Subdivision 1. Scope. For the purposes of sections 256C.21 to 256C.30, the terms defined in this section shall have the meanings given them, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

Subd. 1a. Culturally affirmative. "Culturally affirmative" describes services that are designed and delivered within the context of the culture, language, and life experiences of a person who is deaf, a person who is deafblind, and a person who is hard-of-hearing.

Subd. 2. Deaf. "Deaf" means a hearing loss of such severity that the individual must depend primarily on visual communication such as American Sign Language or other signed language, visual and manual means of communication such as signing systems in English or Cued Speech, writing, speech reading, and gestures.

Subd. 2a. Hard-of-hearing. "Hard-of-hearing" means a hearing loss resulting in a functional loss of hearing, but not to the extent that the individual must depend primarily upon visual communication.

Subd. 2b. Deafblind. "Deafblind" means any combination of vision and hearing loss which interferes with acquiring information from the environment to the extent that compensatory strategies and skills are necessary to access that or other information.

Subd. 2c. Interpreting services. "Interpreting services" means services that include:

(1) interpreting between a spoken language, such as English, and a visual language, such as American Sign Language;

(2) interpreting between a spoken language and a visual representation of a spoken language, such as Cued Speech and signing systems in English;

(3) interpreting within one language where the interpreter uses natural gestures and silently repeats the spoken message, replacing some words or phrases to give higher visibility on the lips;

(4) interpreting using low vision or tactile methods for persons who have a combined hearing and vision loss or are deafblind; and

(5) interpreting from one communication mode or language into another communication mode or language that is linguistically and culturally appropriate for the participants in the communication exchange.

Subd. 3. [Repealed, 1Sp2017 c 6 art 1 s 54]

Subd. 4. [Repealed by amendment, 1996 c 392 s 1]

Subd. 5. [Repealed by amendment, 1996 c 392 s 1]

Subd. 6. Real-time captioning. "Real-time captioning" means a method of captioning in which a caption is simultaneously prepared and displayed or transmitted at the time of origination by specially trained real-time captioners.

Subd. 7. Family and community intervener. "Family and community intervener" means a paraprofessional, specifically trained in deafblindness, who works one-on-one with a child who is deafblind to provide critical connections to people and the environment.

History: 1980 c 574 s 3; 1993 c 306 s 9-11; 1996 c 392 s 1; 1999 c 159 s 55; 1Sp2017 c 6 art 1 s 32-35; 2018 c 182 art 1 s 55; 2019 c 23 s 1