Today is the 30th Anniversary of the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
The FCC has an important role to play in implementing the ADA in a way that delivers on its promise to make services available to all Americans – specifically including making communications services accessible to the hearing impaired.
Of course, during the coronavirus crisis with lockdowns, quarantines, social distancing, and other strictures, awareness of the importance of the ADA's accessibility mandate to those with hearing impairments has been heightened even further.
In recognition of the 30th Anniversary, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai commendably issued a statement acknowledging the importance of the ADA to those who are disabled and affirmed the FCC's role in fulfilling the ADA's mission. Here is an excerpt from Chairman Pai's statement:
“The FCC’s core mission is to help ensure that every American has access to advanced communications, including the tens of millions of Americans with disabilities. The FCC implements and enforces Title IV of the ADA, which requires telephone and VoIP companies to provide a nationwide system of telecommunications relay services. TRS allows individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing, or deafblind, or have speech disabilities to communicate with others in a way that’s functionally equivalent to those without disabilities. And building off the success of TRS, the FCC has leveraged new developments in technologies for accessible communications, such as automatic speech recognition, videoconferencing, and real-time text."
With regard to Telecommunications Relay Services, I have previously written about Internet Protocol Captioned Telephone Service (IP CTS), a form of TRS that allows individuals with a hearing impairment to both read captions and use their residual hearing to understand a telephone conversation. As I said in this Free State Foundation Perspectives titled "Reforming the FCC's Internet Protocol Captioned Telephone Service Program": "Without doubt, the availability of IP CTS to those hearing impaired persons who need this form of assistance fulfills an important societal function."
TRS services are intended to be functionally equivalent to the provision of voice communications services used by persons without disabilities. Section 225 of the Communications Act requires the Commission to ensure that telecommunications relay services, including IP CTS, are made available "to the extent possible and in the most efficient manner." To that end, in the September 2019 Perspectives, I urged the FCC to consider implementing certain reform measures that would help achieve the most cost-effective and efficient operation of the IP CTS program.
But, for today, I am pleased simply to highlight Chairman Pai's positive statement acknowledging the FCC's important role in making telecommunications services accessible to the hearing impaired.
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