Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf
The Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, Inc (RID) is a non-profit organization, founded on June 16, 1964 and incorporated in 1972, that seeks to uphold standards, ethics, and professionalism for American Sign Language interpreters. The process of the founding of RID began with Dr. Boyce R. Williams, who worked for the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation (later renamed as the Rehabilitation Services Administration). In a joint collaboration between Vocational Rehabilitation and the Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW), Dr. Williams, who was also Deaf, led the "Workshop on Interpreting for Deaf People ," and RID was established during the workshop. RID is the only organization in the United States that credentials both Deaf and Hearing interpreters to provide services in a wide range of settings, as well as test and certify interpreters for legal work. The RID Board is committed to the "4 R's" which are: Roots, Respect, Relevance and Results. As of 2014 there were over 15,000 members and 58 affiliate chapters. Since August 2004, RID has been building stronger ties with the National Association of the Deaf (NAD), including a joint Code of Professional Ethics and the merging of their  respective certification programs. They jointly developed the National Interpreter Certification test (NIC), which was adopted in 2005. RID is headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, with a roughly $3,000,000 annual budget and around 20 employees. The association's operations are led by an executive director (currently vacant) and governed by an eleven-member board of directors. Governance and Operations. RID is governed by an eleven-member board of directors elected directly by the voting membership for a two-year term. Voting rights are determined by being a member in good standing of both RID (in the certified or associate category) and  a sanctioned affiliate chapter. The board is made up of the following positions: Following the expiration of the president's term, they serve an ex officio non-voting term on the board of directors as Immediate Past President. The Executive Board consists of the President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Member-at-Large, and Deaf Member-at-Large, and is elected on odd years for two-year terms. The regional representative positions are elected on even years for two-year terms. To run for election to the Executive Board, members must collect 25 nomination signatures from voting members with at least  one from each region of RID. Regional representative candidates must collect 25 nomination signatures from within their region. All positions except the Member-at Large require the candidate to be certified member of RID for four consecutive years prior to candidacy. Member-at-Large requires either associate or certified membership in RID for four consecutive years prior to candidacy. Additionally, regional representative candidates must have resided in their region at least two years prior to candidacy. If there are more than one candidates, an election is held via on-line balloting. p The 2007–2018 board of directors are as follows : RID operations are conducted by a paid staff led by an Executive Director. Since 2014, RID has not had a permanent Executive Director following the departure of Shane Feldman. The board contracted with Anna Witter-Merithew who served as Interim Executive Director until August 2017. Since that time, the board has served as Executive Director through President Melvin Walker while continuing a permanent Executive Director search. Code of Professional Conduct. As part of their push to improve the ethical behavior of practitioners in the field, RID revised and updated existing guidelines from the Code of Ethics. In 2005, the Code  of Professional Conduct was adopted as the newest set of principles interpreters should adhere to. Certified interpreters have an especially strong duty to follow the principles laid out by RID, for the integrity of the work, the well being of the stakeholders, and to avoid causing harm. The tenets from the current Code of Professional Conduct are: RID certifications. RID has a national certification system with three key components: In previous incarnations of the NTS, the following certifications were given to interpreters meeting the testing criteria (All credentials awarded by the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf will remain valid  as long as the holder of said certification(s) maintains their membership and maintenance program.): Previously offered certificates: Currently offered certificates: RID granted certified membership to holders of the defunct NAD certification at levels III, IV and V as well as those who pass the Educational Interpreter Performance Assessment (EIPA) at proficiency level 4.0 with a passing score on the EIPA written exam. The certifications for these members are listed as: No new certified member status is being granted for any of these categories. As of July 2005, a new certification test, developed with the NAD, was implemented and the CI  and CT tests began to be phased out. The new generalist certification for hearing interpreters is the NAD-RID National Interpreter Certification (NIC). In 2015 NAD decided to withdraw its involvement from the NIC resulting its name being removed from the test. CASLI. RID formed a limited liability company called the Center for Assessment of Sign Language Interpretation (CASLI) in 2015 to carry out all testing functions. CASLI is a wholly owned subsidiary, supported operationally by RID headquarters staff and governed by a Managing Board that reports to the RID Board of Directors. As of 2017, the Board of Managers  consisted of: In 2017, CASLI's operations began direct supervision by Star Grieser, CDI who reports to the RID Deputy Director. CASLI's formation began a clearer philosophical and practical split of certification from professional testing. Under this new scheme, CASLI is granted greater autonomy to design, prepare and conduct generalist testing for both Deaf and hearing interpreters. RID retains the function of certifying interpreters based on their testing results and other certification criteria. As such, the EPS and CMP systems remain under RID's direct control.