HESP Grad Students Evaluate Local Businesses for ADA Compliance

Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences (HESP) graduate students recently got out of the classroom in order to learn first-hand about the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the accommodations that public venues are required to provide for individuals with hearing difficulties.

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"1264","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"266","style":"width: 480px; height: 266px; margin: 5px; float: left;","width":"480"}}]]As part of Maureen Shader’s HESP635: Aural Rehabilitation/Habilitation class, the students visited numerous public venues to see first-hand whether the venues were prepared to meet the needs of people with hearing difficulties, in compliance with ADA regulations.

“I wanted to challenge students by putting them in the shoes of a person with hearing loss by actually going to public venues and requesting hearing assistive technology,” Dr. Shader, a clinical audiologist and Ph.D. student, said.

 The results were both enlightening and alarming, Dr. Shader said.

“Both the students and I were shocked by some of the venues' treatment of their requests, employees' lack of knowledge regarding the technology, and complete lack of ADA compliance in a few cases.  It excited me to see how much these experiences motivated the students to take further action with advocacy projects to improve the availability and knowledge of hearing assistive technology,” she said.

After experiencing and identifying problems, the students worked to create solutions for local businesses and organizations by developing and distributing training tools and by beginning an informative dialogue. For example, the students created a PowerPoint presentation for local AMC theater managers to share with their staff members. The presentation included an overview on the Hearing Assistive Technology the theaters use and also provided advice and talking points that the staff should use with theatergoers who use the technology. This advice included “make sure to always ask customers about their experience with the device when they return the equipment” and “tell the customer to adjust device to sit directly below movie screen for best viewing experience.” The presentation also included recommendations for better service, such as the addition of neck loops to allow the assistive technology to interface with customers’ hearing aids or cochlear implants.

The students also created pamphlets of similar scope for museums, a local church, a local retirement community and UMD’s Disability Support Service.

In some cases, they filed formal complaints to the directors of organizations that were failing to meet reasonable accommodations per ADA guidelines. In one case, a student wrote a formal complaint to the management of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art. On the day of a test visit, museum staff was unable to provide the visiting student with an assistive listening system that was advertised on the museum’s web site, and the Pocket Talker option that was provided did not function properly.

In the cases where the local businesses were doing a good job of complying with ADA standards, the students offered public praise and encouragement. They praised the United Artist Snowden Square theater in Columbia, Md., on Facebook. The theater provided functional closed captioning glasses and assistive listening headphones to the student who requested them, and the manager also took the time to provide an orientation about the device.

Alison Reese Arnold, B.A. (HESP) ’13, who is pursuing an M.A. in Speech-Language Pathology, said the assignment has been an excellent learning opportunity for both the students and the community.

“What we’re doing is important. There are too many employees of public venues that aren’t familiar with hearing assistive technology or its value. I hope the directors of public venues to whom we’re reaching out make use of our educational materials and make immediate changes in their facilities,” Arnold said. “At this point in our coursework, it’s nice to have the flexibility to create meaningful assignments rather than memorizing information for a test.”

Published on Tue, Aug 5, 2014 - 1:56PM