As one of seven colleges at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, N.Y., NTID is unique in that it is the world's first and largest college to offer an entire technical curriculum for students with hearing disabilities. The concept for the institute was born when the U.S. Congress put forth the idea of creating a technical school for deaf students in conjunction with an existing university or college. After answering a call for applications and meeting certain criteria, the Rochester Institute of Technology was chosen as the host institution. NTID was placed on the RIT campus with federal funding that was signed into law in 1968 by President Lyndon B. Johnson. In addition to NTID, the other academic colleges at RIT are Applied Science and Technology, Business, Engineering, Imaging Arts and Sciences, as well as Liberal Arts and Science.
Students studying for their bachelor's degree are mostly in classes with hearing students.
We have a technical-level program for deaf students that uses technologies and strategies to help them. These students must require access services to succeed in college. At NTID, we emphasize the 'OT' because we focus on technical and technologies training. That is the basis for which NTID was started in the first place. One clear advantage for students is that faculty and staff members are able to sign.