The Sign-Up Fund was established with a grant from the
Texas Bar Foundation in order to assist attorneys in meeting their obligations
under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Texas Lawyers Care
and the Disability Issues Committee (http://www.texasbardisabilityissues.org/) of the State
Bar are administering the Fund. Advocacy, Inc., a federally-funded, non-profit organization
that provides legal services to people who are deaf or have other disabilities,
is available to provide attorneys with general information about the ADA
and best practices for complying with it. Additionally, Advocacy will
be conducting trainings on the
In certain circumstances, the Sign-Up Fund will reimburse attorneys for their usage of qualified sign language interpreters and other auxiliary aids, such as CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation), to facilitate attorney-client communications. For further information about the Sign-Up Fund, please see the Sign-Up Fund's Basic Guidelines for Use (download with Adobe Acrobat). To make a request for funds, please use the Sign-Up Fund Request Form (download with Adobe Acrobat).
Please consult Basic Facts on the Deaf and Their Lawyers (download with Adobe Acrobat) and the article “Attorneys, Deaf Clients, and the Americans with Disabilities Act” (http://www.nad.org/legalservices) on the National Association of the Deaf website for helpful information on meeting the needs of your clients who are deaf.