Serving SpaniSh-Only SpeakerS thrOugh the CpD WebSite: a Starting pOint

Nationwide, the Hispanic population continues to grow rapidly. Within this population, a segment of Spanish-only speakers exists, but data on the exact numbers of this demographic varies. In Utah, the 2010 census data reported that the Hispanic population comprised 13 percent of the states population, with widely varying densities across counties. This data, however, provides no indication of the number of Spanish-only speakers within that population.

During the past year, the web committee at the Center for Persons with Disabilities has explored different options to best serve the Spanish-only speakers in our state. Initial questions included: How are other UCEDDs reaching Spanish-only speakers? What is the availability of technology and use of internet technology for the majority of Spanish speakers? What is the best use of our resources? How do we handle different dialects to ensure information is accessible to the majority of the Spanish-only speakers?

We concluded that our best course of action and use of our resources would be to install a prominent Spanish button at the bottom of our website, which would link to a page within our site describing our scope of services in Spanish in simple, direct terms. Most importantly, contact information for our Spanish-speaking liaison would be included here, along with a photo. We felt it was important to provide a face and a friendly voice speaking a familiar language for people who may be unsure about navigating our site and accessing our services. We tested this page on various tablets and smartphones to ensure accessibility on mobile devices.

Center for Persons with Disablities

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Our plans are to monitor this web page over the next year to answer the following questions: How many contacts were made in a year? What were the most frequent questions? Would it be helpful to have downloads of available Spanish materials on the site? What materials are the most frequently requested? Is there a problem with dialects and the translated material posted? How can we inform Spanish-only speakers of the material on our website?

Review of all the UCEDD websites revealed that we were not behind the curve. Surprisingly, only two sites posted complete Spanish website versions (not including Puerto Rico, where the primary site is in Spanish). Only about half a dozen other sites had a Spanish page or some Spanish content. We approached some of our service providers, community liaisons, and family advocates for their input concerning use of the website by Spanish-only speakers. Most of these informal interviews had one common conclusion, the belief that very few Spanish-only speakers utilize the internet for services without an interpreter. This interpreter is often a bilingual school-aged child in the home. These conclusions are validated by the Pew Hispanic Center which reports that only one in three Latino adults who speak only Spanish go online. While the report found that 26 percent of Latino adults have neither a cell phone nor an Internet connection, it did find that many Latinos who do not use the Internet are connected to the communication web via smartphone. According to a July 2012 report by Scarborough Research, Hispanics continue to outpace non-Hispanics with the adoption of smartphones an increase from 43% in 2010 to 57% in 2012, compared to an increase from 36% in 2010 to 46% in 2012 for non-Hispanics. While there are no statistics available as to the number of Hispanic smartphone users who speak only Spanish, it became clear that whatever resources the CPD posts for this population need to read well on mobile devices.

Kelleen Smith

Bryce Fifield