provide CART output following an assignment. Arrangements for CART output are to be made before the job begins. Before outputting the file electronically, the text should be scan edited to achieve a standard of nearly verbatim accuracy. “Scan edit” means inserting global defines and scanning the file in order to correct untranslated shorthand outlines and obvious errors. A scan edit does not produce a verbatim, certifiable transcript. Details of verbatim preparation are ignored such as complete punctuation, capitalization, paragraphing, verifying spellings of proper names, and checking quoted material. Since a scan edit is not a word-for-word edit, occasional mistranslation will remain undetected and uncorrected.

Where payment for CART service is the responsibility of a party other than the consumer, the CART Captioner must determine (1) who, if anyone, may receive the CART output and (2) who is responsible for payment. (See the contract for additional terms.)

E. The CART Captioner will always maintain his/her professional role and perform in a manner appropriate to the situation.[footnoteRef:3] [3: A CART Captioner on assignments booked through MCDHH’s Interpreter/CART Referral Service shall not distribute business cards to solicit private bookings as this practice conflicts with the guideline of calling undue attention to oneself and is stepping outside of the role of a communication facilitator – March 2011.]

Guidelines: For the consumer, the best CART service is rendered with high competence and as unobtrusively as possible. The CART Captioner must exercise discretion in situations which may warrant interrupting the proceedings in order to insure the integrity of the CART translation. Interruptions for any reason should be minimized, if the situation permits them at all. Care should be taken not to call undue attention either to the consumer or to oneself.

A CART Captioner’s role is to facilitate communication. That function should be accomplished as quietly and unobtrusively as possible. It is rarely appropriate for a CART Captioner to step outside that role, even if invited to do so. A CART Captioner should decline any invitation or suggestion to comment, interject, advise, respond to inquiries, or in any way become involved in the proceeding outside the role of CART Captioner. In special circumstances, a CART Captioner may be asked to step out of their role to answer questions about the service, to demonstrate equipment during a break, or to schedule future dates. These requests to step out of role may be granted with the approval of the consumer of CART service. Deviation from role should be the exception and should be discouraged. If necessary, the CART Captioner should politely explain the necessity to stay “in role”.

If CART Captioners and Interpreters for the Deaf are providing services simultaneously at an assignment for the same or different consumers, the CART Captioner will strive to work in concert with the interpreters in order to provide for the needs of all consumers using interpreter and CART services, including lighting requirements and positioning of equipment and personnel.

F. The CART Captioner strives to maintain high professional standards through acquisition of appropriate certifications and the maintenance of current knowledge in the field.

Guidelines: CART Captioners should further their knowledge and skills through participation in workshops, professional meetings, interaction with professional colleagues who are doing CART Providing and reading of current literature in the areas of realtime writing, CART Captioning, and aspects of providing communication access for people who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

G. The CART Captioner will be fair and impartial toward each participant in all aspects of CART service and will be alerted to situations that are a conflict of interest.

Guidelines: Situations that may result in the CART Captioner’s inability to be impartial or that may give the appearance of a conflict of interest require disclosure to determine if the CART Captioner cannot function effectively as a facilitator of communication. Therefore, the CART Captioner is required to disclose any potential conflict of interest or inability to be impartial.

A CART Captioner should provide service in a setting where s/he and the consumer are both comfortable.

The duty of impartiality requires that a CART Captioner withdraw from an assignment as soon as it appears that a conflict of interest exists or his/her impartiality may be compromised. Such circumstances may include, for example, an assignment involving a participant who is a close friend, family member, or business associate, or an assignment wherein the subject matter under discussion involves a close friend, family member or business associate.

CART Captioners shall generally refrain from providing services in situations where family members or close personal or professional relationships may affect impartiality. If services are provided in such situations, especially in legal settings, it is difficult to prove oneself unbiased when challenged. In some situations, including emergencies, the requirements of this guideline may be waived. However, all parties must be informed that the CART Captioners shall not become personally involved and must always stay in role during the proceedings.