Celebrating 35 Years of the ADA Helping Deaf, Hard of Hearing and DeafBlind Community

Nearly 35 years ago, on July 26, 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act – the historic civil rights law that protects the rights of people with disabilities – was signed.

Before the Americans with Disabilities Act’s passage in 1990, many Deaf, Hard of Hearing and DeafBlind people had experienced asking a friend or family member to make a telephone call for them, even calls of a sensitive and personal nature. Imagine asking your mom to call your date for a meet-up time and location. Awkward! 

The implementation of telecommunications relay services nationwide changed that experience dramatically and resulted in increased independence. The accompanying equipment, known as teletypewriters or TTYs, allows people with hearing loss to type out their remarks and the relay service operator will facilitate communication between parties. 

This technology is now considered outdated and has led to the advent of the current video relay service for American Sign Language users through videophones and smartphones. Additionally, because of the ADA, closed captioning has become more visible in public places such as airports and hospitals.

Many public facilities and venues, such as museums, are more accessible and enhance their visitors’ experience by providing captioning for their video exhibits. The assistive listening devices in auditoriums, theaters, aquariums, zoos and museums sometimes include ASL interpreting. For almost three years, the North Carolina Museum of Art has provided a trained docent who is Deaf to conduct monthly museum tours in ASL for the community.

Although many of the challenges of achieving full communication access persist, our world today is unrecognizable to those who navigated our nation before 1990. Today, so much more information and communication technology (ICT) is made accessible through our mobile devices. 

We can use a smartphone or tablet to watch captioned online videos, use native (built-in apps) to have captioning displayed during phone or video calls, join a workplace meeting with an ASL interpreter and/or Communication Access Realtime Translation captioning displayed on screen, or attend a telehealth appointment with communication access accommodations in place and more.

The ICT landscape is evolving and will include the eventual dissolution of landlines, which will bring about revolutionary changes in digital communications and video programming, along with an increased necessity for accessible emergency communications and artificial intelligence.

The Communications, Video and Technology Accessibility Act was drafted to acknowledge the changes in ICT and its potential impact on people with disabilities, continuing the spirit of ADA’s original promise. This bill is currently working its way through the U.S. Congress.

NCDHHS' Division of Services for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing works hard to ensure North Carolina is current and our services and resources are up to date. Please follow us on Facebook, our website and read the “Technology Corner” of our quarterly newsletter to keep up with all we are doing to help the Deaf, Hard of Hearing and DeafBlind communities.