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Hello and welcome to the Disability Law Lowdown ASL podcast.

My name is AJ Roupp and I am one of your hosts for this ASL podcast show. We are so glad that you found us and we hope that you enjoy different ASL podcasts we put together.

For today’s podcast, I will talk about ADA Title III, which includes obligations of the hospitality industry to individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing.

So what exactly is a hospitality industry? Hospitality business includes all different kinds of hotels, motels, inns, bed & breakfasts, and other places of lodging. The only exception is a place that has five or fewer rooms, if the owners live there, too. Just like all other businesses that are covered by different title sections of the ADA, the hospitality industry is covered under the Title III section of the ADA.

Title III requires that hospitality businesses provide auxiliary aids and services where necessary to ensure effective communication. So let’s go over some of the services that are specified in the ADA regulations. All safety and emergency equipment has to work so they can alert deaf individuals, such as: incoming telephone call alerts, fire or smoke alarm, doorbell or door knock alerts. This equipment can be permanently installed or temporarily installed through the use of portable equipment.

TV decoders must be provided for closed captions. Telephones that are compatible with hearing aids, and a TTY for outgoing phone calls must be provided. You cannot be charged for the loan of the equipment that the hospitality business is required to provide. Hospitality businesses may ask you for a deposit, though, as long as the deposit is reasonable and completely refundable.

If there are meeting or conference rooms that are part of the hospitality business, those rooms must be equipped with assistive listening systems if the rooms have at least 50 fixed seats. Elevators must have visual control indicators and emergency two-way communications systems that do not require voice communication.

Service animals must be allowed to accompany a person with disability. This includes any guide dog, signal dog, or other animal individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including alerting individuals with hearing loss to intruders or sounds. This regulation applies to the hospitality industry, too.

While we’re talking about the hospitality business, let’s not forget cruise ships. Cruise ships are also covered under Title III ADA. So everything I’ve already said in this podcast also applies to cruise ships.

So what can you do if your rights are violated by hospitality business? There are two things you can do: You can bring a private lawsuit, but money damages cannot be awarded. You can file a complaint with U.S. Department of Justice, and it may file lawsuits to stop discrimination and even get money damages and penalties.

Thanks for watching this ASL podcast.

I hope you enjoyed watching this ASL video podcast. You can subscribe to the podcast so you never miss an episode. You can subscribe either through iTunes or our website at ASL.DisabilityLawLowdown.com where you can watch all of the episodes.

The Disability Law Lowdown (DLL) is sponsored by the Disability and Business Technical Assistance Centers, a network of ten ADA Centers around the country that provide training and technical assistance on the Americans with Disabilities Act. The ADA Centers are supported by NIDRR.

You can call us at 1-800-949-4232 (V/TTY). That is a voice line, so you can use video relay services, but that is not a VP number. You can also call direct to that number using a TTY.

Thanks for watching us!