Coaching Box - Deaf Player's Interpreter Told No

SC Official

bob jenkins wrote
Why don't schools ever think to call / write the state on these types of issues to get clearance in advance?

Because it's easier for them pressure us to just throw rules to the wayside "for the kids."

BillyMac

My game, I'm the referee, I'm asking for state paperwork, and absent that, I'm still allowing the interpreter to stand wherever it's best for the deaf player.

However, before I leave, I'm telling the head coach, and the athletic director/site director, to get paperwork from the state for the next game.

I'm also getting the player's name and number before I leave, and when I get home I'm emailing the information/situation to my local assignment commissioner who is the liaison between our officials and the schools/state.

I can guarantee that my assignment commissioner, my local interpreter, and my state interpreter will back me up 100%. I'm also willing to bet that the state will probably back me up as well.

Again, the usual caveat, when in Rome ...

griblets

BryanV21 wrote
Without a directive from the NFHS or OHSAA I'm allowing the interpreter, unless for some reason safety is an issue.

At the risk of sounding insensitive, this could open up a wide range of issues...

What about interpreters for those who don't speak the same language as the coach? Should they get to stand, too?
Are players with anxiety allowed to bring their therapy dogs to the bench area? (I have a daughter with anxiety who participates in sports, so I understand issues like this quite well.)

Why couldn't the interpreter interpret from a seat on the bench? That's not denying the player access to the coach's instructions. It seems the officials made an appropriate accommodation for the interpreter and people are still upset!

BryanV21

BillyMac wrote
My game, I'm the referee, I'm asking for state paperwork, and absent that, I'm still allowing the interpreter to stand wherever it's best for the deaf player.

However, before I leave, I'm telling the head coach, and the athletic director/site director, to get paperwork from the state for the next game.

I'm also getting the player's name and number before I leave, and when I get home I'm emailing the information/situation to my local assignment commissioner who is the liaison between our officials and the schools/state.

I can guarantee that my assignment commissioner, my local interpreter, and my state interpreter will back me up 100%. I'm also willing to bet that the state will probably back me up as well.

Again, the usual caveat, when in Rome ...

This is better than my answer. Lol

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BryanV21

griblets wrote
At the risk of sounding insensitive, this could open up a wide range of issues...

What about interpreters for those who don't speak the same language as the coach? Should they get to stand, too?

Are players with anxiety allowed to bring their therapy dogs to the bench area? (I have a daughter with anxiety who participates in sports, so I understand issues like this quite well.)

Why couldn't the interpreter interpret from a seat on the bench? That's not denying the player access to the coach's instructions. It seems the officials made an appropriate accommodation for the interpreter and people are still upset!

Obviously take it on a case by case basis.

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Raymond

griblets wrote
At the risk of sounding insensitive, this could open up a wide range of issues...

What about interpreters for those who don't speak the same language as the coach? Should they get to stand, too?

Are players with anxiety allowed to bring their therapy dogs to the bench area? (I have a daughter with anxiety who participates in sports, so I understand issues like this quite well.)

...!

Are those disabilities covered by the ADA?

Altor

griblets wrote
[*]What about interpreters for those who don't speak the same language as the coach? Should they get to stand, too?

I don't believe ESL students are covered by the ADA.

[*]Are players with anxiety allowed to bring their therapy dogs to the bench area? (I have a daughter with anxiety who participates in sports, so I understand issues like this quite well.)

Two questions we are allowed to ask:
(1) is the dog a service animal required because of a disability, and (2) what work or task has the dog been trained to perform.

If the facility has allowed the animal to enter the building, I'm certainly letting the animal stay in the bench area with the owner. I might balk at bringing it onto the court, barring some paperwork telling me otherwise. There are certainly other sports where a service animal could be used without these worries though...
https://www.today.com/health/blind-teen-keeps-running-thanks-guide-dog-1C9434190

Pantherdreams

griblets wrote
Why couldn't the interpreter interpret from a seat on the bench? That's not denying the player access to the coach's instructions. It seems the officials made an appropriate accommodation for the interpreter and people are still upset!

I think the governing association and the officials decided like you that giving the player some access to interpreter met the athletes need and their obligations.

Beyond that there are 2 groups of people upset.

1) Fans/followers who are in a twist because they got something one way all season long and then when someone tries to enforce a rule they get up in arms. Welcome to being a fan/follower.

2) The head of the legal branch of National Association for the deaf said in the article:
"Regardless of what the rules are for who may be on the sidelines, even if they limit access to coaches only, denying an interpreter is a violation of federal laws mandating equal access for deaf people."

Rosenblum said what happened "denies equal communication" for Joey.

So from the legal side they are likely going to argue the idea of equal communication. That if A1 can have a private convo with the coach standing in the box, Joey through hi interpreter all. need to be able to have a similar conversation with the coach. The argument will be that the interpreter is is not getting to communicate the coaches message are clearly, effectivey and in an equal way as the communication is happening.

RefsNCoaches

Pantherdreams wrote
I think the governing association and the officials decided like you that giving the player some access to interpreter met the athletes need and their obligations.

Beyond that there are 2 groups of people upset.

1) Fans/followers who are in a twist because they got something one way all season long and then when someone tries to enforce a rule they get up in arms. Welcome to being a fan/follower.

2) The head of the legal branch of National Association for the deaf said in the article:
"Regardless of what the rules are for who may be on the sidelines, even if they limit access to coaches only, denying an interpreter is a violation of federal laws mandating equal access for deaf people."

Rosenblum said what happened "denies equal communication" for Joey.

So from the legal side they are likely going to argue the idea of equal communication. That if A1 can have a private convo with the coach standing in the box, Joey through hi interpreter all. need to be able to have a similar conversation with the coach. The argument will be that the interpreter is is not getting to communicate the coaches message are clearly, effectivey and in an equal way as the communication is happening.

The cynical side of me says...if Joey is looking over at his interpreter for signs while on defense, he's at even more of a disadvantage....but I would also agree that the interpreter should be allowed access to communicate coach messages both in the huddle and during game.

Only once can I recall in my officiating years (20) where this type of thing came up and it was in a youth league. Of course, we allowed the interpreter to be where needed (which coach requested endline)...as long as they stayed back off the endline and out of the way of the officials..

This is the second event in the last month where the IHSAA is under fire. Now this one is a little more cut and dry to me...

https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/columnists/gregg-doyel/2019/02/22/fishers-high-school-swimmer-suspension-botched-hse-school-board-ihsaa/2949529002/

Freddy

SITUATION 15: Team A has a player who is deaf. The coach requests that both a signer and head coach be allowed to occupy the optional coaching box in order to relay instructions to the affected player.
RULING: The school principal shall make a written request to the state high school association which shall include written verification from a physician confirming the condition. The state association, if it approves, will return a letter of approval and this letter shall be presented to the game officials prior to each contest.

BillyMac

With apologies to General Douglas MacArthur.

Freddy wrote
SITUATION 15: Team A has a player who is deaf. The coach requests that both a signer and head coach be allowed to occupy the optional coaching box in order to relay instructions to the affected player.
RULING: The school principal shall make a written request to the state high school association which shall include written verification from a physician confirming the condition. The state association, if it approves, will return a letter of approval and this letter shall be presented to the game officials prior to each contest.

Nice citation. Thanks.

Nevadaref? Why are you posting under Freddy's username?

RefsNCoaches

I'm guessing there's going to be an attorney that picks this up and uses that situational ruling by the NFHS to levy discrimination suit against them.

crosscountry55

RefsNCoaches wrote
I'm guessing there's going to be an attorney that picks this up and uses that situational ruling by the NFHS to levy discrimination suit against them.

Yup. Shame on all of us for not being sensitive to a 20-year old interp that hasn’t been publicly available since the turn of the century, and that was never published in the formal casebook to begin with, thereby ensuring that 90% of officials never read it.

Oh the humanity!

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Raymond

RefsNCoaches wrote
I'm guessing there's going to be an attorney that picks this up and uses that situational ruling by the NFHS to levy discrimination suit against them.

Against whom? The NFHS? They have accommodations for deaf players based on this old interp. To me, the player's parents, coach, and school dropped the ball when they didn't submit the requisite paperwork with the state.

crosscountry55

Pantherdreams wrote
Beyond that there are 2 groups of people upset.

1) Fans/followers who are in a twist because they got something one way all season long and then when someone tries to enforce a rule they get up in arms. Welcome to being a fan/follower.

What is it about playoff games that causes officials to make issues out of stuff they would likely ignore the previous three months?

(Rhetorical question. Don’t actually answer. We all know the answer.)

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ilyazhito

Is it the fact that officials are actually being watched, for the possibility of advancing to the State Semifinals/Finals and want to show their rules knowledge (along with good mechanics and the other needed abilities)?

If I had this team's coach in the game, I would treat the interpreter as the head coach for the purposes of communication with the deaf player, and ask the head coach to file an accommodation letter with the state office, if he has not already done so. If the player (and his coach) present me with an accommodation letter from his state, I will honor it and relay the specifics to my partners.

Nevadaref

Unless the state office has given written permission for the interpreter to stand, she will be sitting on the bench and signing from there.
I don’t grasp how sign language is different when sitting or standing, so I don’t see any negative impact to the deaf player.

Pantherdreams

As the nephew of a deaf couple I can say line of sight and clarity of purpose is important. It is easier if they can focus on speaker & signer instead of trying to distinguish the signer from a mass of bodies and movements and determine who's voice they are signing. The role of the interpreter is to sign any communication made by an individual towards the hearing impaired person

Just like the head coaches voice gets to be distinct than the other bench noise because of presence, proximity, ease of contact over when they are sitting, etc. I would assume that the desire or expectation would be to have the interpreter able to relay all those attributes in real time in as similar a way as possible. By physically being by the coach and relaying the message in real time with their lips it is also evident to the reciever who is speaking to them. There would be no need to say sign Head Coach tom says or Assistant Coach Paul says. If they are allowed to be proximate to the speaker.

When my aunt and uncle use an interpreter the expectation is that other persons don't speak to the interpreter and that interpreter doesn't speak "to" others. My aunt and uncle are supposed to be able to maintain eye contact/ line of sight with the person whom they are speaking while the interpreter in in the vision of the speaker and hearing distance of hearing capable person in the case where they are interpreting sign for them.

billyu2

BryanV21 wrote
Without a directive from the NFHS or OHSAA I'm allowing the interpreter, unless for some reason safety is an issue.

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Bryan: From the OHSAA Basketball Manual (OHSAA Website)

Authorizing rule exceptions to provide reasonable accommodations– Adopted in Ohio.
Comment: The NFHS allows reasonable accommodations to be made to individual participants with disabilities and/or
special needs, as well as those individuals with unique and extenuating circumstances. Please send a written request to
lprochaska@ohsaa.org. If the permission is granted, you will keep that to show officials prior to a contest.

In a similar issue several years ago, the OHSAA granted permission for a coach using sign language to stand.

BryanV21

billyu2 wrote
Bryan: From the OHSAA Basketball Regulations (OHSAA Website)

Authorizing rule exceptions to provide reasonable accommodations– Adopted in Ohio.

Comment: The NFHS allows reasonable accommodations to be made to individual participants with disabilities and/or

special needs, as well as those individuals with unique and extenuating circumstances. Please send a written request to

lprochaska@ohsaa.org. If the permission is granted, you will keep that to show officials prior to a contest.

In a similar issue several years ago, the OHSAA granted permission for a coach using sign language to stand.

Thanks. If I ran into this next season I probably would have screwed up.

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