RID: Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf – Adding Value to the Profession and for the Consumer through EDUCATION, STANDARDS, RELATIONSHIPS, and RESOURCES
RID is a national membership organization representing the professionals who facilitate communication between people who are deaf or hard of hearing and people who can hear. Interpreters serve as professional communicators in a vast array of settings such as: churches, schools, courtrooms, hospitals and theaters, as well as on political grandstands and television.
RID’s function is to support our membership by providing the foundation needed to launch and sustain careers while ensuring quality service to the Deaf community. We do this through a four-pronged approach.
- Education: Continuing education in any profession is a demonstrated commitment to the advancement of skills for increased quality service. RID focuses efforts on providing educational opportunities for new and professional interpreters through the Professional Development Committee (PDC) and the Certification Maintenance Program (CMP). CMP monitors the continued skill development of certified interpreters. It ensures that practitioners maintain their skill level and keep up with developments in the interpreting field.
- Standards: Maintaining standards helps to define a profession as well as the professional. Possessing RID certification is a highly valued asset for an interpreter and helps you to stand above the rest. For the betterment of both the profession and service to the consumer, RID has a tri-fold approach to the standards it maintains for membership:
- National Testing System (NTS) strives to maintain strict adherence to nationally recognized testing industry standards of validity, reliability, equity and legal defensibility.
- Certified Maintenance Program (CMP) is an avenue through which the continued skill development of certified interpreters/transliterators is monitored and nourished
- Ethical Practices System (EPS) and NAD-RID Code of Professional Conduct (CPC) are two vehicles which provide guidance and enforcement to professionalism and conduct. The EPS provides an opportunity for consumers to address concerns or file complaints regarding the quality of interpreter/transliterator services, and the CPC sets the standards to which all individuals holding RID certification are expected to adhere.
- Relationships: As a growing, recognized profession, interpreters need valuable networking opportunities with each other as well as key stakeholders to further advance the profession through relationship-building. RID provides international, national, state and local forums in addition to an organizational structure for this growth.
- Resources: Serving as an information clearinghouse, RID seeks to provide members with the necessary tools to succeed in their career and move the profession forward. We do this through such means as member benefits, affiliate chapter and regional support, a monthly member newsletter, publications offered through RID Press, current and user-friendly Web site, biennial conference and much more.
RID, a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, was established in 1964 and incorporated in 1972.
egistry of Interpreters for the Deaf
8630 Fenton Street, Suite 324
Silver Spring, MD 20910
(301) 608-0050 (V/TTY)
(301) 608-0562 (TTY only)
(301) 608-0508 Fax
Website: http://www.rid.org
The RID Code of Ethics
In an effort to protect and guide interpreters, transliterators, and consumers, RID members established principles of ethical behavior. The organization enforces this Code of Ethics through its national Ethical Practices System. Underlying these principles is the desire to ensure for all the right to communicate.
This Code of Ethics applies to all members of the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, Inc., and to all certified non-members. MORE