Title III - Medical Professionals & the Rights of People who are Deaf and/or Hard of Hearing

If you are a medical professional, you have an obligation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to provide equivalent services to individuals with disabilities, including individuals who are deaf and/or hard of hearing.

You must ensure that your patients and customers are not treated differently due to their disability or hearing loss. You must provide reasonable accommodations to ensure effective communication. Reasonable and necessary accommodations (such as auxiliary aids and services) should be determined on a case-by-case basis. A few examples of auxiliary aids and services are Sign Language Interpreters, written notes, or Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART).

The communication preference of your patient or customer should be taken into consideration when determining which auxiliary aid you will provide. The method chosen should be effective for both parties.

Information can be located in the Code of Federal Regulations (28 C.F.R. §36.303(c)) or http://www.ada.gov/reg3a.html#Anchor-97857.

Additional information on your obligations under Title III of the ADA can be found at http://www.ada.gov/reg3a.html and the online Technical Assistance Manual can be found at http://www.ada.gov/taman3.html.

You may also contact the U.S. Department of Justice’s ADA Information Line at (800) 514-0301 for technical assistance.