The White House is sued over lack of sign language interpreters at press briefings

During the daily briefing on Thursday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt spoke as the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) filed a lawsuit against the White House. The lawsuit aims to ensure the presence of American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters during media briefings. The NAD claims that the White House ceased providing ASL interpreters abruptly when President Trump began his second term. The lawsuit, filed on Wednesday, requests the court to mandate the presence of ASL interpreters at these events and make video recordings of them available to viewers.

ASL has its own vocabulary and grammar, differing from English. The NAD estimates that hundreds of thousands of people in the U.S. primarily communicate in ASL, with many deaf and hard of hearing individuals having limited knowledge of English. The group argues that English closed captioning of briefings is insufficient. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, lists President Trump, press secretary Karoline Leavitt, Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, and offices for the president and vice president as defendants. It alleges violations of federal disability rights law, the First Amendment, and Fifth Amendment.

The NAD emphasizes that the failure to provide qualified ASL interpreters during public events is unlawful and denies deaf individuals meaningful access to White House briefings. The White House has yet to respond to NPR’s request for comment on the lawsuit. Two deaf men, Derrick Ford and Matthew Bonn, are joining the NAD in the lawsuit, expressing concerns about missing important information due to language barriers.

The NAD states that deaf and hard of hearing Americans deserve equal access to White House information through ASL interpretation. The organization previously sued the Trump administration over ASL access during the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to the provision of interpreters for pandemic-related briefings. Under the Biden administration, ASL interpreters were included in all press briefings, and the White House hired its first full-time interpreters.