How does Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act affect you?

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) will celebrate its 30-year anniversary this July. The ADA has improved accessibility in many areas. However, many people who are deaf, deafblind and hard of hearing still struggle to get communication access in a wide variety of settings.

To help human service providers and others better understand how to make services accessible to people with hearing loss, Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services will share monthly features on the ADA.

This month we will look at Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Title I of the ADA – Employment

Title I of the ADA focuses on employment. It says that any employer with 15 or more employees cannot discriminate against employees or job applicants because of a disability. This includes:

• The job application process
• Deciding who to hire
• Deciding to fire an employee
• Deciding who gets promoted
• Deciding how much to pay an employee
• Offering job training

Some examples of discrimination against deaf, deafblind and hard of hearing applicants include:

• Refusing to provide a qualified interpreter or captioning for a job interview.
• Refusing to accept a video relay call for a phone interview.
• Deciding not to hire a qualified candidate because of their hearing loss.
• Deciding to fire an employee because of their hearing loss.
• Not offering a promotion to a qualified employee because of their hearing loss.
• Asking an employee to cover the cost of interpreters or captioning.
• Not providing interpreters or captioning for required job training.

Who does Title I apply to?

Title I of the ADA applies to all employers with 15 or more employees, including:

• Private business owners
• State and local governments
• Employment agencies
• Labor unions
• Non-profit businesses
• Health care providers
• Educational organizations

How can I learn more?

Employers who provide required ADA accommodations benefit from the unique skills, knowledge and experience people with disabilities bring to the table.

To learn more about resources available to help employers meet ADA requirements, employers can visit DHHSD’s website. The Employer page provides handouts that explain how to provide communication access.

Share your stories

Do you have a success story about how ADA accommodations helped you to do your job? If you are an employer, how has providing ADA accommodations benefited your employees and your business? To share your stories, simply reply to this email.