The Disability Policy Consortium is pleased to announce that the Legislature’s web site now has a form to allow a person to request communication access accommodations for Legislative events. The request will go directly to the Massachusetts Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing scheduling personnel.
The General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, in cooperation with the Massachusetts Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, has created this request form to aid the Deaf, Late Deafened and Hard of Hearing citizens of the Commonwealth to request communications access to Senate and House hearings as well as sessions held by the General Court. Requests entered through this site will be forwarded to the referral department of MCDHH for processing. Please complete all required fields as this will help us to respond to your request as quickly as possible while keeping call backs to a minimum.
The form may be found in two places on www.mass.gov\legis under the Heading for Hearings and Miscellaneous. The direct link is the following:
This form can be used to request interpreters or CART services for hearings on bills or to attend a House of Representatives or Senate session. Auxiliary Aids for communication access for meetings with individual legislators will also be available. Requests for communication access for meetings with individual legislators should be made by that legislator’s staff after the appointment has been made.
The Disability Policy Consortium has posted a partial list of legislation of interest to the deaf and hard of hearing communities. We will update the Tracking Report as soon as the complete text of all bills for the current session is made available by the House and Senate Clerk’s offices.
The listing is on the DPC’s web site, here.