ATA Newsbriefs

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is appealing a federal judge’s order requiring the White House to immediately begin providing American Sign Language (ASL) interpreting at its press briefings when President Trump or Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt are speaking. The White House stopped using live ASL interpreters at briefings and other public events when President Trump began his second term in January.

In a court filing responding to U.S. District Judge Amir Ali’s ruling, the DOJ requested clarification on which types of events should have ASL interpreting available. The department said it believes the services should be limited to regularly scheduled briefings and not other events where the president takes questions from the press.

It notified the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that the White House’s current vendor agreement for ASL interpretative services requires 24 hours’ notice.

The DOJ said the White House is working to “establish a publicly accessible channel showing ASL interpretation that would be provided simultaneously with every press briefing subject to the injunction.”

The DOJ also said Judge Ali’s order should not apply to remarks made in a broad set of scenarios. “The White House does not understand ‘press briefings’ to encompass events with other purposes, such as a ceremony or a speech, at which the President may choose to take questions from the press,” the department said.

Judge Ali issued the preliminary injunction on November 4 and ordered the Trump administration to update the court on compliance by November 7.

“White House press briefings engage the American people on important issues affecting their daily lives—in recent months, war, the economy, and health care, and in recent years, a global pandemic,” Judge Ali wrote in the order. “The exclusion of Deaf Americans from that programming, in addition to likely violating the Rehabilitation Act, is clear and present harm that the court cannot meaningfully remedy after the fact.”

The government’s appeal of Judge Ali’s order is being filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) and two Deaf men filed a lawsuit against Trump and Leavitt in May. The suit also names White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, along with the offices for president and vice president. It alleges the White House’s failure to provide ASL violates Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, a law prohibiting discrimination against people with disabilities in programs conducted by the federal government.

“American Sign Language and accurate captioning are both essential to ensuring full and equal access to information,” said Bobbie Scoggins, NAD’s interim chief executive officer. “ASL and English are distinct languages, and captions alone cannot meet the needs of everyone in our community. The court’s ruling affirms what we have long known: equal access to information from the White House is not optional. We deserve the same timely, direct access to White House briefings as everyone else.”

NPR (11/11/25) By Kristin Wright

Read Full Article

As the world becomes increasingly reliant on artificial intelligence (AI) and digital technologies, the ability to communicate, learn, and participate online depends heavily on language. Yet, most of the world’s linguistic diversity remains excluded from the digital realm—and with it, millions of people risk being left behind.

To address this growing inequality, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) released its report, Global Roadmap on Multilingualism in the Digital Era: Advancing the Role of Language Technologies, during the Second World Summit for Social Development (WSSD+2). The solutions session, organized by UNESCO, brought together members of the UNESCO-led Coalition for Linguistic Diversity in AI, policymakers, researchers, and Indigenous leaders to discuss how inclusive AI design and ethical digital transformation can empower marginalized linguistic communities and advance social development.

The report advances the Doha Political Declaration adopted at WSSD+2, reaffirming global commitments to social inclusion, equal opportunity, and “leaving no one behind.” Its focus on eliminating inequality and exclusion aligns with UNESCO’s call to “leave no language behind.” By promoting language-inclusive AI and enabling marginalized language communities to participate fully in digital life, the report helps put these commitments into practice.

The report was developed by a diverse group of experts with the support of a global consultation, which gathered over 100 responses from 53 countries across governments, academia, civil society, language communities, and the tech sector. Building on this collaboration, UNESCO will now prepare an Action Plan outlining concrete steps, recommended actions, and a clear path for effective implementation and monitoring.

“By valuing and supporting all languages, this global roadmap empowers communities, strengthens education, and contributes directly to the sustainable development goals for a more inclusive and equitable world,” said Salah Khaled, director of the UNESCO Regional Office for the Gulf States and Yemen.

UNESCO (11/10/25)

Read Full Article

Texas officials are making progress toward creating a new bilingual special education teacher certification, which advocates hope will set a national example for states serving students dually identified as English learners and students with disabilities.

In 2021, the Texas legislature passed House Bill 2256, mandating the creation of a bilingual special education teacher certificate. After years of development, the state board of education formally adopted the standards for the new certification in September 2025. The exam for the certification is expected to be in practice in 2028.

“I think the certification represents a very historic shift in how we prepare teachers to serve emergent bilingual students, especially those kids with disabilities, because it’s not as if it’s two separate populations. It’s the whole child whose language, culture, and learning differences intersect,” said Lizdelia Piñón, an emergent bilingual education associate for the Texas-based advocacy nonprofit Intercultural Development Research Association. Piñón helped develop the certificate’s standards.

While some universities in Texas and elsewhere already offer bilingual special education certifications, and states including Texas already offer bilingual teaching certifications, the new certificate would fill a persistent gap in both English-learner and special education services, Piñón said.

The goal of the certificate, Piñón said, is to ensure educators can distinguish between language differences and disabilities; design dual-language, individualized education programs grounded in students’ cultural and linguistic strengths; foster collaboration between language-acquisition educators and special education teams; and implement asset-based, inclusive, and research-aligned practices in every classroom.

“It’s a landmark approval for the dual needs of these students,” Piñón said.

EducationWeek (10/30/25) By Ileana Najarro

Read Full Article

David Bellos, 80, a renowned scholar of French fiction and celebrated translator, died on October 26.

Bellos was the author of 28 book-length translations and nine scholarly books about French writers and literature. His work grappled with the tricky nature of translating between languages and embraced the potential of language itself to help us understand the human condition. He was the first translator honored with a Man Booker International Prize for Translation in 2005.

Bellos is widely known for his book Is That A Fish in Your Ear? Translation and the Meaning of Everything (2011), an introduction to translation studies written for a general readership. The book was included on several best books of the year lists and translated into seven languages. It highlights the importance of translators in fields such as international security, scientific research, law enforcement, and computer engineering. It also charts the complex work of translators at the United Nations and explores the mental state involved in translating into and out of one’s native languages, among other topics.

The French government honored Bellos with the rank of Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques for support and advocacy of French arts and language. He was also appointed an officer in the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He received the Prix Goncourt de la Biographie, the most prestigious literary award in the French-speaking world, for his 1994 literary biography Georges Perec: A Life in Words.

Bellos joined the faculty at Princeton University in 1997 after teaching at the universities of Oxford, Edinburgh, Southampton, and Manchester. In 2007, he became the first director of Princeton’s newly created undergraduate Program in Translation and Intercultural Communication. Across disciplines, he said at the time, “We want to make tomorrow’s leaders more reflective about translation issues and better informed about how and why communication between cultures succeeds and also often fails in the modern world.”

“David was a totally brilliant translator and a leader in a field he saw as central not only to the academy but also to our everyday efforts to make meaning and understand one another,” said Sandra Bermann, a professor of comparative literature at Princeton and co-founder of the Program in Translation and Intercultural Communication. “He brought translation to life in the classroom and in his weekly translation lunches, featuring translators of many languages and at all career stages.”

Michael Wood, professor emeritus of English and comparative literature at Princeton and co-founder of the Program in Translation and Intercultural Communication, said Bellos’ “subtle understanding of many kinds of difference was present in everything he did” and noted that Bellos makes it clear at the end of Is That a Fish in Your Ear? that translation should not be considered a problem to solve but rather an act of faith. “Bellos writes: ‘It is translation that provides incontrovertible evidence of the human capacity to think and to communicate thought. We should do more of it.’”

Princeton University (11/14/25) By Jamie Saxon

Read Full Article