Resources: New Users

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) work together to protect children and adults with disabilities from exclusion, discrimination, and unequal treatment in education, employment, and the community.

Strengthening community networks and connections increases social capital, the advantage gained through relationships and social networks. Social capital can help individuals navigate complex school and workplace situations.

This two-part video explains the Americans With Disabilities Act and how it applies to postsecondary education for students who are deaf.

The characteristics of Deaf culture are formed out of many shared life experiences rooted in a visual world designed for communication ease.

No discussion regarding hiring qualified interpreters is complete without an understanding of the definition of "qualified," as it pertains to the Americans With Disabilities Act, state regulation, and the concept of "effective communication."

The role of the interpreter appears to be very straightforward—to effectively facilitate communication between deaf individuals and those who are hearing. However, the complexities of the task, the varieties or types of visual interpreting, and the enormous range of qualifications brought by the interpreter make it anything but simple.

Effective communication affords deaf individuals the ability to share and/or receive information in a manner that is successful for them. Effective communication increases the opportunity for full and equal participation in any situation. Effective communication is fluid and allows all parties to receive and respond to information equally.

The ability to communicate defines us as human beings and as a society. It forms a foundation for decision making and relationship building. Communicating with deaf individuals is an achievable goal, even when accommodations (e.g., interpreters) are not present. The tools available to us are considerable and limited only by our creativity and desire to communicate.

Captioning, a textual representation of the audio, is an important accessibility tool for deaf people, as well as a benefit and learning tool for others. With so many avenues to obtain or create captioned media, ensuring that instructional materials are accessible is definitely achievable.

Captions are the textual representation of audio content in a video format, communicating spoken dialogue, sound effects, and speaker identification. Captions provide essential access for the more than 30 million Americans with a hearing loss. They also benefit emerging readers, visual learners, non-native speakers, and many others.

Speech-to-text is one method of providing effective communication access under the law. However, it is more than simply providing technology; it requires the provision of effective services, and speech-to-text services are only as good as the skills of the service provider. When hiring a service provider, a number of qualification factors must be considered. It is imperative that institutions evaluate the quality of service to ensure that effective, real-time communication access is occurring.

Speech-to-text services can be provided onsite or remotely. Onsite speech-to-text services refers to the service provider and consumer being in the same location. Remote speech-to-text services refers to the service provider and consumer being in different locations.

Today's technology affords deaf individuals access to the world like never before. Speech-to-text is one example of technology that brings access to individuals who are visual communicators.

The National Deaf Center on Postsecondary Outcomes conducted a review of the literature on practices that address root causes of challenges to deaf individuals' postsecondary attainment and identified five key impact areas. Evidence-based summaries of each of the five key impact areas are included in the document.

Although visual language interpreters have become more visible and prominent in the classroom since the Americans With Disabilities Act was passed in 1990, they have been a part of the educational landscape since the early 1970s. Still, their role is often confusing and distracting.

Background noise and distance from the instructor may present barriers for some deaf students. When this is the case, assistive listening systems can play a role in reducing or eliminating these barriers.

Approximately 20% of the adult population has a disability. Most deaf individuals do not seek vocational rehabilitation services, but those who do most often want employment-related services or education and/or training to prepare for employment.

Cochlear implants are complex electronic devices surgically implanted under the skin behind the ear. These devices use electrodes placed in the inner ear (the cochlea) to stimulate the auditory nerve of individuals who have significant permanent hearing loss.

Telecommunication technology has significantly changed the communication landscape for deaf individuals. For more than 40 years, text telephones (TTY) and amplified phones were the only options. Today, videophones, smartphones, and instant messaging most often replace TTY as preferred communication tools.

With technology always seemingly one step ahead of us, it's easy to confuse the various telecommunication services used to visually connect hearing and deaf individuals who wish to communicate with each other. Three primary telecommunication services are in use today: (a) video relay service (VRS), (b) telecommunications relay service (TRS), and (c) video remote interpreting (VRI). VRS and TRS are free programs regulated by the Federal Communications Commission, and VRI is a fee-based service that satisfies the communication-related mandates of the Americans With Disabilities Act. As their names suggest, VRS and VRI are video-based services, and TRS is text driven.

This brief summarizes the research related to effective communication between deaf and hearing individuals.

This brief summarizes the research about attitudes toward deaf individuals as critical factors that influence their academic and employment outcomes.

Having high expectations for deaf individuals' postsecondary success means believing in their capability to succeed and not believing their opportunities are limited due to being deaf. These high expectations are important as deaf youth navigate the transition from high school to postsecondary education or training.
 

At the nucleus of every successful vocational rehabilitation employment goal is a well-delineated individual plan for employment, often referred to as a roadmap of services that lead to employment. By better understanding the myriad services offered by vocational rehabilitation, a deaf individual is better positioned to make informed and self-determined choices about their employment future. Vocational rehabilitation offers a wide range of services. Some services are tangible, such as an alarm clock, uniform for work, hearing aid, etc. Other services are more intangible in nature, such as counseling, soft skills training, or career guidance.