What are Communication Intermediaries?
Communication disabilities result from a wide range of causes. They include intellectual disability, traumatic brain injury, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), stroke, and many others. With such a wide range of causes, accommodating communication disabilities can be complex.
Communication intermediaries (CIs) are individuals eligible to be registered speech language pathologists (SLPs), who are trained to facilitate two-way communication between individuals with speech, language and/or cognitive-communication disabilities and justice professionals. Like language translators, CIs act as neutral officers of the court. They provide the accommodations needed for individuals with communication disabilities to have equitable access to legal, police, corrections, and justice services in Canada.
While a communication disability should not be a barrier to equitable access to justice, it also should not limit the ability of justice professionals to do their work effectively. As a result of CAJust’s training (and the training formerly offered through Communication Disabilities Access Canada) CIs across Canada now regularly help those working in the justice system to identify and accommodate communication disabilities. Without this professional support, these disabilities can be easily misunderstood or missed entirely.
Communication Intermediary is a copywritten term in Canada, used by people who are eligible to be speech-language pathologists across the country who have completed training offered by CAJust (or Communication Disabilities Access Canada prior to 2021). CAJust maintains a public list of active CIs from across the country who you can reach out to directly for services.
In addition, we maintain a more extensive private CI registration list. If you are engaging a CI in your area that is not on our public list, we would be happy to cross reference them against our private list to confirm that they have registered with our organization.
Developed from material originally published by Communication Disabilities Access Canada (CDAC).