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The world poses several specific barriers for individuals with hearing loss. Fortunately, assistive technologies can go a long way toward helping people with hearing loss connect and communicate, from closed captioning to telecoils.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) advocated for the fundamental rights of people with disabilities. Being acquainted with your ADA rights will allow you to understand what the law protects you from and what steps you can take to deny your rights.
Americans with Disabilities Act
The Americans with Disabilities Act, or the ADA, is a law that sets requirements for all Americans to be treated equally. Regardless of their physical abilities, all should access the same programs and resources, even though they’re unable to hear.
The ADA is founded on the principle that every person is entitled to equal opportunities to learn, work, develop, and build the life they want. The ADA prohibits discrimination based on disability and calls for complete integration for all members of society.
Now that you know more about the ADA, let’s see how this pertains to your hearing loss rights. There are several areas you should pay attention to in particular.
Your career
The job interview
Were you aware that ADA has guidance for employers when interviewing prospective employees who have hearing loss?
The right to equal job opportunities during job interviews is granted to those with hearing loss. For this reason, You are not expected to communicate your hearing loss if you are looking for a new job. The Commission on Equal Employment Opportunity (EEOC) forbids employers from questioning potential workers about medical conditions.
However, when working in noisy or overcrowded jobs, your prospective employer is entitled to question you about your abilities or ability to handle safety problems. It is your responsibility to respond correctly and to convince the company you can perform the role’s most important duties.
At work
If you’re already working for the company, the employer is required to make changes to accommodate your hearing loss.
There are many ways employers can ensure safety and essential information on the job is accessible to all.
Many who work in customer care and speak on the phone might benefit from headsets with improved volume controls. As long as this is not too expensive, it is also considered suitable accommodation.
However, there are restrictions to what is seen as suitable accommodation. The ADA stipulates that ‘reasonable’ accommodations must be appropriate, and they are the ultimate authority on what is deemed to be so.
Accessibility in public places
Hearing loss is one of the disorders that is often overlooked and is often considered an invisible impairment. You can’t “see” hearing loss, and as such, many people don’t know that additional support or accommodation is needed for those unable to hear. This means you’ll have to work harder to get what you need.
You have the right to fair accessibility, whether you’re deaf or hard of hearing. Public places need to be open and accessible to those who are having trouble hearing. For example, public transit hubs can have accessibility features such as legible signs or the use of other devices such as text message alerts. Telecoil technology is another useful feature – it allows your hearing aid to pick up and play public information right into your ear without you having to struggle to hear distorted PA announcements.
Don’t forget to stand up to your hearing loss too.
Knowing your rights when it comes to hearing loss is vital. For your hearing loss, however, what is perhaps more critical is finding the right care.
When you’re struggling with hearing loss, you’ll face confusion, miscommunication, and even prejudice. Many adverse health effects, such as social isolation, stress, and even depression, have also been related to living with hearing loss. You will also experience faster cognitive decline, have trouble focusing, have difficulties with memory, and increase the risk of developing dementia or Alzheimer’s. It is impossible to believe that almost 80% of those who need hearing aids never get them!
Many of the adverse health outcomes of living with hearing loss and much of the injustice surrounding hearing loss can be alleviated by wearing a hearing aid. At Encore Hearing, we work with you to find the device that fits your needs. Visit us for a hearing assessment today.