Areas We Serve · Brooklyn
Interpreters, captioners, and describers for a borough where more than 200 languages already share a subway car.
Why Brooklyn books differently
Brooklyn is the most populated borough in New York City, and it did not get there by being uniform. The Dutch village of Breukelen it takes its name from is now Downtown courtrooms, Williamsburg galleries, a working waterfront at Sunset Park, and the boardwalk at Coney Island — and every one of them arranges accommodations on its own terms.
More than 200 languages are spoken across the borough, so a Brooklyn request rarely stops at one accommodation. Pairing American Sign Language with a spoken language, or captions on the screen with a translated handout, is the normal shape of the work here — and we would rather bundle that under one coordinator than have you chase three vendors for one room.
Providers dispatch from our Harlem office to every corner of the borough, and that proximity is what makes the two-hour on-site window a real number rather than an aspirational one. A last-minute community-board meeting in Canarsie and a Friday-afternoon clinic appointment in Sunset Park get the same turnaround, because in a borough this size, being close to one part of it does not mean being far from the rest.
Where we work in Brooklyn
Pick the part of the borough you are booking for. Travel anywhere inside Brooklyn is already in the quote — there is no separate mileage line.
Borough Hall, the courthouses, hospital campuses, and the office towers around MetroTech — the densest concentration of legal and civic rooms in the borough.
Neighborhoods we cover
What we provide in Brooklyn
Brooklyn bookings tend to arrive in pairs — an interpreter beside a captioner, a braille handout beside a described film. Sent as one order they are owned by one person rather than by three.
American Sign Language, DeafBlind tactile, International Sign, and 40+ foreign sign languages, on-site from Greenpoint to Coney Island or delivered remotely.
Learn more about ASL & Sign Language InterpretingRooms we staff here
A gallery opening, a courtroom, and a school gym each need different placement, sightlines, and check-in. Tell us which of them you have and the staffing is built to it.
Interpreted and described performances at Brooklyn's independent theatres, with a rehearsal attended and the script prepped before opening night.
Openings, panels, and studio visits where the interpreter needs the artist's vocabulary in hand before anyone starts speaking.
Community board sessions, tenant meetings, and public hearings, where the city's Local Law language-access duty usually sits alongside the ADA one.
Downtown hospital campuses and clinics across the borough: consults, intake, and the conversation families have in the corridor afterwards.
Public schools, independent schools, and Brooklyn's college campuses — lectures, IEP meetings, orientations and commencement.
Sabbath and Sunday services, high holidays, weddings and funerals, staffed by someone who already knows the liturgy and the language a particular congregation uses.
On-set interpreting for Brooklyn's film, television, and podcast work, then captioning, subtitling and signed video versions once it is cut.
Hotel ballrooms and Downtown office floors, with multi-track agendas coordinated from first session to last.
Landmarks we cover
Bridge walks, waterfront parks, the boardwalk and the aquarium draw school groups, tour operators and film crews all year. Each has its own access problem, and none of them is a seat in a room.
Guided walks across the promenade are interpreted on the move, in wind and traffic noise, with no fixed sightline — so we brief the provider on the route and the stopping points before the group sets off.
Six piers of open-air programming, from Pier 1's lawn concerts to the carousel and the waterfront lecture series. Outdoor staging decides where an interpreter can stand and whether captions need a screen of their own.
Community meetings, sports programming and neighbourhood events along the water, usually booked at short notice and often bilingual before they are anything else.
Aquarium talks, boardwalk festivals and the amusement district behind them: interpreted tours, described exhibits and captioned announcements across a site that is loud, bright and constantly moving.
Working in Brooklyn
Community boards and public hearings, schools and clinics, theatres and galleries, houses of worship, production floors, and corporate conferences are all staffed the same way: a coordinator assigned to the request, providers matched to the room and the subject matter, and a number that is answered on the day.
Client Stories
4.8 · Based on 240 Reviews
Carrie Heitman
"I can not recommend ICS highly enough. Hook & Eye Theater had a wonderful experience working with Shelby and the team at ICS from beginning to end. What an incredible organization serving the theatrical community and beyond."
Frank Starling
"Accessibility is an essential part of inclusion, and Inclusive Communication Services delivered it with excellence at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Their ASL interpreting, CART captioning, and service coordination teams supported our conference stages, networking spaces, and last-minute changes with calm professionalism and deep care."
Christina Dixon
"I had the pleasure of seeing the ICS American Sign Language interpreting team at a conference in San Francisco. Their professionalism and expertise puts them in a league of their own. Shelby and her team set the standard for professionalism, coordination, and accessibility."
Laura Mosteller
"Our company has been using ICS for years at our annual conference. Their kind and clear communication leading up to the event and their prompt arrival each day makes the choice a no-brainer."
Patrick McMullen
"Inclusive Communication Services did an amazing job at Cannes Lions Festival. They treated us with kindness and made sure we had full access to interpreters the whole time. It honestly felt like everything was normal."
Emily Johnson — AADMD
"We have loved working with ICS and appreciate their flexible approach to working with our budget. The services have been game changing for what we are able to provide."
What to expect
Four numbers, committed to before anything is signed, and they hold from Greenpoint down to Coney Island.
How booking works
Date, times, the Brooklyn address, the subject matter, and the accommodations the room needs. The request form takes a few minutes and that is enough to price it.
One person owns the booking from the first message to the last invoice — on the phone in advance, and on standby all the way through the date.
Whoever ends up in the room is picked for your subject matter and for the room itself, and prep material goes out in advance rather than on the day.
Providers get there 15 to 30 minutes early, having already sorted out the entrance, and a day-of number reaches you in case anything moves on the morning.
Frequently asked questions
Get started
Name the date, the corner of the borough, and every accommodation the room is likely to want at once — signed, spoken, captioned, printed. One coordinator prices the lot together inside a business day, mileage already inside the figure.
