Hey guys, as the title says, I was recently contacted by a deaf individual about attending one of our nights. in their first message to me they asked about hiring an interpreter for them.

There is no audio portion to the trivia (like a name that tune) but the questions are asked out loud, and answers are written down.

I said that if they wanted to attend, I'd happily have questions printed out for them for each round, and have them seated near a the trivia host so they can at least contextually see whats happening, and that they shouldn't need an interpreter.

I'm doing my best to keep them informed, and keep it so the trivia would still be fair for the 100 other people in attendance.

After they purchased their ticket, they said they're still looking at interpreters, and from their initial statement i'd imagine they feel as though we are supposed to pay for it.

Our tickets are $10 per person, and that goes to having $300 in prizes, plus the cost of the host, plus basic operational costs... it all adds up. I looked into what an interpreter costs, and it could cost upwards of $400 for the duration of the event, which would shrivel our profits up to nothing - IF the event sells out.

I did offer them an additional ticket for a friend or the interpreter, if they choose to hire one, but I want to be sure that I can't really be expected to have to pay for this service; right?

This is in Canada btw.

EDIT:

This post took off more than I thought it would, and I've received a lot of feedback. I'm going to check in with some legal advice and try to get some solid answers, rather than just opinions.

There have been a few negative comments about the situation and I think it's important to actively try to be inclusive to matters like this, but not go all Harrison Bergeron on society as a whole. I'm trying to not only work out the best way to have THIS event happen, but develop a policy for future events and our company as a whole. You'll always encounter people that don't want to budge an inch, but it's important to work WITH people and together to face a problem. I initially felt it was combative of the customer to suggest that it was my responsibility to hire an interpreter, but its not ME vs THE CUSTOMER, its ME and THE CUSTOMER vs THE PROBLEM, and that's where WE will find the solution.

as far as the 80/20 rule goes, yeah this sucks for time, but it's a person trying to enjoy my services and I want to help them if I can.