Interpreter Solutions Offers Service for Hearing-Impaired

Owners: Ron and Jennifer Asbill
Address: 304 Harve St., Springdale 72762
Phone/Fax: (479) 751-2755
E-mail: [email protected]
Hours: 24-hour service by appointment
Startup date: Jan. 1

Ron and Jennifer Asbill have put together a business that is providing a service that Northwest Arkansas has never had before. The couple have a 10-year-old son who has very little hearing and needs an interpreter at large events when his hearing aides won’t work because of background noise. Ron Asbill said they’d had a hard time making arrangements for an interpreter for their son and decided to address the problem that other local hearing-challenged people have also likely experienced.

Asbill said Interpreter Solutions hires the interpreters on a contractual basis, handles the billing and other bookkeeping and pays the interpreters each month based on the services provided.

Businesses paying for the service to assist a deaf customer are able to deduct 100 percent of the cost on their taxes. Asbill said a lot of what he does is an educational process, in that he schedules a deaf interpreter and often spends time explaining why its the business’s responsibility to pay for the service.

Interpreter Solutions has 12 interpreters it uses consistently, but more are needed. Asbill believes five to 10 more could be under contract by the end of the year.

During its first month of operations, Interpreter Solutions scheduled 37 interpreter appointments. Four months later, the company scheduled 170 appointments in one month.

For now, the Asbills are operating the business from their home. They’d like to relocate to an official office within the year. They hope to expand their library of educational materials for interpreters to help them with continuing education opportunities.

The couple invested about $25,000 to start the business. They hope to make their investment back within the first couple years.