CART Consumer Bill of Rights

Article I

Professionalism

CART consumers have a right to expect CART providers to act in a professional manner, treating consumers with dignity, respect, and courtesy at all times; to dress in attire appropriate for the assignment and setting; and to provide services in accordance with the NCRA Guidelines for Professional Practice, Sections III and IV.

Article II

Education

CART consumers have a right to expect CART providers to be professionals who have passed stringent training and certification requirements and have undergone several years of postsecondary education to provide effective communication access.

Article III

Sensitivity

All CART consumers, regardless of differences in abilities, have a right to expect CART providers to have an awareness of and sensitivity to their needs. Also, CART consumers have a right to expect CART providers to have a general knowledge about hearing loss and a general understanding of preferred communication modes and beneficial accommodations.

CART consumers have a right to share their preferred method of communication.

Article IV

Confidentiality

CART consumers have a right to expect CART providers to preserve their confidentiality (unless otherwise ordered by a court of law), to respect their right to privacy, and to not disclose information without their consent.

Article V

Impartiality

CART consumers have a right to expect CART providers to provide equal services to all parties in all aspects of CART and to disclose any potential conflict of interest or inability to be impartial before providing services.

Article VI

Accuracy

CART consumers have a right to expect clarity and accuracy of transcription, while recognizing these factors are highly dependent on the information provided to CART providers prior to the assignment as well as the speed and clarity of the speaker.

Article VII

Preparation

CART consumers have a right to expect CART providers to be prepared for the assignment and to have created a job dictionary, including speaker identifications and terminology, utilizing the information provided by consumers or clients prior to the assignment.

Regardless of assignment-specific terminology, CART consumers have a right to expect CART providers to have an extensive vocabulary and to be familiar with terminology in a number of different settings, to be able to spell words which are not in their specific computer dictionary, to maintain a high level of skills, and to be able to use and troubleshoot the computer software used to provide CART services.

Article VIII

Staying in role

CART consumers have a right to expect CART providers to refrain from commenting, interjecting, advising, or in any way becoming involved in the assignment outside the role of communication access. Exceptions may occur with CART consumer permission.

Article IX

Consumer choice

CART consumers have a right to make informed seating decisions, screen readability decisions such as foreground and background colors, font style and size, in conjunction with the CART provider's needs such as electrical outlets and safety. When there is more than one CART consumer, the needs of all consumers will be balanced for maximum effective communication access for all.

Article X

Roughly edited files

CART consumers, based upon the contract between the CART provider and the hiring party, may have a right to a roughly edited file of the assignment. Whether or not this file will be provided should be agreed upon before the assignment and is dependent upon many factors including institutional policies, work product, compensation arrangements, and confidentiality issues. If so authorized, CART consumers have a right to expect CART providers to roughly edit the file to remove any mistranslates or untranslates and to provide the file to the consumer in an agreed-upon format.