HLAA filed comments with the US Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Strategic Plan on Accessible Transportation for FY 2021-2025 on February 16, 2021. We reminded noted the DOT that their Strategic Plan did not include solutions that can have a profound effect on the ability of people with hearing loss to understand communications and allow us to travel from start to designation spontaneously and independently with ease and confidence, including:
- Assistive listening systems, including hearing loop systems in stations, rail cars, at information points and any other place that requires understanding speech, whether via broadcast announcements or person-to-person communication.
- Tablets, iPads, computers, and/or smart phones with speech to text software applications and with lapel microphones for person-to-person interactions.
- Captions for videos or on-line communication.
- Public information boards that simultaneously display audible announcements in text.
We urged the DOT to include these accommodations into the final Strategic Plan on Accessible Transportation for FY 2021-2025.