The Issue

The Clear2Connect Coalition is committed to raising awareness about assistive communications technology and ensuring that people with hearing loss have access to quality, accurate communication technology. 

Dad in military uniform reading on ipad with son
Image of Video Relay Service and Captioned Telephone Service

How can you help preserve access to these essential services?

Under Title IV of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Americans who experience a hearing and/or speech disability have a right to access telecommunications services that is “functionally equivalent” to those relied upon by consumers without such disabilities. One such available service is Internet Protocol Captioned Telephone Service (IP CTS), or captioned telephone service. This service is provided by either a combination of a skilled transcriber and automatic speech recognition (ASR) technology or ASR only and at no cost to users through a program administered by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

The FCC must take action to protect the quality and accuracy of this communication service. Given its critical importance, we urge the FCC to adopt new quality standards for communications services and ensure continual modernization of these services for deaf and hard of hearing consumers. 

That’s where Clear2Connect’s advocacy comes in. Our goals are to protect the right for people with hearing disabilities to access the safe, effective technology they need to communicate, and to educate people, especially in underserved communities, about these services.