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As a hard of hearing person or a deaf person you are entitled to certain
rights and protections under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). In circumstances involving the courts, law enforcement
officers, hospital, including emergency rooms, and even attorneys, under the ADA you are entitled to interpreters at no cost
to you, or other assistive listening devices so that there is effective and meaningful communication between you and the court,
a police officer or your lawyer or doctor. The National Association for the Deaf has taken the position that writing notes
back and forth between hearing people and HoH / Deaf people is not an effective means of communication. If you are detained
by the police, they must make available to you an appropriate telephone device for the deaf. Also, law enforcement agencies
must provide, at no expense to you, an interpreter or other effective means by which they can communicate with you and by
which you can communicate with them. You are also entitled to certain rights and protections at your place of employment.
Employers must make certain accommodations to allow you to be productive notwithstanding your hearing impairment or other
disability.
The web site for the National Association of the Deaf ( www.nad.policy.net
), has an extensive section explaining the legal rights of deaf and hard of hearing people. It is recommended that you visit
their Legal Rights section. The article included in our web site entitled, How to Work with Deaf or Hard-of Hearing People,
has a section that explains your rights in the work place. You may obtain information regarding the Americans with Disabilities
Act directly from the U. S. Department of Justice at their web site, www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/adahom1.htm.
This web site will also explain other laws designed to protect the rights of deaf and hard of hearing people. You may write
to the Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Disability Rights Section, P. O. Box 66738, Washington, D. C. 20035-6738,
and request a copy of their publication, A Guide to Disability Rights Laws, which will explain virtually all federal laws
designed to protect the rights of persons with disabilities, including hearing impairment. In the State of Connecticut, the
State Office for Protection and Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities can assist you if you have a specific problem with
an agency or branch of the government of the State of Connecticut. The Office of Protection and Advocacy for Persons with
Disabilities is located at 60B Weston Street, Hartford, Connecticut 06120-1551. Their telephone numbers are: (860) 297-4300,
1-800-842-7307, TDD (860) 566-2102, and Fax (860) 566-8714. The web site for the Office of Protection for Persons with Disabilities
is http://www.state.ct.us/opapd/. Some of the more important legal issues and topics
are addressed in the materials that follow.
For a deaf or hard of hearing person, an encounter with a law enforcement officer can be a most terrifying
experience. Officer Randy Melton of the Houston Police Department has been working to minimize those frightening experiences
for a number of years. Visit Officer Melton's site at http://www.policeanddeafness.com/ and learn a few ways in which you can minimize your anxiety in the
event you are involved with law enforcement. There is also a report on the NVRC site mentioned above on a workshop
conducted by Officer Melton at the SHHH convention recently.
The National Captioning Institute (NCI) announced on June
28, 2002, that it will launch the NCI National Help Desk, a free service available beginning July 4th by email, telephone,
TTY and postal mail. The first of its kind in the United States, the NCI National Help Desk will assist individual consumers
with questions and concerns about closed captioning and related media access services. The extensive captioning experience
and industry knowledge of NCI's full-time professional staff will serve as a valuable resource supporting the Help Desk staff
in answering public inquiries. Presented with generous support from Microsoft Corporation, the NCI National Help Desk
is designed to provide information on topics such as the availability of captioned programming, how to resolve problems with
displaying captions, accessibility of closed captions with digital cable and high definition television, and the availability
of closed captions in Spanish and on DVD's and home videos. The service will also accommodate consumer questions about
described video, a service that provides an audio description of the visual elements of video programming for people who are
blind or have low vision. The NCI National Help Desk's web site is located at www.ncihelpdesk.org, and can also be reached through NCI's web site, www.ncicap.org. Faxed inquiries can be sent to (703) 917-9878. Telephone
and TTY access is available at (703) 917-7686. Inquiries may also be mailed to NCI at 1900 Gallows Road, Suite 3000, Vienna,
VA 22182.
Tired of no captioning or poor captioning on your favorite television program, or on weather broadcasts or emergency
announcements? The National Association of the Deaf has the information you need to file a captioning complaint against the
local television station or the national networks. The web site and captioning
complaint information can be found at: http://www.nad.org/infocenter/infotogo/tech/captioncomplaint.html
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