As colleges welcome students back for the fall semester, qualified American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation has become an accessibility priority. Certified Languages International positions itself among the top-rated providers of ASL interpreting services for higher education, pairing human interpreters with secure, around-the-clock technology.
PORTLAND, Ore., Sept. 23, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- College disability offices can turn to (CLI) this fall for ASL interpreting services for higher education, with interpreters certified by the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID). The company helps mitigate the cost of disability offices, scheduling delays and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance risk that often accompany arranging on-site support during peak enrollment weeks.
What Should Colleges Look for in an ASL Interpreting Partner?
Colleges vet ASL interpreting partners chiefly on credentials and subject-matter fluency. To ensure the highest quality, CLI requires its ASL interpreters to maintain RID certification, which involves credits every four years. Because higher education spans everything from organic chemistry lectures to graduate seminars, that fluency has to extend into specialized academic terminology, a gap that disability services offices often cite with previous providers.
Fluency only goes so far without human judgment. Interpreters provide the essential empathy and emotional awareness required for live classroom discussions, a level of understanding that automated solutions cannot replicate. CLI built its reputation on that human-first approach, treating interpretation as a discipline that depends on lived understanding rather than pattern matching.
How Does On-Demand Video Interpreting Support ADA Compliance?
Secure ASL video remote interpreting helps universities consistently meet ADA and Section 504 obligations. CLI's platform runs on infrastructure built for uptime and complies with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), connecting staff to a qualified interpreter the moment a need arises.
CLI applies the same reliable infrastructure across its language access lineup, which gives campuses one vendor relationship instead of a patchwork of providers:
- Phone interpreting: With interpreters available in over 230 languages, staff can connect in moments to support clients.
- Video remote interpreting: CLI's MERFi® platform delivers face-to-face ASL support for lectures and advising sessions.
- Document translation: CLI handles course materials in 100 languages.
Because the platform is HIPAA-compliant, campus health centers and counseling offices can rely on a secure connection for sessions involving protected health information, extending privacy protections beyond the classroom. CLI has supported the interpreting needs of K-12 school districts and higher education institutions, a record compliance teams can cite when justifying vendor selection under federal accessibility law.
Campuses racing to have accessibility solutions in place before the semester's first exams need both RID-certified interpreters and reliable technology. This integrated approach closes accessibility gaps, ensuring every student has the support needed to succeed from the first lecture to the final exam.
About Certified Languages International
Certified Languages International provides phone and video interpreting, including American Sign Language, as well as document translation in 100 languages. Human judgment remains central to that work, since CLI's interpreters read context and emotion that automated tools cannot capture. The company has supported language access for K-12 and university partners for more than 30 years, keeping interpreters on call at all times.
Media Contact
Shane Jones, Certified Languages International, 1 (717) 928-0683, [email protected],
SOURCE Certified Languages International
Share this article