For purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings:

(1) BOARD. The Alabama Licensure Board for Interpreters and Transliterators, created pursuant to Section 34-16-4.

(2) CODE OF ETHICS. The tenets established by the Registry of the Interpreters for the Deaf which set guidelines governing professional conduct for interpreters and transliterators, and any other code of ethics approved by the board.

(3) CONSUMER. A hard of hearing, deaf, or speech disabled person or any other person or an agency that requires the services of an interpreter or transliterator to effectively communicate and comprehend signed or spoken discourse.

(4) CONTINUING EDUCATION PROGRAM or CEP. A program approved by the board to improve the skill level of licensees and permit holders.

(5) FUND. The Alabama Licensure Board for Interpreters and Transliterators Fund, created pursuant to Section 34-16-9.

(6) INTERMEDIARY INTERPRETER. A person who is credentialed as an interpreter and who serves in an intermediary capacity between another deaf person and another licensed or permitted interpreter or between two or more deaf persons.

(7) INTERPRETER. A person who is credentialed as a professional interpreter and who engages in the practice of interpreting among consumers. Fluency in all languages interpreted is required.

(8) INTERPRETING or TRANSLITERATING. The process of providing accessible communication between and among consumers who do not share a common means of communication. For the purposes of this chapter, interpreting means those processes known as interpretation and transliteration and includes communication modalities, including, but not limited to, visual, gestural, and tactile channels.

(9) NATIONALLY RECOGNIZED CERTIFICATION. A certification awarded to individuals who successfully complete an evaluation of interpreting skills at a professional level. The term includes a Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf certification, or an equivalent such as the National Association for the Deaf/Alabama Association for the Deaf Interpreter Assessment Program Level 4 or Level 5, or Cued Speech Certification at a national level.

(10) ORGANIZATIONS. The Alabama Association of the Deaf (AAD), a state chapter of the National Association of the Deaf (NAD); Alabama Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (ALRID), an affiliate state chapter of the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, Inc., (RID).

(11) SIGN LANGUAGE. Includes all of the following communication systems:

a. American Sign Language (ASL) Based. The language of the deaf community that is linguistically independent from English. The term refers to the visual gestural language used in the United States and parts of Canada and includes all regional variations.

b. English Based Sign Systems. Includes, but is not limited to, all visual representations of the English language such as manually coded English, Pidgin Sign English, and Oral Interpreting.

c. Sign Language. A generic term used to describe a continuum of visual-manual language and communication systems.

d. Cued Speech. A system of handshapes which represents groups of consonant sounds, combined with hand placements which represent groups of vowel sounds, used with natural speech to represent a visual model of spoken language.

(12) TRANSLITERATOR. A person who is credentialed as a professional transliterator and who engages in the practice of transliteration between consumers utilizing two different modes of the same language. Fluency in both modes of language is required.