Why is it useful?

The disability community encompasses many people. As much as 14% of the population has hearing, vision, or mobility limitations. In addition, many other Americans are temporarily disabled during part of their lives -- whether aged, infirm, or recuperating. In identifying and consulting with the disability community, agencies find a wide range of strikingly different needs. Ideas and input from people with disabilities provide insight about their needs in using the programs or facilities being developed. Additionally, people with disabilities participate as interested members of the community.

All events held for programs or projects with Federal aid and open to the general public must be made accessible to everyone, including the disability community. Special efforts are needed to comply with the statutory requirements of both the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) and ADA.

Who participates? and how?

People who have disabilities in sight, hearing, or mobility participate. People with sight impairments include those with visual impairment or total blindness. People with hearing impairments include those with partial hearing impairment or total hearing loss. People with mobility and self-care impairments include those in wheelchairs or on crutches, some elderly, people with children, and the temporarily disabled such as pregnant women or those recuperating from injuries. The Spokane, Washington, Transit Authority solicited disability community involvement through a "Rider Alert" program. Orange County, California, Transportation Authority scheduled one-on-one meetings with representatives of individual groups to obtain input to its planning effort. In Juneau, Alaska, public workshops were held to discuss compliance with ADA’s transportation requirements.

Does it have special requirements?

Sign language interpreters may be required. They must be hired early, since they are in scarce supply. Two interpreters are necessary for meetings longer than one hour, to provide breaks for each other. Public notices for a meeting should state that sign language interpreters will be made available upon request, as was done by the Sacramento and San Mateo County, California, Regional Transit Districts and the Johnson City, Tennessee, Transit System. An individual who is both blind and deaf can be accommodated by a deaf/blind interpreter, who uses sign language in direct contact with that person’s hands.

Listening assistance may be required, depending on the meeting place. For example, small machines are available to amplify speakers’ voices via an FM transmitter and receiver system heard only by those with hearing disabilities. It is possible to rent or borrow them from a State commission for the deaf. In Massachusetts, the Guild for the Hard of Hearing offers them on loan. Many meeting rooms in newer buildings have embedded in the floor an FM loop to be used for transmission. A State commission for the deaf may have Computer-Aided Real Time (CART) reporting in which the reporter transcribes proceedings onto a screen during the meeting. Cable television stations at meetings may bring interpreters for deaf persons or may provide interpretation or captioning in rebroadcasting.

A telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) is essential for communicating with people who are deaf or have communications impairment over the telephone. Under ADA, all public agencies should have this inexpensive, modem-like device connected with a telephone into which messages are typed rather than spoken. A small light-emitting diode (LED) screen on each machine shows the message. In some machines the message may also be recorded on paper tape.

Sight-impaired people require materials in accessible format. Prior to meetings, the Williamsport, Pennsylvania, Bureau of Transportation advertises the availability of its plan inlarge print, tape, Braille, and computer diskette formats. The Delaware Administration for Specialized Transportation certifies that plans are available in accessible formats, either in large print or on cassette tape. For people with sight impairments, documents are prepared in large (22 point) print in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Meeting announcements are prepared in large print in Wheeling, West Virginia. The Phoenix, Arizona, Regional Public Transportation Authority used large, bold, sans serif typefaces in its questionnaire on a plan update. Whichever formats are chosen, the person making the request must be able to use them.

How do agencies use the output?

Agencies’ efforts are not fully inclusive of everyone’s ideas until they include people with disabilities. This requires an expansive approach to accommodate the population that is disabled and that would not otherwise be accommodated in transportation plans or processes.

Who leads the process?

Every State and MPO should make events accessible to people with disabilities. Information on accessibility needs is offered by State commissions dealing with disabilities, deafness, rehabilitation, or blindness, as well as by local agencies or advocacy groups. Many of these groups assist in doing outreach for transportation processes.

Each State has been asked to help people with disabilities through formation of an Assistive Technology Partnership, which is Federally funded to provide information, research, and training on ways to assist such people. In some cases, State agencies are a central focus for assistance to individuals with disabilities. In Massachusetts, for example, the Commission on the Blind, the Association for the Blind, and the Vision Foundation provide telephone tapes to sight-impaired people. These three services receive information about dates or events and transfer that information to audio tapes.

What does it cost?

Assistance need not be expensive, but it requires special care and attention. Staff members need education to be mindful of the special needs that must be met in setting up public meetings and hearings. In some cases, it is appropriate to hire a staff person trained in dealing with these needs. In other instances, it is possible to use existing State or local agency services.

How is it organized?

An accessibility checklist for meetings and hearings:

1.Accessible meeting or hearing site:

2.Meeting materials and services: