ADA Title II Action Guide for State and Local Governments

Title IV - Telecommunications

Title IV addresses telephone and television access for people with hearing and speech disabilities. It requires common carriers (telephone companies) to establish interstate and intrastate telecommunications relay services (TRS) 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. TRS enables callers with hearing and speech disabilities who use TTYs and callers who use voice telephones to communicate with each other through a third party communications assistant. Many telephone companies also provide relay services for people who prefer using sign language by video. Title IV also requires closed captioning of federally funded public service announcements.