~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
July 2001
The Japanese newspaper "The Yomiuri Shimbun" recently
reported that Japan Airlines (JAL) has introduced magnetic writing
boards on all domestic and international flights. The purpose of the
slates is to improve communication with passengers with hearing loss.
I haven't seen a picture of the slate, but I'm assuming it's a
beefed-up version of the magnetic slates we boomers played with as kids.
For our younger readers, these are devices that have a plastic film over
a black "tablet". The user writes with a stylus, and the text
shows up almost as if it were written with a pencil. Simply lift up the
plastic film to erase.
When I first read this, I thought that it was a pretty low-tech
solution, but the more I think about it, the better idea I think it is.
The user doesn't have to be computer-literate, it's easy to pass back
and forth, and it's kind of fun to use. I've known a couple of people
who carry them in lieu of pencil and paper, and it works great for them.
It seems like an effective, inexpensive, and convenient solution to a
nagging communications problem.
The bottom line is that it looks like a step in the right direction,
but it appears that these recent actions do not comprise a total removal
of existing restrictions.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
April 2002
The San Francisco Chronicle recently reported that the Deaf
Counseling, Advocacy and Referral Agency (DCARA) and an individual
plaintiff named Colin Piotrowski have filed a civil rights lawsuit in
federal court claiming that the San Francisco International Airport
fails to provide adequate access to hard of hearing people, and that
this failure causes hard of hearing people to face significant problems
and dangers at the airport. DCARA is a social service agency serving
deaf and hard of hearing people in the Bay area. The suit was filed
against the San Francisco Airport Commission, Airport Director John
Martin and the city of San Francisco.
The suit claims that the airport suffers "systemic
failures" that prevent people with hearing loss from obtaining
adequate information regarding flights, emergencies, and pages. It
points out that travelers with hearing loss must rely on the information
provided on the arrival and departure screens, supplemented by whatever
additional information they are able to obtain through written notes and
other ad hoc communication methods.
The plaintiffs are seeking certification as a class action suit, and
desire a court order requiring the airport to address these issues.
I say more power to DCARA and Colin Peotrowski. We've been hearing
people complain about lack of communications access at airports for
years, and there seems to have been no improvement. We'll be watching
this development closely; hopefully, the desired result will be achieved
and the movement will spread throughout the country.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
August 2002
Editor: Have you had a problem with airline travel related to your
hearing loss? Like you couldn't understand what the gate agent was
saying over the public address system? Or you couldn't understand the
safety instructions they gave you on the airplane?
The Department of Transportation has just opened toll-free hotlines
for reporting these kinds of problems. Here's a note from the BH list
with information. Please call them early and often to complain about the
lack of communications access in air travel for people with hearing
loss.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This message received today from Blane Workie in the Office of
General Counsel at the Department of Transportation:
The Department of Transportation's aviation consumer disability
toll-free hotline will become operational at 7 a.m. local time in
Washington, D.C., on August 5, 2002. The toll-free number for our
aviation consumer disability hotline is 1-866-266-1368 (voice) and
1-866-754-4368 (TTY). We ask that you advise members of your respective
organizations about the establishment of the hotline and encourage them
to call the hotline to obtain information and assistance if they should
experience disability-related air service problems.
At this time, we would also like to express our sincere appreciation
to those individuals who tested our Hotline system by calling our
toll-free number with simulated air traveler disability-related issues.
The testing of the hotline system by disability community organizations
has been very helpful and we have used the comments provided by
representatives of the disability community to improve the hotline
system. After several weeks of operations to fine tune the hotline's
operations, we will ask that a press release be issued to announce its
availability to the general public.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Editor: I think I understand disability rights legislation pretty
well. But one thing that's always puzzled me is why airports, train
stations, etc. are not required to caption their announcements. (If
anyone has an answer to this, I'd love to hear it!)
Anyway, it's looking like announcement captioning may finally happen.
Here's a report by Kelby Brick from the NAD's "Eye on
Washington"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
David Nelson, a truly wonderful volunteer and leader in Washington
DC, has been working with the NAD for a number of years to push for
access in transportation - especially airline access. Recently, David
and I attended a conference on this specific issue. Representatives from
many airlines and disability groups attended the conference. The meeting
was productive but very little progress was made regarding access
related to deaf and hard of hearing air travelers. The best thing to
come out of that meeting was that we learned (through a third party)
that the Department of Transportation is seriously considering proposals
to require access such as captioning and text announcements. We learned
that they are in the process of hiring a consultant to do an economic
analysis of the proposals. We view this as wonderful news as we have
been hard at work for almost eight years to push for new rules that will
provide access to deaf and hard of hearing air travelers. We'll
definitely keep you posted on any new updates.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
July 2005
Those of you who take cruises (or want to) will be happy to learn
that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) applies to foreign cruise ships in American
waters. Under the ADA's public accommodation and public transportation
sections, ships must not discriminate against people with disabilities.
The case involved three people in wheelchairs who cruised aboard
Norwegian Cruise Line ships in 1998 and 1999. The suit claimed that the
plaintiffs were denied access to facilities such as public restrooms,
restaurants, swimming pools, elevators and cabins with a balcony or a
window, and that this constituted discrimination under the ADA.
The Supreme Court ruling overruled a lower court ruling that the ADA
does not apply to foreign cruise ships.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
April
2006
Hearing-impaired
people will be allowed to drive, possibly in two years, under certain
conditions, the National Police Agency said Thursday. People who are
hearing impaired have been asking to be licensed to drive to make it
easier for them to participate in society. About 129,000 people in Japan
are deaf, according to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry. Full
Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
October 2006
As part of a disability settlement, Bob Hope Airport
in Burbank will add monitors and a kiosk to make security, baggage and
other information available for the deaf and hard of hearing. The airport
settlement with the Greater Los Angeles Agency on Deafness calls for the
terminals to add monitors displaying messages, according to officials. The
airport will also install a video information kiosk to help
hearing-impaired passengers navigate t he facility, arrange for
sign-language interpreters and increase the number of teletype pay phones
to at least nine.
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
December
2006
By
this time next year, travel out of Gerald R. Ford International Airport
will be a lot less stressful for hard-of-hearing passengers. An upgrade
to the public address system will add technology allowing flight
announcements to be broadcast directly into hearing aids with a special
receiver. The technology is said to be a first for U.S. airports. That's
comforting to Maggie Smedley, whose parents are deaf. She knows
firsthand the pitfalls faced by travelers with hearing problems.
"Many don't dare go to the bathroom or get any food because they
might miss when the flight is going to board," said Smedley,
director of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Service in Grand Rapids. "They
become as dependent as children." Full
Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
January
2007
The
federal government proposed new rules this week that would apply the
Americans With Disabilities Act to cruise ships for the first time. The
rules, published in the Federal Register on Jan. 23, ban discriminatory
practices by foreign-flagged cruise ships that dock in the United
States. Guidelines for the design of ships have yet to be hammered out.
Ted Thompson, a vice president at the International Council of Cruise
Lines, said that when they are, the rules will be merged into one
document. Full
Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
July 2007
I think it's absolutely ridiculous that people
with hearing loss don't have access to announcements when traveling. Some
of this is safety information (like the safety info that the attendant
provides at the beginning of the flight), and some is essential to getting
where you're going. I think the real issue here is that the people with
hearing loss are the ones who pay the penalty for the failure of the
airlines to act responsibly. Is there a way to make the airlines pay that
penalty?
YES, there is. I'd like to see every person with
hearing loss (and interested hearies!) make the airline personnel
responsible for getting the information contained in all announcements to
everyone with hearing loss. All this requires is the following:
- on an airplane, every time there is an
announcement, ring your attendant call button and ask them what the
announcement was
- in the terminal every time there's an
announcement, go to the desk and ask what it was.
If everyone with hearing loss did this, the
airline personnel would pay the price for the airlines' irresponsible
behavior, and they would read the riot act to their management! I bet
after about a week, we'd see captioning boards, loops, etc. spring up in
terminals and on airplanes!
