Communications Access

Our Current Projects for Better Communications Access

HLAA California

Communication Access Initiatives

We advocated for Title II city and state government communication access to programs and services.  Cities where projects are currently underway:

  • Cerritos
  • Long Beach
  • Walnut Creek
  • Contra Costa County

Collaborations with other Disability and Hearing Loss Organizations

  • Telecommunications Access for the Deaf and Disabled Administrative Committee (TADDAC) 
  • Speech-Language  Pathology and Audiology and Hearing Aid dispensers Board 
  • California Academy of Audiology
  • Let California Kid Hear Initiative, a legislative push to compel insurance companies to cover the cost of hearing aids.
Let California kids hear

A Nation-wide Communications Access Program

We dream of a world where people with hearing loss can thrive each day with communication access, full inclusion, and equal participation in all aspects of life, everywhere they go. Through education, advocacy, and consultation services, the Get in the Hearing Loop Committee has laid the groundwork for a national movement of loop enthusiasts who are promoting communication access and ADA compliance, one loop at a time. We hope to change public spaces—and lives!—by sharing information about hearing loops.

Get in the hearing loop

HLAA

Hearing Loss Association of American has been advocating for people with hearing loss since 1979. Whether it was the Hearing Aid Compatibility Act of 1988, the Television Decoder Circuitry Act of 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 as well as the ADA Amendments Act of 2008, the 21st Century Video and Communications Act of 2010, or the Over the Counter Hearing Aid Act of 2017, HLAA has been in the vanguard of advocacy for people with hearing loss.

Here’s a sample of the work our national organization does every day to ensure that people with hearing loss are not left behind. 

  • Ensuring that captioned telephone service (IPCTS) is available to everyone who needs it and there are quality standards for captions.
  • Over the Counter Hearing Aid Legislation: Success! A new law, signed in August 2017, will allow greater innovation and less expensive hearing devices with the creation of a new category of FDA-approved hearing devices sold over the counter to adults with mild to moderate hearing loss.
  • Hearing Aid Compatible Cell Phones: Working with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Industry to ensure there are more Hearing Aid Compatible cell phones available to consumers.
  • Telecommunications Relay: Providing input to the FCC and industry on the need for access to captioned telephones.
  • Captioning of Entertainment on Airlines: Participating in the ACCESS Committee supported by the U.S. Department of Transportation, advocating for captioning of entertainment on airlines and cabin announcements.
  • Advising the Federal Communications Commission (FCC): HLAA serves as a member of the FCC’s Disability Advisory Committee.
  • Medicare and hearing aids: Supporting federal legislation that would provide Medicare coverage of hearing aids.
  • Transportation: Participating in the Access Board’s work to make rail vehicles more accessible.
  • Employment: providing one-to-one guidance to employees experiencing discrimination in the workplace.
  • Emergencies: supporting Text to 9-1-1, Real-Time Text, and participating in the 9-1-1 Location Accuracy Advisory Group.
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