TIA Blog
Over this last weekend, the United States celebrated the 24th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This landmark law significantly improved life for people with disabilities by prohibiting discrimination towards those with disabilities, and guaranteeing equal opportunities in employment, State and local government services, public accommodations, commercial facilities and transportation.
The ADA also created TDD/telephone relay services, which greatly aid those who are deaf and hard of hearing, by providing a text-based system for communicating over phone lines.
This law, later supplemented by other landmark legislation such as the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (known as the CVAA), have positioned the United States as the clear global leader in disability access.
TIA – with hundreds of manufacturers, vendors, and suppliers of information and communications technology (ICT) as members – celebrates the ADA's birthday. The industry was a key stakeholder, along with the disability community and other stakeholders, in the development of this landmark law that remains the gold standard for the world.
The ICT industry continues to work to comply not only with the letter of the ADA as well as the CVAA and other important legislation, but also with the spirit of these laws in surpassing their requirements.
In addition, TIA itself helps address network connection issues for devices connecting to the public switched telephone network (PSTN), including TTY equipment and other products that those with disabilities rely on to communicate, through its TR-41 standards committee.
TIA and its member companies remain committed to the success of the ADA, and look forward to addressing challenges to disability access with our partners across the stakeholder community!
