DEC 28 1995 The Honorable Kay Bailey Hutchison United States Senator Suite 1160, LB 606 10440 N. Central Expressway Dallas, Texas 75231-2223 Dear Senator Hutchison: I am responding to your inquiry on behalf of the City of Richmond, Texas, with respect to the application of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) to the city's library. The library forwarded to you a letter to one of its patrons, XX XX in which it stated its position that it was not required to provide a TDD for patrons with hearing impairments at its public pay telephones because it only provided three such pay telephones. Title II of the ADA prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability by public entities. The Department of Justice has published a regulation implementing title II that sets out the obligations of public entities under the ADA. In addition, the Department has published a Title II Technical Assistance Manual to further explain these requirements. Copies of these documents are enclosed for your reference. Title II requires newly constructed or altered facilities to be constructed or altered in a manner that provides accessibility for individuals with disabilities in accordance with either the ADA Standards for Accessible Design (Standards) or the Uniform Federal Accessibility Standards (UFAS). As the library has correctly indicated to XX for most facilities, including libraries, the ADA Standards only require provision of a public TDD when the facility provides four or more public pay telephones. FOIA 01-04127 - 2 - If your consituents want further information about the ADA, they may contact the Department's ADA information line (800-514- 0301 (voice) or 800-514-0383 (TDD)) Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Eastern time. On Thursday, the information line is staffed from 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. I hope this information is useful to you in responding to your constituents. As requested, I am returning your constituents' correspondence. Sincerely, Deval L. Patrick Assistant Attorney General Civil Rights Division Enclosures 01-04128 CITY OF RICHARDSON City Council Gary A. Slagel Mayor September 28, 1995 John Murphy Mayor Pro Tem John F. Sweeden Tom Rohm Jim Shepherd Carol Wilson Bob Nusser Bill Keffler City Manager XX Garland, TX XX Dear XX This is in response to your letter of September 22, 1995 regarding the fact that our City Library's pay telephones are not equipped with Telecommunications Devices for the Deaf (TDDs). We regret that you were inconvenienced in this matter. However, our Library is not in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). We are properly guided by the Department of Justice's ADA Title II Technical Assistance Manual, which directs that a TDD would be required if the Library had a total of four or more pay telephones. The Richardson Public Library has a total of three pay telephones. As required, we do have a TDD to enable hearing impaired patrons and citizens to call our Library for information. That TDD is for use by Library employees with the Library's business telephones, but would be made available to a patron for an emergency call, as Ms. Klobe stated. As a business line would be used, we are understandably reluctant to make it available as a public access service for business which is not Library related. We are quite willing, however, to pursue possible placement of a permanently installed TDD with one of the pay telephones as a matter of convenience to patrons. We appreciate the information sheet you provided on one possible vendor. Our Purchasing Department will determine if there are alternative suppliers, to assure the most cost effective decision will be made. P.O. Box 830309 Richardson, TX 75083-0309 214-238-4100 Fax 214-238-4219 01-04129 Page Two XX Again, we regret that you were inconvenienced during your visit to our Library. If we may be of further service, please feel free to contact Julianne Lovelace, Director of Library Services, on 238-4002. Sincerely, Bill Keffler City Manager CC: The Honorable Phil Gramm, U.S. Senator, Texas The Honorable Kay Bailey Hutchison, U.S. Senator, Texas The Honorable Sam Johnson, U.S. House of Representatives, Texas The Honorable Gary Slagel, Mayor The Honorable John Murphy, Mayor Pro Tem The Richardson News 01-04130 XX Garland, Texas XX September 22, 1995 Mr. Bill Keffler, City Manager City Hall of Richardson 411 W. Arapaho Street Richardson, Texas 75080 Dear Mr. Keffler: I am requesting a full investigation on the matter with the Richardson Public Library on 900 Civic Centre Drive why a pay telephone booth equipped with a Telecommunication Device for the Deaf (TDD) is not installed at this library and for the possible violations of Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) for denying the accessibility to the deaf and hard of hearing individuals. On September 20, 1995 at 6:50 PM, I took my son to this library for his homework. When I needed to make a telephone call, I was looking for a pay telephone booth equipped with TDD in the lobby. Unfortunately, the TDD was not available. I asked a desk clerk if there was any TDD available in this library. She said we had one by the reference desk on the second floor. However, she asked Elaine Klobe, head librarian to see if I could use the TDD. She said that I would not be able to use this TDD, and she quoted "THE TDD IS NOT FOR PUBLIC USE, BUT IF IT IS AN EMERGENCY, I SHOULD LET YOU USE IT WITH MY PHONE". This remark really insulted and humiliated me. It was not very professional for Ms. Klobe to treat the library patrons with this kind of remark. Also, I have noticed this library is being renovated. Apparently, the library has met all requirements of ADA EXCEPT it fails to meet the needs for the deaf/hard of hearing individuals. I am enclosing a copy of a motorized TDD for the pay telephone booth which I believe it will be more beneficial to all deaf/hard of hearing individuals. The name of company is ULTRATEC, and the address is 450 Science Drive, Madison, Wisconsin 53711. The telephone number is (608) 238-5400, or the fax number is (608) 238-3008. Your immediate response on this matter will be greatly appreciated. Sincerely yours, XX Enclosure cc: The Honorable Phil Gramm, U. S. Senator, Texas The Honorable Kay Bailey Hutchison, U. S. Senator, Texas The Honorable Sam Johnson, U. S. House of Representative, District 3, Texas The Honorable Gary A. Slagel, Mayor, Richardson The Honorable John Murphy, Mayor Pro Tem, Richardson Richardson Daily News 01-04131 XX Garland, Texas XX September 22, 1995 The Honorable Kay Bailey Hutchison 10440 N. Central Expressway Dallas, Texas 75231 Dear Ms. Hutchison: Enclosed is a copy of letter to Mr. Bill Keefler, City Manager of Richardson, Texas regarding a pay telephone booth equipped with a Telecommunication Device for the Deaf (TDD) is not installed at the Richardson Public Library and for the possible violations of Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) for denying the accessibility to the deaf and hard of hearing individuals. Your immediate response on this matter will be greatly appreciated. Sincerely yours, XX Enclosure 01-04132 Shelf-top Model FEATURES * Easy to install and use * Works with almost all types of public telephones and popular enclosures * Does not affect the use of the pay phone by the hearing public * Mounted at an angle so it is comfortable for reading * Approved by the FCC and accepted by major telephone companies Motorized Models: * M120 - one-line, 20-character vacuum fluorescent display #M120...................$995.00 * M240 - two-line, 40-character LCD display #M240.................$1195.00 * M240 FS - two-line, 40-character LCD display, for outdoor use #M240FS.............$1495.00 Shelf-top Models: * ST120 - one-line, 20-character vacuum fluorescent display #ST120.............$699.00 * ST240 - two-line, 40-character LCD display #ST240.................$899.00 Pay Phone TTYTM Series Vandal-resistant TTYs designed for the public environment Designed for public use, the Pay Phone TTY makes TTY calls from public facilities easy and reliable. There are several different models for both indoor and out- door use. Motorized models offer the maximum protection from vandalism. The stainless steel TTY keyboard remains protected in a metal drawer until a TTY call is placed. The drawer opens auto- matically when another TTY answers and closes again when the call is finished. For installations with less traffic, the durable shelf-top model is ideal. It's easy to install for either acoustic or direct-connect use, and has on-line help to assist users. The Pay Phone TTY meets the require- ments for the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) as a public text telephone. 11 01-04133