Government Entities
GOVERNMENT ENTITIES. We're all entitled to participate in the civic life of our city, state and nation, and we're entitled to enjoy the benefits provided by the government. So in most instances, any facility or service operated by a state or local government must offer aids and services sufficient to ensure that communication with us is as effective as communication with those whose hearing is undiminished. In determining what aids and services to offer, public entities must give "primary consideration" to our preferences.
The most significant national case dealing with the duties of public entities towards those with hearing loss comes from Kitsap County. A man asked that his divorce trial be captioned. Instead, he was offered listening devices, a small and acoustically friendly courtroom, and the opportunity to move around so that he could speech-read the testifying witnesses. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal ruled those aids and services were insufficient. It reminded the county of its obligation to give "primary consideration" to the requests of the individual, and warned abainst furnishing aids and services based on "stereotypes," such as the belief that assistive listening devices are adequate for all individuals with a hearing loss, or that all of us benefit from sign-language interpretation.
In the wake of that decision, the Washington Supreme Court adopted General Rule 33, which applies to all non-federal courts in Washington. It provides that any participant in a court proceeding is entitled to the aids and services they request if they give two weeks' notice unless it would be impossible to provide the service an the date scheduled for the proceeding, and it would be impossible to continue the proceeding until the aids and services became available.
While GR 33 takes care of the access problem for parties, witnesses, jurors and attorneys, it leaves open the question of whether aids and services have to be provided for spectators. My own view is that ADA essentially requires equal treatment where possible, and that if a court proceeding is open to hearing spectators, then aids and services must be provided to make the proceeding equally open to those with hearing losses.
