Americans with Disabilities Act and 9-1-1

Accessibility to 9-1-1

Texas NENA has established this ADA page, because we believe that all citizens have a right to access our emergency telephone services. It is our desire to assist emergency telephone service agencies (including 9-1-1, police, fire, and emergency medical services) in their efforts to provide direct and equal access to their services to citizens with disabilities.

The Americans with Disabilities Act
In 1990, the Federal Government passed into law the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) which protects the rights of disabled citizens in our country. This law addresses issues such as handicapped accessibility to public buildings, employment rights, and the right to access emergency services.

ADA References

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
This version of the full text of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 is provided as a service to the public.

Access to 9-1-1 and Telephone Emergency Services
This document is part of a technical assistance program to provide State and Local governments and persons with disabilities with information about the requirements of the ADA for direct, equal access to 9-1-1 for persons with disabilities who use TTYs.

Emergency Response Systems and TDDs
This document was issued in 1994 by the National Institute of Justice. It reviews some cases involving communications center compliance and provides operational and procedural information which is applicable to date.

ADA/TTY Training Resources

The following materials are compliments of the Georgia Public Safety Training Center and are available for download using Adobe Acrobat. You are authorized to download and use these documents for non-profit activities only:

LINGO: A TTY Training Game - This is a bingo-like training game used to provide students a refreshing method to learn or review important concepts related to the proper recognition of TTY calls and proper operation of TTY equipment. It is best used in conjunction with the Communications Impaired Callers Lesson Plan below.

TTY Jeopardy - This is another training game based on the idea of the game show Jeopardy that is good for review. The template can be used as an overhead with cover pieces covering each answer and have the students state the question.

Communications Impaired Callers Lesson - This is an 8 hour lesson plan designed to teach new hires or refresh already trained communications officers on requirements for compliance, TTY operations protocol and etiquette, and English and American Sign Language formats.