Aira ASL — On-Demand Sign-Language Interpreting Across Colorado State Services

Deaf and hard-of-hearing Coloradans visiting state offices previously relied on scheduled in-person interpreters or generic phone-based Language Line services, which county disability-program staff described as slow and poorly suited to walk-in government interactions. State officials describe ASL as the third most-spoken language in Colorado.

The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) and the Governor's Office of Information Technology (OIT) piloted Aira ASL, a mobile app connecting users instantly to a professional human ASL interpreter via live video, across all 32 Division of Vocational Rehabilitation locations and 46 Workforce Centers. OIT subsequently extended the same on-demand model to the Colorado State Capitol during the legislative session and to 11 History Colorado museums and historic sites, alongside a companion Aira Explorer visual-interpreting service for blind and low-vision residents.

Reporting confirms concrete site counts (32 + 46 + 11 = 89 government locations) but no user-volume, satisfaction or outcome statistics have been published. Mesa County's Workforce Center reported the pilot was scheduled to run only through 31 July 2025, with continuation contingent on user feedback and frequency of use.

Because no formal evaluation or usage data is available in the sources reviewed and continuation was explicitly conditional, this should be read as a promising but still unproven early-stage pilot rather than an evidenced success.