Americans with Disabilities Act: Telecommunications in the United States
Americans with Disabilities Act: Telecommunications
Title IV of the ADA requires that all telephone companies provide telephone relay services (TRS). TRS enables people who use text telephones (often called TTYs or TDDs) because of limited speech or hearing to communicate by telephone with people who do not use text telephones. TRS operators translate text from a text telephone into speech and vice versa. The ADA mandates that communications by TRS must work as well as telecommunication services used by people without disabilities. TRS must be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, without excessive delays and with no restrictions on the type, length, or number of calls placed by a consumer. The rates for relay calls can be no greater than rates for calls on ordinary telephones. (1)
In this Section: Americans with Disabilities Act, Americans with Disabilities Act Provisions, Americans with Disabilities Act: Employment, Americans with Disabilities Act: Public Services, Americans with Disabilities Act: Public Accommodation, Americans with Disabilities Act: Telecommunications, Americans with Disabilities Act History and Americans with Disabilities Act Supreme Court Decisions.