(210 ILCS 85/11.8)

Sec. 11.8. Closed captioning required. A hospital licensed under this Act must make reasonable efforts to have activated at all times the closed captioning feature on a television in a common area provided for use by the general public or in a patient's room, or enable the closed captioning feature when requested to do so by a member of the general public or a patient, if the television includes a closed captioning feature.

It is not a violation of this Section if the closed captioning feature is deactivated by a member of the hospital's staff after such feature is enabled in a common area or in a patient's room unless the deactivation of the closed captioning feature is knowing or intentional. It is not a violation of this Section if the closed captioning feature is deactivated by a member of the general public, a patient, or a member of the hospital's staff at the request of a patient of a hospital licensed under this Act.

If a hospital licensed under this Act does not have a television that includes a closed captioning feature, then the hospital must ensure that all televisions obtained for common areas and patient rooms after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 101st General Assembly include a closed captioning feature. This Section does not affect any other provision of law relating to disability discrimination or providing reasonable accommodations or diminish the rights of a person with a disability under any other law.

As used in this Section, "closed captioning" means a text display of spoken words presented on a television that allows a deaf or hard of hearing viewer to follow the dialogue and the action of a program simultaneously.

(Source: P.A. 101-116, eff. 1-1-20.)