§ 21.004.Interpreter's Position in Court

A physical requirement, stated as a prohibition on the court rather than as guidance.

Where a court is required to appoint an interpreter under this subchapter, it may not start proceedings until the appointed interpreter is in court in a position not more than 10 feet from and in full view of the deaf person.

Both conditions are about visibility, and sign language is why. Signed languages carry meaning in handshape, movement, facial expression, and body position at once. An interpreter who cannot be seen clearly is not interpreting.

Ten feet is a legislative judgment about the distance at which that stops working, and it removes the question from the discretion of a judge managing a crowded courtroom.

"Full view" is the harder of the two to satisfy. A courtroom has counsel tables, a bench, monitors, and people who move, and an interpreter well within ten feet can still be blocked. The requirement is continuous — it is a condition of the proceedings, not a seating instruction to be met once.

Note the form: "may not start proceedings". The obligation is on the court, not on the deaf person to object, which matters because the person least able to point out that they cannot see the interpreter is the person who needs one.

The provision belongs to a subchapter that treats interpretation as a condition of the proceeding rather than an accommodation within it — the same reason the interpreter takes an oath, holds a privilege, and may accompany a deaf juror into deliberations.