Access to information on computer networks by the deaf

Abstract

Communication technology has historically isolated deaf people from mainstream information in society. The telephone, radio, television, and film were all inaccessible to deaf and hard‐of‐hearing people. The computer, with its use of text for human communication, is as accessible to deaf people as it is to others in society. But the increasing use of audio material, especially on the Internet, threatens to make a once totally accessible medium increasingly inaccessible to millions of people with a hearing disability. A series of laws were enacted to grant people with a hearing disability access to information technologies such as the telephone, television, and videotape. However, the unique nature of the Internet limits what can be done through the enactment of laws without violating First Amendment free speech rights. This study examines the problem of access and recommends public policy steps to raise public awareness of this problem among those in the computer industry, businesses, employers, and the general public using the Internet.