Requesting Special Accommodations

Court Interpretation and Translation Services (CITS) offers certified interpreters in dozens of languages including American Sign Language (ASL).  Spanish, then Arabic are most common. Vietnamese, Burmese, Mandarin, Swahili, Farsi, Romanian, French, and Kinyawanda round out the top ten.

You may learn more about CITS at this web page.

If you or a party to your case needs language assistance, please let your Justice Court know of the need at least three days in advance. You may do that by phone, email, or in person.

For a hearing-impaired person who does not read sign language or for whom assisted listening devices will not work, seeing words on a screen can be the best way to understand what is being said in court.

To facilitate this, the Judicial Branch can provide technology called CART:  Communication Access Real-time Translation. The CART provider hears what is being said and converts it to text in real time, much like a court reporter, for the hearing impaired person to read on a screen.

All requests for CART must be made at least two weeks in advance. Please let your Justice Court know of the need by phone, email, or in person.

Courts wish to be accessible to all. If you have a court hearing coming up and are in need of special accommodations because of a disability, please download our Americans with Disabilities Act Accommodation Request Form.

Some accommodations may take longer than others, so please make your request with as much time as possible before your hearing date.

Please complete this form and present it to the court which is handling your case. Some courts will accept this form by email. You can send email through links on our Locations page. Alternative means of submitting an accommodation request, such as by personal interview or a tape recording, will be made available to individuals with qualifying disabilities upon request to court staff.

The court will provide a response as soon as possible. The Justice Courts cannot guarantee every request can be honored as presented to us but we will make every effort to find reasonable accommodations.

For additional detailed information about Title II ADA policies, please read Maricopa County Superior Court's Notice of Court Access Information for Persons with Disabilities.

If you are dissatisfied with the response to your ADA request, you may file a complaint with with our ADA Coordinator using this grievance form.

Grievances must be filed within 60 days of the alleged discriminatory act. You may also utilize any other remedy allowed under federal or state law by filing a complaint with the appropriate federal or state agency.