WAUSAU, WI (WSAU-WAOW) — A town hall was held on Saturday in Wausau about bill AB-250, which allows more sign language interpreters to enter the field.
State representative Jonathon Brostoff from Milwaukee was one of several representatives who helped introduce the bill to the assembly earlier this year. He tells WAOW-TV that they are holding town halls across the state to inform members of the deaf community about what the bill changes.
“We’re doing this across the state in order to update folks about the changes that were made for sign language interpreting for the deaf community. And we want to make sure everyone is aware of what it means moving forward and other victories that we can obtain in the future.”
But the meetings aren’t for just giving information about the bills. Brostoff says legislators also want to hear about any concerns from the deaf community they may have overlooked as well.
“To hear concerns from the community about other important bills that we could be working on to advance deaf access and deaf rights in Wisconsin.”
Several residents attended the meeting to give feedback and Wisconsin Association for the Deaf President Katy Schmidt says the group and lawmakers plan to address many of the concerns.
“I mean a lot of these concerns that we have heard so far are things that we are going to move forward and address.”
One of the other bills currently being worked on regarding the deaf community would create a system in which only the most experienced interpreters could work in legal and medical settings.
More town halls on bill AB-250 continue throughout the state in the coming weeks.