Contact us by email at interpreting@alsglobal.net or via phone at 1-800-951-5020 for a free estimate on our ASL and CART services.

Trusted CART & ASL Services in Ft. Myers, FL

American Language Services has been helping businesses and other entities reach the deaf and hard of hearing community for more than 35 years. While in-person interpreting, at one time, was the only option, recent technological advances opened the door to other options. Since we offer full-service Video Remote Interpreting (VRI), this article will be comparing Virtual American Sign Language (ASL) interpreting with Communication Access Real-Time Translation (AKA- Closed Captioning & Real Time Subtitling) known as CART.

 Please note that according to the American Disability Act (ADA) that deaf and hard of hearing community have the legal right to receive full access through the use of ASL and or CART services. The ADA prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities and providing ASL interpreters for deaf individuals complies with federal law and promotes equal accessibility.

Some interesting Facts About the City of Ft. Myers

• Fort Myers is the county seat and commercial center of Lee County, Florida, United States. Fort Myers is a gateway to the Southwest Florida region and a major tourist destination within Florida. The winter homes of Thomas Edison (“Seminole Lodge”) and Henry Ford (“The Mangoes”) are a primary tourist attraction in the region. The city is named after Colonel Abraham Myers. The geographic statistical area is serviced by Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW), located southeast of the city.
• Fort Myers was one of the first forts built along the Caloosahatchee River as a base of operations against the Seminole Indians during the American Indian Wars. During the Seminole Wars, Fort Myers was a strategic location for its visibility and access to Atlantic waterways.
• During the American Civil War, Confederate blockade runners and cattle ranchers called Fort Myers home. These settlers prospered through trading with Seminole Indians and Union Soldiers.
• The Fort Myers community was founded by Captain Manuel A. Gonzalez on February 21, 1866. Captain Manuel A. Gonzalez was familiar with the area as a result of his years of service delivering mail and supplies to the Union Army at the Fort during the Seminole Indian Wars and Civil War. When the U.S. Government abandoned the Fort following the Civil War, Gonzalez traveled by sailing vessel from Key West, Florida to found the community. Three weeks later, Joseph Vivas and his wife, Christianna Stirrup Vivas, arrived with Gonzalez’s wife, Evalina Gonzalez, and daughter, Mary Gonzalez
• Gonzales had shipped supplies and carried mail during the war and settled his family near the abandoned Fort Myers to begin the town’s first trading post. Gonzalez traded tobacco, beads, and gunpowder, and sold otter, bobcat, and gator hide, to the neighboring Seminole Indians.
• In 1881, the wealthy industrialist Hamilton Disston of Philadelphia came to the Caloosahatchee Valley to dredge and drain the everglades for development. Diston connected Lake Okeechobee with the Caloosahatchee River, which allowed steamboats to run from the Gulf of Mexico to Lake Okeechobee and up the Kissimmee River.
• On August 12, 1885, the small town of Fort Myers—all 349 residents—was incorporated. By that time, it was the second largest town on Florida’s Gulf Coast south of Cedar Key.
• In 1885, inventor Thomas Alva Edison was cruising Florida’s west coast and stopped to visit Fort Myers. He soon bought 13 acres along the Caloosahatchee River in town, and built a home and laboratory, “Seminole Lodge”, as a winter retreat. After the Lodge was completed in 1886, Edison and his wife, Mina, spent many winters at their home in Fort Myers. Edison also enjoyed local recreational fishing, for which Fort Myers had gained national notoriety.
• In 1898, Fort Myers became a nationally known winter resort destination with the building of the Royal Palm Hotel.
• On May 10, 1904, access to the Fort Myers area was greatly improved with the opening of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, connecting Punta Gorda to Fort Myers. This route provided Lee County both passenger and freight railroad service.
• In 1908, the Arcade Theater was constructed in downtown Fort Myers. It served originally as a vaudeville house, and was an auditorium that Fort Myers resident Thomas Edison sat in to view his first films, with his friends Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone. The Arcade Theatre was eventually converted into a full movie house, with a wall dividing the stage to form two screening rooms. It is now host to the Florida Repertory Theatre, a performing arts hall.
• During the period of 1914-1918 (World War I), Edison became concerned with America’s reliance on foreign supplies of rubber. He partnered with tire producer Harvey Firestone, of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, and his good friend Henry Ford, of the Ford Motor Company, to try to find a rubber tree or plant that could grow quickly in the United States and, above all, contain enough latex to support his research endeavor. In 1927, the three men contributed $25,000 each, and created the Edison Botanic Research Corporation in an attempt to find a solution to this problem.
• In 1928, the Edison Botanic Research Corporation laboratory was constructed. It was in Fort Myers, Florida that Edison would do the majority of his research and planting of his exotic plants and trees, sending any results or sample rubber residues up to West Orange, New Jersey, to his large Thomas A. Edison “Invention Factory” (now preserved in the Thomas Edison National Historical Park). Through Edison’s efforts, the royal palms lining Riverside Avenue (now McGregor Boulevard) were imported and planted, and would become the reason for Fort Myers’s “City of Palms” nickname.
• After testing 17,000 plant samples, Edison eventually discovered a source in the plant Goldenrod (Solidago leavenworthii). Thomas Edison died in 1931, and the rubber project was transferred to the United States Department of Agriculture five years later.
• In 1916, automobile magnate Henry Ford purchased the home next door to Edison’s from a Robert Smith of New York, which Ford called “the Mangoes”. Ford’s craftsman style bungalow was built in 1911 by Smith. Ford, along with Harvey Firestone and Thomas Edison, were generally considered the three leaders in American industry at the time, and often worked and vacationed together. All three were part of a very exclusive group titled “the Millionaires’ Club”. The three men are now memorialized in statues in downtown Fort Myers’ Centennial Park
• In 1924, with the construction of the Edison Bridge, which was named after the city’s most famous winter resident, the city’s population steadily grew. In the decade following the bridge’s construction, the city experienced its first real estate boom. Several new residential subdivisions were built beyond Downtown, including Dean Park, Edison Park, and Seminole Park Edison Park, located across McGregor Boulevard from the Edison and Ford properties, includes a number of Fort Myers’ most stately homes. The historic development showcases a variety of architectural styles, and is known for its community activities and strong neighborhood ties
• On February 11, 1931, the 84th birthday of its namesake, the Edison Bridge was opened. Edison dedicated the bridge, and was also the first to drive across it.
• In 1947, Mina Edison deeded Seminole Lodge to the City of Fort Myers in memory of her late husband for the enjoyment of the public. By 1988, the adjacent Henry Ford winter estate was purchased and opened for public tours in 1990. The combined properties today are now known as the Edison and Ford Winter Estates.
• According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 40.4 square miles (105 km2), of which 31.8 square miles (82 km2) is land and 8.6 square miles (22 km2) (21.25%) is water.
• Fort Myers experiences a tropical savanna climate (Köppen Aw), with short warm winters, and long, hot, humid summers, with most of the year’s rain falling from June to September.
• The temperature rarely rises to 100 °F (38 °C) or lowers to the freezing mark. At 89, Fort Myers leads the nation in the number of days annually in which a thunderstorm is close enough for thunder to be heard.
• Out of all the cities in Florida, Fort Myers has the highest total number of days with sun.
• There are more shell varieties on the beaches in Fort Myers than anywhere else in North America. In fact, the Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel are one of the few places in the world where “shelling charter captain” is an actual career. There’s no guarding against those famous afflictions — the Sanibel Stoop and Captiva Crouch — while you scour the sand for rare finds like “sculpted lion’s paw” and “golden tulip.”
• Captiva was the full-time home of artist Robert Rauschenberg, and is a haven of boutique art galleries and eclectic artists. Milton Earnest (aka Robert) Rauschenberg was a contemporary American painter and graphic artist whose early works anticipated the pop art movement. Famous for his massive mixed-media art, Rauschenberg moved to Captiva in 1968 when there was only one telephone to the mainland, one policeman for about 50 families, and only a ferry to get on and off the island. Today, Southwest Florida is home to more than 125 art galleries, studios, and museums. And it’s Rauschenberg who’s largely responsible for the artist culture that can be found on Sanibel and Captiva in particular.
• The Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum is “the only museum in the United States that is solely devoted to shells and the mollusks that make them.” Going way beyond your grandmother’s shell collection, the museum employs a “world-renowned malacologist” (super-smart mollusk expert) and two marine biologists to teach visitors all about these natural wonders.
• The population of Fort Myers was 62,298 during the 2010 census. Between the 2000 census and 2010 census, the city’s population increased at a rate of 29.2 percent
• Fort Myers is one of two cities that make up the Cape Coral-Fort Myers Metropolitan Statistical Area. The 2010 population for the metropolitan area was 618,754.
• The population of Lee County, Florida and the Cape Coral-Fort Myers Metropolitan Statistical Area has grown 40.3 percent since the census in 2000, much faster than the average growth rate of 17.6 percent experienced throughout the State of Florida.
• The Calusa Nature Center and Planetarium is a private, not-for-profit, environmental education organization. Set on a 105-acre (0.42 km2) site, it has a museum, three nature trails, a planetarium, butterfly and bird aviaries, a gift shop and meeting and picnic areas.
• Fort Myers received electric light in 1898, courtesy of winter resident Thomas Edison. Though many of the local folks didn’t like it because it kept the cows up at night. Change, even for the better, can be hard. Learn all about it at the museum on the grounds of the Edison & Ford Winter Estates…and stick around to check out the botanical gardens, event facilities, and historic buildings at this special site.
• Established in 1906 and spanning four generations, the SA Feather Company has been a wholesale supplier of exotic feathers for over a century. They make boas, headdresses for Vegas dancers, Mardi Gras float décor, wings, and even feathered wigs. How fabulous!
• There’s access to 190 miles of unforgettable canoe and kayak trails. Perfect for kayakers of all levels, the Great Calusa Blueway paddling trail runs through the Gulf of Mexico’s open water and down through the bays of Sanibel and Captiva, where the coves, rivers, and backwaters are home to sheltered mangroves — dolphin and manatee sightings are common.
• City of Palms Park, former home of the Boston Red Sox spring training program, close to downtown Fort Myers.
• Greater Fort Myers is the national headquarters for Chico’s Apparel and Hertz Rental Cars. When Hertz Rental Cars swallowed up Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group in 2012, the rental car giant needed a new home for its growing family. Enter Estero (just south of Fort Myers). The first Fortune 500 Company to call the area home, Hertz brings over 700 jobs to Lee County. In fact, Hertz and Dollar Thrifty have more employees in Florida than in any other state except California, and Florida rents more cars per capita than anywhere else in the US. Chico’s, on the other hand, is Fort Myers born and raised. In 1983, Marvin and Helene Gralnick opened the first in Periwinkle Place on Sanibel Island. Today, Chico’s is an apparel giant housed in a 146,000-square-foot worldwide headquarters on Fort. Myers’ Metro Avenue, and it employs 2,000 people in the area. Job seekers rejoice!
• There’s a 7,600-acre wildlife refuge on Sanibel. Part of the largest undeveloped mangrove ecosystem in the US, the J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge is home to more than 245 bird species, including a few that are completely unique to Southwest Florida. Look out for the roseate spoonbill — it’s similar in appearance to a flamingo, but its pink color occurs naturally rather than from a crustacean-rich diet. The refuge is also a popular paddling, hiking, and biking spot and hosts free seasonal programs and tours.
• The abandoned city scene with the Edison Theatre, from the movie Day of the Dead (1985) was filmed in downtown Fort Myers.
• Some courthouse and other “city” scenes in Just Cause (1995) were filmed in downtown Ft. Myers.
• Part of the independent film Trans (1999) was filmed in Fort Myers, Florida.
• Fort Myers is part of the setting of Red Grass River: A Legend (1998), an award-winning novel by James Carlos Blake

Reference Sources: Roofing Boston MA, Kiddle Encyclopedia

Ft. Myers ASL & CART Language Interpreters

American Language Services is known for our high-quality, In-person and Virtual interpreters, as well as the outstanding client services we provide. We work in 200+ languages including Legal and Medical Certified and Qualified.  ASL and CART are the fastest growing languages in Ft. Myers today a language interpreter can be a very underestimated professional in the world today. There are over 100 languages spoken in the Ft. Myers Metro area alone. Many of us know one language, and we specialize in one field of study. Our Ft. Myers Interpreters are fluent in English and at least one other language, and they are knowledgeable in a wide range of specialized fields including legal, medical, technical, manufacturing, and engineering.

A brief history of ASL Interpreting in Ft. Myers

Most people know that ASL stands for American Sign Language. But not everyone knows that it is a distinct language—not simply an offshoot of American English. Though its beginnings are murky, many believe that ASL originated from a merger of French Sign Language (SLF) and local U.S. sign languages. While ASL and SLF are distinct languages, there are still some similarities between their signs.

What actually is ASL?   ASL a complete, natural language that has the same linguistic properties as spoken languages with grammar however that differs from English. ASL is expressed by movements of the hands and face.  ASL is a language completely separate and distinct from English. It contains all the fundamental features of language, with its own rules for pronunciation, word formation, and word order.  Because of the physical nature of ASL, a two-person team of ASL interpreters is required for assignments longer than 1 hour in duration.

The National Center for Health Statistics claims that 28 million Americans have some degree of hearing loss, though only between two and eight percent of them are natural ASL speakers.  Helping these select individuals translate the audible into the understandable is the job of an ASL interpreter.  If you have ever been to a play, a concert or watched a government briefing, you have probably seen an ASL interpreter signing just out of view.  An interesting side note is that Statista estimates that there are currently around 60,000 active ASL interpreters in the USA.

The Benefits of ASL Interpreting in Ft. Myers

When it comes to communicating with hard-of-hearing or deaf audiences, there are a few reasons you might want to opt for a Ft. Myers ASL interpreter over CART services. These include:

• A More Personal Connection: A real person has several advantages over a computer screen. First, human interpreters have an easier time conveying emotion. Second, they are better equipped to point out speakers and assist with pronunciation issues. Finally, an interpreter gives a deaf or hard of hearing person a chance to bond with another person.
• Enhanced Speed: Skilled interpreters can hold pace with even the fastest speakers. Lack of delay makes it easier for deaf and hard of hearing individuals to keep up with the conversation.
• Cost Effective:  While costs range by the type of ASL you need (Legal, medical, business, etc.) and when the assignment is scheduled, the cost off ASL, across the board, is less money than CART.

What Is CART?

While the majority of people know what American Sign Language is, the same cannot be said for Communication Access Real-Time Translation. Often referred to as CART, this communication method for the deaf and hard of hearing is best described as subtitling for live discussions. Unlike ASL, which relies on a professional interpreter, CART services are provided by a well-trained stenographer or transcriptionist. They transcribe anything said and then broadcast the resulting text to a phone, computer, or TV screen.

CART is often seen as a cost-effective and efficient way to ensure everybody can follow along. While often used to help deaf students in the classroom, CART captioning benefits anyone that can read.  Much like ASL interpreting, it can be done both onsite with a physical transcriptionist or remotely with an offsite one.

Why You Should Consider CART for the Ft. Myers Market

Communication Access Real-Time Translation is growing in popularity due to the following characteristics:

• It Serves a Wider Array of Deaf People: If you do a little math, you will realize that 65 percent of hard-of-hearing people in the USA do not speak ASL fluently. CART makes it so these people can join in on the conversation as well.
• CART Makes It Scalable: While people in the front rows can easily make out what an interpreter is signing, it gets harder as the distance increases. Since captions can be beamed to multiple screens simultaneously, they do not have to factor speaker distance into the equation.
• The Text Provides a Written Record: Having a transcript of everything your professor said would be a godsend come finals. Having a record of a meeting can also provide clarity to all those involved as well. The physical nature of CART recording makes that possible. This ability is one reason so many college students opt for CART over traditional ASL interpreting. 

About American Language Services

Founded in 1985, American Language Services was there to help pioneer the rise in remote ASL interpreting options. Our dedication to quality and client satisfaction in interpreting allowed us to shift from a one-woman agency into one of the most successful language agencies in the world. Our language experts provide ASL & CART interpreting services to people all around the world. Because of our 24/7 availability, you’ll never have to worry about us not being available, on off times, for an assignment.

AML-Global has some of the most impressive linguistic talents in the world. These highly skilled language professionals are recruited, screened, and tested to ensure high-quality work.

Contact us by email at interpreting@alsglobal.net or via phone at 1-800-951-5020 for a free estimate on our ASL and CART services.

ASL Interpreting or CART in Ft. Myers: Which One Better Suits Your Needs?