Somewhat Silent

In the UK we call TTYs (see google’s definition of tty ) textphones or minicoms. Minicom is a big manufacturer of textphones so ‘hoover’ (aka vacuum cleaner) syndrome has kicked in. I have a Minicom 600P which my dad rescued from a skip at work, it had a bent RJ11 port and uses the obscure RJ11 configuration but otherwise worked fine. You can see it at http://www.deafequipment.co.uk/store/viewProduct.do?id=1388 . Just look at how much that costs to buy!!!

There is one relay service in the UK run by BT (historically British Telecom) http://www.bt.com and RNID (Royal National Institute for the Deaf) http://www.rnid.org.uk . The relay service receives financial contributions from other telecomms providers and can be used from their networks but usually with more work-arounds than with BT. The relay service is known colloquially as ‘typetalk’ http://www.typetalk.org and I think was historically called that until Marketing and Branding happened. As I understand it ‘TypeTalk’ is the name of the ‘organisation’ which runs the ‘BT TextDirect’ service but their website uses the words without clear definition. Oh and to add to confusion BT has an SMS to voice service called ‘BT Text’ http://www.bt.com/bttext .

Using typetalk is relatively easy, using a textphone, or a terminal+modem with correct config you dial 18001 in front of the number that you wish to dial. If you are dialling another textphone then dialling 180015 goes through their system and means you get a 60% call rebate. This doesn’t always work when calling minicom numbers which is sometimes annoying cos I’m a cheapskate.

Many businesses publish ‘Minicom’ rather than ‘textphone’ numbers so the interchangability of terms is widespread. One would hope that if an organisation published a textphone number that they would answer the calls - but sadly that isn’t the case. I would estimate that 75% of organisations with a published number don’t use it properly. Sometimes they have a computer answering it which confuses my textphone something chronic and results in garbage spewing at me. I will usually try the minicom number first and expect it to ring out, I will then switch to the standard numbers using typetalk.

Some organisations are beginning to specifically tell deaf people to use typetalk instead of publishing a minicom number - this is not a bad idea in my view. My friend works for the Inland Revenue (taxman) and she asked her colleagues what ‘typetalk’ numbers were. They explained and showed her the ‘typetalk machine’ which no one could remember how to use. Apparently no one had called it in over 6 years. I know from experience that most hearing textphone users don’t know what they are doing and type painfully slowly. I find that incompetant textphone users garble everything and the call ends up being very confusing on both sides.

In the UK we have problems with organisations using recorded messages and automated diallers to ’spam’ us on our landlines/mobiles/faxes/etc. Individuals and organisations can globally opt-out of unsolicited calls (faxes, mobile calls, snailmail and email) using the Telephone Preference Service. After 28 days it becomes unlawful for any organisation to send you unsolicited spam and they can be fined £5,000 for every breech. Organisations have to use the CTPS (corporate telephone preference service) which is available on the same site http://www.tps-online.org.uk . Many people don’t know this, so I try and educate them at every opportunity.

When a person answers a call from someone using typetalk they hear a recorded female voice saying Welcome to BT TextDirect please hold for connection followed by Please Wait, Please Wait. The ‘please wait’ will repeat until an operator is available to take the call. Nowhere in the recorded spiel are the words ‘deaf’ ‘relay’ or ‘typetalk’ used. All the hearing people I know understand the words ‘typetalk’ and ‘relay’ but not ‘textdirect’.

Often when the person answers the phone and hears a recorded voice they hang up instinctively because of spam calls. Even if they don’t hang up immediately they assume it is BT spamming them (which as network provider they are legally allowed to do) so hang up after the spiel and before an operator connects. Very few people actually understand what ‘textdirect’ is, and that’s usually because they’ve been told, or they’ve had a typetalk call before.

About 25% of the time I find people repeatedly hang up on typetalk calls. If they hang up after the operator has connected I get a No one on the line message and usually the operator will offer to redial and stress that it is a deaf person on the line. This is the best outcome because once I have an operator they stay on the line till the call ends. They can usually be persuaded to say “This is a deaf person, a customer!” or similar to get the attention of the person I’m trying to call.

Unfortunately people who hang up usually do it too quickly for typetalk’s computers to give me an operator so I get a dead line and a 5 pence call charge (about $0.10 US). I can choose to keep redialling at 5 pence a go, or I can pay national-call rates (about $0.15 per minute minumum) for the call duration to use the old-fashioned service where I get an operator to dial out for me. I don’t like having to do this because it can increase the cost of the call by up to four or five time as I lose my 60% typetalk rebate AND pay national-rate call rates. For comparison, a local call during the day would cost about $0.10 a minute, in the evening/weekend it’d be about $0.02 a minute. National-rate calls also doesn’t come out of my landline ‘free minutes’ which I don’t normally use up. If a friendly hearing person is around I am often lazy and get them to ring up the person I want to call and shout at them for not taking my call.

Once the call is answered the problems are usually over, however some places will refuse to take typetalk calls because they take longer to handle than standard voice calls, but I think this is increasingly rare. Callcentre workers sometimes don’t know if they are permitted to take typetalk calls, but a request for them to check with their manager and in very rare cases the words “disability discrimination act” to the manager sorts that out very quickly. I find that callcentre people will be extra patient and helpful as they can’t possibly stick to their max-call-length things and I hope they get allowences for ’special circumstances’ rather than penalised for not making targets. I really ought to ask callcentre people what the score is on that one.

Banks and similar will sometimes refuse to use typetalk claiming that the ‘operator’ is not the ‘account holder’ this usually requires an explanation of the operator’s role and again those magic words “disability discrimination act”. They sometimes still refuse citing their ‘minicom number’ but as they are rarely answered the deaf person has a good case for discrimination either way. It’s been a number of years since I knew of any UK deaf people having to write or complain to the branch manager about access to phone banking. Internet banking helps a great deal in this - yay for Internet banking.

BT, RNID and TypeTalk (the organisation) are very aware of the problems I outline in the above. A friend of mine worked for a (D)eaf charity and discussed these issues with them directly. They have decided that the spiel isn’t very well worded, but they refuse to change it. I accept that there’s politics involved, but I believe the spiel should contain the words ‘deaf’ in it somewhere. They seem very resistant to listening to feedback or keeping up with the times. They are known to consult with the deaf community and ignore a lot of important points

As well as the issues in making outgoing calls via typetalk, there are the issues of receiving incoming calls. To ensure a call comes via typetalk the dialler has to use the prefix 18002 before the FULL telephone number. Many organisations can’t put this into their system as the database field for phone number doesn’t let them. There is NO way to automatically divert all incoming calls via typetalk, nor is the flagging system which could be utilised for identifying typetalk/nontypetalk calls implemented properly. There is a byte of data within the callerID frameset which can be flagged as ‘voice’ ‘fax’ and a few other things. There is also a number dialled field which could have the typetalk prefix put in it as typetalk does pass through callerID data. There features are rarely used, but the capability is there.

Normally when I receive a call which isn’t a known person who I will talk to by voice (my mum) or an UNKNOWN/WITHHELD number then I will answer with the textphone. If the person on the other end isn’t using typetalk then they will hear the 300bps squeals of the textphone which sound a bit like a fax. They often hang up before I realise my “Hello GA” is going nowhere so hitting the audio message “Please use a textphone” button is useless. These callers rarely redial as they think it’s a fax line.

If I answer a typetalk call in voice then an operator will kick in and tell me it’s a typetalk call for $Name and I can choose whether to speak or use the textphone. I don’t do this because if people hear me speak they don’t believe I am deaf and get annoying about the typetalk business. I could use two numbers for the same line one for typetalk incoming and one for voice incoming, but I figure that the main issue is with people being unable to remember the 18002 prefix and not with the differentiating between voice and textphone. Oh for an autodivert via typetalk feature - kim uses her mobile for all voice and hates phones almost as much as I do .

So, my questions to you guys at somewhatsilent.com are:

• Do you guys in the USA/elsewhere have the same problems or different ones?
• Can you automatically divert all calls to a textphone to a set number? If so how and with what relay service?
• How do you get hearing people to call you via a relay - is there a prefix and is it sensible?
• If you have a prefix how do you give your phonenumber to organisations without them being unable to store it correctly?
• Do you know your system works exactly (especially you Americans!) - The more technical the better. I’m very keen to know as I know very little other than the US/Canadia? appears to use the same basic protocols and technology as the UK. In the US you guys also have that nifty web interface to some relay services which I would kill for - Nigerians or no Nigerians
• How many of you actually use textphones and such like? If you don’t use textphones (TTYs) then what do you use and why?

Disclaimer: My explanation of TTY and phone stuff applies to England, Scotland and Wales and probably N.Ireland. I have NO idea about S.Ireland, Lette do you know? How about Europe?

People!
For those of you who live in the States and want to advocate for nation-wide CapTel services, or just advocate for deaf people rights in general, read below and write, Write, and WRITE!!!
thnx & Happy Holidays!

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

As a person who has expressed interest in CapTel, yet found it not available in your state, you may be interested in knowing that the FCC is now considering whether to require captioned telephone service throughout the United States.

On October 31, 2005, 13 national consumer organizations petitioned the FCC, asking the FCC to make captioned telephone service available to any person in any state. The FCC is now seeking the public’s thoughts on this petition. The Commission wants to hear from consumers like you to know whether this is something that you want.

If you are you interested in seeing captioned telephone service become a permanent, full time service in all states in the U.S., you now have the opportunity to share your views with the FCC. It would be best to send in your comments by December 30, 2005, when the first round of comments are due. If you wish to read a copy of the consumer coalition petition, it is available on Self Help for Hard of Hearing’s website at http://www.hearingloss.org/html/fccpetition.html

E-filing Instructions

There are three ways to file a comment with the FCC.

The easiest way is to file comments that are brief (under a page):

1. Go to: http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/ecfs/Upload/. When you get to that page, scroll down and click the circle next to
“Telecommunications Relay Service Docket 03-123.”
2. Then scroll down again and click “continue.” You will be brought to a page to fill in brief comments.
3. Type in your name, and address in the form provided.
4. In the section marked “Send a brief comment to FCC,” tell the FCC whether you believe that captioned telephone service
should be mandated. If you do believe it should be required in all states, briefly explain why. If you are in a state that
presently does not have this service, you can note that as well.

The second way to file comments that are longer (more than a page):

1. Go to: http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/ecfs/Upload/. On the left hand side, under “other comments,” you will see the option
to use “the expert version” to file comments for proceedings not listed on ECFS Express. Click that, which will take you
to the main ECFS page.
2. On the right side of the screen, under ECFS Main Links, you will see an option that says “Submit a Filing.” Click that.
3. Fill out the form, putting 03-123 as the proceeding (line #1). Note that while your name and address are required,
having an attorney or law firm is not.
4. At the bottom, there is another box entitled “Send Comment Files to the FCC (Attachments)” To the right of that is a
box entitled “browse.” Browse to your computer files.
5. Click on the proper document, select a file type (e.g. Microsoft WORD) in the middle box, and click “Send Attached File.”
6. If you have a second document to send, on the next page, you will be prompted to send additional documents or finish
the transaction.

The third way to send comments to the FCC is by mail. You can mail your comments to Office of the Secretary, Federal Communications Commission, 445 12th Street, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20554. Please refer to CG Docket No. 03-123 on your comments if you send them in by paper. Because of mail delays, you may want to send your comments in around 2 weeks before the deadline.

If you miss the deadline of December 30, 2005, don’t worry. The FCC will be accepting a second round of comments that are due by January 17, 2006. (Note that you can even submit comments if you miss that deadline, only you would need to write down “ex parte letter” on your filing if you file after January 17th.)

Thanks for being a concerned citizen and sharing your views with your public officials.

The URL below links to an article which describes a case taken against an organisation for refusing to accept relay calls, who also didn’t provide a TTY number for customers to use. For those of you who don’t use telephones for voice it may be a useful reference.

http://www.nad.org/site/pp.asp?c=foINKQMBF&b=1153171

I don’t know if there have been similar cases anywhere else, but if anyone knows of any, shove them in comments for archives purposes.

Hey..since my relocation to Vermont, I’ve been working hard catching up to bills in the last two months and re-establishing myself into the creative scene (and socially, of course..a guy’s gotta have something to do). In the past couple of days I’ve been receiving a LOT of phone calls from a suspected collection agency and I had to ignore them because I wrote letters to my creditors about my economic situation. Some of them were cool about it and acknowledged it but I’m still working it out with them.
The thing is that this particular collection agency I suspect is inundating me with calls in the last few days this past weekend and I know it is due to their caller IDs as ‘unavailable’, or 999-999-9999 and sometimes it shows the actual number. I can tell that they kept switching 2 or 3 numbers to try and trick me to talk to them so they can ‘bully’ me into paying up.
Keep this in mind that it IS against the law and illegal for collection agencies to harass you with continuous phone calls without leaving an actual voice mail.
They once did that but did’nt leave a message..however they called back an hour later. This is a violation of my rights and besides, being deaf myself, how do they expect me to talk to them this way? What if I don’t want to because I know they’ll try and take advantage of my hearing disability? I don’t use a TTY nor own one and I think they should have the decency to use email instead of phone calls (I use a cell phone..don’t own a land-line).
But I’m aware they don’t like emails because that is a record that can be used against them…and they know it.
All they want to do is BS you on the phone to make you pay up.
I’m trying to figure out ways to get those dorks off my back.
What’s worse…I once got a call from a collection agency in which a hindu (Indian) guy with bad english was trying to talk to me and I could NOT comprehend what the hell he was saying. It was so bad I had to hang up on him. So insulting.
I’d rather have someone speak to me in clear and plain English…(no offense to Lette).
What should I do?

It’s funny, but the few places in the city that I experience the worst discrimination, are the places where I go to have my hearing loss treated. Audiologists, and ENT doctors.

Normal businesses and doctor’s offices, when I speak to the doctor or the receptionist, they listen to me and respond. Sometimes they don’t quite know how to speak to me so that I’ll understand, but with a little bit of fumbling around and maybe discovering we need a notebook to communicate… Generally after about 5 minutes, we’re up and running with a system that works for us.

Then I go to the audiologist, and instead of that initial fumbling around to discover what works? I experience something far worse. Either the audiologist, building workers, and receptionists speak to whomever is accompanying me to my appointment, or they treat me as if I’m an elderly person- slightly pixelated. I always feel as if I’m a cat going to the vet’s instead of a human being going for treatment. I’m subjected to the bare minimum amount of communication and direction, and when I ask questions, I’m often given overly simplistic answers- or my questions, concerns, and suggestions are dismissed. Almost as if I were a schizophrenic babbling about voices that only I could hear.? But I’m not. I’m talking about my hearing loss, my? needs, the limitations of the devices that they are adjusting- and I’m suggesting things that I think could circumvent those limitations.

Instead of listening, they sort of zone out. And the Deaf workers there? They have their own Deaf agenda, and it has no room for anyone who circumnavigates the world in a way that doesn’t fit in with the Deaf way of doing things.

It’s sort of ironic that the one place in the city where I’m constantly reminded of my status as a second-class disabled person, is the one place in the city where I’m least expecting to encounter that.