Advocacy at the Local Level: Public Accommodations and TV Stations - Part 2

Presented by Kim Davis

Editor: What do you do when you're denied a service to which you are entitled? Chances are you don't do anything, but just accept being treated as a second class citizen. Kim Davis thinks you should do a little self-advocacy!

This is part two of two parts.

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Part One

Television Captioning

Starting in 2006, 100% of programming is required to be captioned, with a few exceptions.
1. Programming between 2AM and 6AM is exempt.
2. Only 75% of programming produced prior to 1996 has to be captioned.

Now the FCC is being much more lenient in granting exemptions to the captioning laws. They have recently approved several hundred exemptions, mostly for religious organizations.

Captioning resources that can help include the Federal Communication Commission, the state Attorney General, local and state hearing loss organizations, and the state Public Service Commission.

C. We have a new ALDA chapter in Maine, and we went to the local television station and asked the manager of the local station to watch two hours of local news with no sound and using the Electronic News System. It was really an eye-opener for him.

Q. We've been writing to the FCC about the current Captioning Exemptions. Do you think that it's better to write as individuals or as a group?
A. I think individual letters are better, because they allow each person to make it personal. You might also consider a petition. But note that the FCC has specific requirements for petitions, and you need to comply with them if you want to petition.

C. I'm from the St. Louis area, and none of the news broadcasts are captioned - especially the emergency broadcasts. I also noticed that some of the news broadcasts before 6AM are not captioned. That must be part of the 2AM to 6AM exemption.

C. We have three stations in Kansas City that offer captioning starting at 5AM. But only one station provides emergency captioning. So we're doing a letter writing campaign to get the other stations to provide emergency captioning.

Kim - I've also noticed that most of the videos on the internet are not captioned.

Hotels

Now let's talk about public accommodations, like hotels, Disneyland, etc. Suppose you stop at a hotel and they don't have any accommodations. They are supposed to have them, right? Did anyone get any accommodations here? Yes? Good. Did you get a TTY? fire alarm? Other accommodations?

This is a large hotel and a large conference, so you'll have a different experience. If you're traveling with your family and you stop at a hotel, they may not even know what you're talking about. If a place has five or fewer rooms to rent (like a bed and breakfast), they are exempt from these requirements.

For larger accommodations, there is a chart that specifies how many ADA kits a hotel must have, depending on how many rooms they have. Hotels with over 1000 rooms, for example, must have 100 ADA kits. Also for large hearing loss conferences, hotels borrow equipment from other hotels.

Q. If a hotel doesn't have an ADA kit, why should I allow them to borrow it from some other hotel? They are required to have the kits. Also, often they will give me a bunch of equipment and expect me to set it up.
A. You are right. They are responsible to hook up the equipment. A lot of times I've had to show the hotel personnel how to set it up. Because it's so familiar to us, I think we should view this as an advocacy opportunity.

Lawyers

They're huge problems! They are supposed to know the law, but they don't. They'll often say that they aren't required to provide accommodations, because we're not employees. If they make that argument, they're only looking at Title I. They need to get past that and look at Title III, which requires them to provide appropriate accommodations.

I hate arguing with lawyers!

When you talk about accommodations, it's important to get accommodations that are effective for you. You can use CART if that's what works for you.

Another recommendation is to get it in writing. If they refuse to provide accommodations, ask them to explain, in writing, why they turned you down.

Our state has no certification or licensing requirements for CART providers, but we do for interpreters. You must know what your state requirements are.

It's fine for you to provide the lawyer with a list of appropriate service providers, but do not bring a service provider with you. If you bring one, you will be responsible for payment.

Sometimes you need to speak to the lawyer's supervisor, because he may be the one who has to authorize an interpreter or CART.

Protection and Advocacy Services can be very helpful in dealing with lawyers, as can state or local hearing loss agencies, and local offices of the Department of Justice.