T.

4/4/92 APR 7 1992

SBO:rjc
DJ#192-180-04013

The Honorable John J. LaFalce

Chairman
Committee on Small Business
U.S. House of Representatives
2361 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-6315

Dear Mr. Chairman:

I am writing in response to your recent inquiry on behalf of

officials in the Office of Emergency Communications in Rochester,
New York, regarding 911 emergency services.

We are aware of the concern expressed by your constituents

and the National Emergency Number Association about the provision
in our regulation implementing title II of the Americans with
Disabilities Act that states "telephone emergency services,
including 911 services, shall provide direct access to
individuals who use TDD's and computer modems."

ILLEGIBLE The apparent concern is that by mandating access to persons

using computer modems, the regulation may require that there be
access by every format that could be used by a modem, including
those that are not compatible with equipment presently used by
emergency service systems. That is not the case. The regulation
date does not require telephone emergency systems to do anything that
is technologically infeasible; accordingly, we are interpreting
the requirement for access by computer modems to mean only when
the modem is using the Baudot format. Until it can be
technically proven that communications in another format can
operate in a reliable and compatible manner in a given telephone
emergency, the public service answering point is not required to
provide direct access to computer modems using other formats.

Records, CRS, Oneglia, McDowney

:UDD:LaFalce.911
01-00557
-2-

This interpretive guidance has been issued by the Department

of Justice in its recently published Technical Assistance Manual,
which is available from the Office on the Americans with
Disabilities Act, Post Office Box 66738, Washington D.C. 20035-
9998, telephone: (202) 514-0301.

Sincerely,

John R. Dunne
Assistant Attorney General
Civil Rights Division

01-00558
January 7, 1992

Congressman John LaFalce

302 Federal Bldg.
Rochester, NY 14614

Dear Mr. LaFalce:

We are members of the National Emergency Number Association (NENA). We are

writing to you to alert you to a flaw in the implementation rules for Title II
Section 35 of the A.D.A. Law. (Hearing and Speech Impaired). Our
organization supports the A.D.A. Law 100%. However, the Dept. of Justice, who
provided these rules, have set in motion a situation that could be fatal to a
hearing and speech impaired person.

The hearing and speech impaired community must communicate by using a device
similar to a typewriter (called a T.D.D.). They also communicate using a
personal computer (PC). The Justice Dept. specifies that all emergency
services shall provide direct access to individuals who use T.D.D.s and
computer modems.

In the past, they have communicated using a baudot modem. It still serves
virtually all of the hearing and speech impaired today. It is compatible with
our emergency centers. But with the advent of the personal computer, a new
modem with a language called ASCII (American Standard Code for Information
Interchange) appeared. Its original design was for a business machine to
communicate with another business machine, without human involvement.
However, since it is being placed into T.D.D.s, and is the norm for P.C.s, it
presents a problem. It is not compatible with emergency centers equipment.
Also there is, at this time, no technology that exists that will connect an
incoming ASCII call to an ASCII modem in the emergency centers and guarantee
connection.
01-00559

Simply put, if a hearing impaired person places an emergency call using the
ASCII mode, chances are virtually certain that the call will not be handled
properly. It could disconnect, receive a garbled data or make no connection
at all. The result could be a possible loss of life or property. Emergency
centers will be held liable for conditions over which they have no control.
The hearing and speech impaired will not be served with the same quality
assurance that others have come to expect of their emergency centers and the
advent of 9-1-1 systems.

We need your help to keep this from happening. We feel that the reference to
"computer modem" should be removed from the implementation rules until
technology can assure that every T.D.D. call will be answered with the same
quality as a voice placed call.

Please contact the Dept. of Justice and urge this change be made. Our contact
is:

Mr. Robert Mather, Attorney

U.S. Department of Justice
Civil Rights Division
Coordination and Review Section
P.O. Box 66118
Washington, D.C. 20035-6118

Telephone: (202) 307-2236

Sincerely,

Sharon J. Murray
Director

Donna M. Tarantello
Manager of Administrative Services

John Pagano, Jr.

Manager of Operations and Training

01-00560