SFO to install video monitors for deaf, hearing impaired

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http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/merc...s/california/northern_california/13415245.htm

SAN FRANCISCO - Hearing impaired airline passengers will soon be able to read public-address announcements on 80 large video screens at San Francisco International Airport as part of a settlement, officials said.

The airport and Disability Rights Advocates, an Oakland nonprofit group that sued in 2002 claiming the airport violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, announced the end of their legal battle Wednesday.

The lawsuit claimed that a lack of appropriate signs and employees trained to assist the disabled made air travel at SFO unnecessarily confusing and complicated.

"We're hoping SFO is going to be a model for other airports to follow," said Kevin Knestrick, an attorney for Disability Rights Advocates.

The equipment is scheduled to be installed over the next 18 months, said SFO spokesman Mike McCarron. The cost has not yet been determined.
 
Under the agreement announced Wednesday, the airport will add 80 visual paging monitors to its domestic and international terminals and boost its number of text telephones. The monitors, of which the airport already has 46, enable deaf and hard-of-hearing passengers to access information from the public address system.

The airport has also agreed to award $40,000 in combined monetary damages, including $20,000 to the Deaf Counseling, Advocacy and Referral Agency, $8,000 to the California Center for Law and the Deaf and $12,000 to Colin Piotrowski, a deaf San Leandro man who was one of the case’s original plaintiffs.

http://www.sfexaminer.com/articles/2005/12/15/news/20051215_ne07_deaf.txt
 
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