In Kansas’ rapidly dynamic business environment, communication is one of the most stable pillars for expansion. From small-town Topeka retail to downtown Wichita’s company headquarters, access to customers, workers, and business partners is where expansion happens and companies remain operating. But for Deaf and Hard of Hearing individuals, that crucial link is all too often missing. Across America, nationwide ASL interpreting services bring the link Kansas companies need—not to make their companies more accessible, but to improve their operations, workers, and businesses.
ASL interpreting is more than an accessibility tool.
When people think about ASL interpreting, they often see it as simply an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance requirement. Interpreters, though, are so much more. For Kansas businesses, businesses wanting to increase their growth or diversify their customer base, using quality ASL interpreters is not just about checking off a legal requirement—it’s about showing humanity, building trust, and broadening their definition of excellent customer service.
ASL interpretation is central to removing the barriers that have excluded Deaf people from being active participants in everyday transactions in life—shopping, working, banking, or eating out. By offering such services as part of their business, companies essentially say, “We see you. We hear you—albeit in another way.”
The Local Impact of a National Network
One might ask: Why stress nationwide ASL interpreting services if we’re writing about Kansas. The answer is one of scope, dependability, and uniformity. Businesses in all areas across the state often have difficulty finding localized interpreters on short notice, especially in rural areas or areas that lack availability. A nationwide network fills in that gap by offering on-demand or pre-arranged services with coverage, regardless of where the company is based or at whatever hour support is needed.
This is especially relevant in healthcare, law, education, and customer service sectors, where communication is potentially urgent. Here’s an example: a Salina hospital that needs to explain emergency processes to an individual who is Deaf. Or one law practice in Garden City that needs to explain legal rights in an office appointment. Through having access to an interpreting service that is nationwide, situations like these can receive the care and precision that is needed.
Hiring the Best Involves Speaking Everyone’s Language
Kansas companies are constantly searching for their best and brightest. But just how accessible is the application process if we have communications barriers that keep qualified Deaf candidates from even applying in the first place? The competitive job environment demands that companies, if they care about being an employer of choice, think differently. Adding ASL interpreting to employment interviews, training, and office communications is an open door to a talented and creative class of workers.
When Deaf professionals feel confident that their work will be heard—and even understood—literally and figuratively, they’re more likely to apply, remain, and thrive. Employers also benefit from more compassionate, adaptable, and culturally responsive team spaces. What starts as a straightforward language accommodation has the potential to become an even more resilient, richer workplace culture.
Treating Customers is Treating All Customers
Visit any Kansas business, from Lawrence coffee shops to Overland Park tech startups, and chances are, at least one sign will read, “Everyone is welcome.” But is that statement entirely accurate if Deaf customers cannot even ask a question, purchase a product, or even receive an answer to an inquiry without feeling frustrated?
Customer experience is now the new money in today’s marketplace. Companies will do nearly anything to make experiences friction-free—from user-friendly websites to rewards clubs and more. Adding ASL interpreting services, especially through on-demand video services or in-office appointment scheduling, promises Deaf customers an equivalent service to all other consumers. A small shift that can create an incredibly meaningful impact in satisfaction and retention. That it is important at all that accessibility is not an afterthought but an expectation for business is telling.
From Compliance to Competitive Advantage
Most Kansas businesses that use ASL interpreting services start out checking a compliance box. But what they discover is more important: an advantage. Companies that adopt accessibility more see that companies that value accessibility become more prominent and respected by an active public that cares about social responsibility. Consumers today are outspoken and value-centric—they prefer to shop at, work for, and support companies that bring their values to life in the area of accessibility and respect.
In addition, state and federal grants support accessibility projects, and companies may initiate interpreting services with financial support. Accessibility is not an expense but an investment. An investment that will bring dividends in terms of brand image, customer retention, and social involvement.
The Digital Era Calls for More Than Subtitles
It’s easy to imagine that the era of technology has rendered communications barriers obsolete with closed captioning and voice-to-text. While these tools exist, they aren’t substitutes for live, professional ASL interpretation. ASL is not an English translation but an independent language with grammar and syntax. Subtitles lack feeling, nuance, or cultural sensitivity that an experienced interpreter can bring.
As Kansas businesses expand their services online—webinars, live streaming, e-commerce, virtual consultations—they have to realize that virtual accessibility is equally important as in real life. Working with interpreting services that offer virtual solutions means that nobody is excluded from being part of the conversation.
An investment in culture with tangible returns
Adopting ASL interpreting services is not just about the individual direct employee or customer who needs it—it’s a message to an entire community. It’s an indicator that reflects a company’s willingness to learn, to accommodate, and to communicate with other cultures and ways of communicating other than mainstream. This is not simply good business. This is the right thing to do.
Consider the ripple effects: a Deaf teenager from Hutchinson shops at a store and sees that an interpreter is on offer through use of a tablet. That experience sticks. The parents notice. Friends talk about it. Inclusion builds connection. And connection leads to community—and repeat, lifetime customers.
Developing an Inclusive Kansas Economy
Not only is Kansas a heartland community, but an increasingly diverse one as well. In order to prosper here, companies need to embrace practices that involve all Kansans—regardless of the way people communicate. ASL interpreting services across the country offer a company an affordable, scalable solution for bridging barriers and opening doors to inclusion.
ASL interpreting services encompass not just an access tool but an affirming tool as well. The value to recruitment and retention, to customer service and e-accessibility, can all be quantified as being considerable. During an era when far too often, difference is an adversary, Kansas businesses can be pillars of compassion and innovation. By welcoming nationwide ASL interpreting services, they can write an enlightened page in history—where nobody’s voice is unheard, not one of their customers is unseen, and nobody’s potential remains unrealized.
For those who are looking for additional support, Unspoken Language Services offers interpreting services to help bridge the communication gap between the deaf and hearing communities.
Thumbnail Photo by Alena Darmel
