(225 ILCS 443/10)

(Section scheduled to be repealed on January 1, 2028)

Sec. 10. Definitions. The following words and phrases have the meaning ascribed to them in this Section, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:

"Accepted certificate" means a certificate required for licensure that is issued by the Commission, National Association for the Deaf, Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, Testing Evaluation and Certification Unit Inc. (TECUnit), or any other certifying entities authorized by rule.

"American Sign Language (ASL)" means a visual-gestural language that is recognized and accepted as linguistically independent from English language and has its own syntax, rhetoric, and grammar that is recognized, accepted, and used by many deaf Americans.

"Board" means the Illinois Board of Interpreters for the Deaf as established within the Illinois Deaf and Hard of Hearing Commission.

"Commission" means the Illinois Deaf and Hard of Hearing Commission.

"Consumer" means any individual with or without a hearing loss who is the recipient of interpreter services.

"Cued speech" means a phonetically based hand supplement to speech reading that is independent of all sign language modalities. It is a system of hand shapes that represents groups of consonant sounds, combined with hand placements that represent groups of vowel sounds, used with natural speech to represent a visual model of spoken language.

"Deaf" means any person who, because of the severity of a hearing loss, is not able to discriminate speech when spoken in a normal conversational tone regardless of the use of amplification devices and whose primary means of receiving spoken communication is through visual input, including but not limited to, American Sign Language, speech reading, sign systems, tactile sign, fingerspelling, reading, or writing.

"Department" means the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.

"Director" means the Director of the Illinois Deaf and Hard of Hearing Commission.

"Educational interpreter" means any person, including those with a hearing loss, who provides deaf or hard of hearing interpreting services in all educational environments under the regulatory authority of the State Board of Education.

"Hard of hearing" means any person who, because of a hearing loss, finds hearing difficult, but does not preclude the understanding of spoken communication through the ear alone, regardless of the use of amplification devices or assistive devices, and whose primary means of receiving spoken communication is through visual or auditory input, including, but not limited to, assistive devices, speech reading, sign language, fingerspelling, reading, or writing.

"Hearing" means any person who does not have a hearing loss.

"Interpreter for the deaf" means any person who offers to render deaf or hard of hearing interpreting services implying that he or she is trained and experienced in interpreting for the deaf and holds a license to practice interpreting for the deaf in this State.

"Interpreting" means the interpreting or transliterating of English language concepts to any communication modes of the deaf or hard of hearing consumer or the interpreting or transliterating of the communication modes of the deaf and hard of hearing consumers to English language concepts. Communication modes include, but are not limited to, American Sign Language, cued speech, oral, tactile sign, and persons with language deficient skills.

"Language deficient" means modes of communication used by deaf individuals who lack crucial language components, including, but not limited to, vocabulary, language concepts, expressive skills, language skills, and receptive skills.

"License" or "licensure" means the authorization to practice interpreting by the Commission under the provisions of this Act.

"Oral" means the mode of communication having characteristics of speech, speech reading, and residual hearing as a primary means of communication using situational and culturally appropriate gestures, without the use of sign language.

"Practice of interpreting" means rendering or offering to render or supervise those who render to individuals, couples, groups, organizations, institutions, corporations, schools, government agencies, or the general public any interpreting service involving the interpreting of any mode of communication used by a deaf or hard of hearing consumer to English language concepts or of an English language consumer to a mode of communication used by a deaf or hard of hearing consumer.

"Secretary" means the Secretary of Financial and Professional Regulation.

"Tactile sign" means mode of communication, used by deaf and blind individuals, using any one or a combination of tactile sign or constricted space signing.

"Transliterating" means the process of conveying a message from either spoken language into a manually coded language or from a manually coded language into a spoken language.

(Source: P.A. 95-617, eff. 9-12-07.)