telecommunications for people who are deaf: worth phoning home about
As 15th anniversary of Americans with Disabilities Act approaches, telecommunications promise of law is fulfilled

CHICAGO (June 13, 2005) —“I love that you can ‘interrupt’ each other,” says Julie Somers, who is deaf, in describing the marvel of communicating with friends and family members using a revolutionary technology called video relay service, or VRS. Somers, Domestic Violence Project Coordinator, Chicago Hearing Society, is one of approximately 34 million Americans with a significant hearing loss, including almost 6 million who are profoundly deaf.

These individuals are among the Americans who have benefited from the 1990 passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA); in fact, one entire component of the ADA is devoted to telecommunications. “The American with Disabilities Act is marking its 15 th anniversary next month,” says Jill Sahakian, director of Chicago Hearing Society, “and the promise of the law has been fulfilled in terms of giving people with disabilities free and open access to telecommunications.”

According to the ADA , telecommunications accommodations for people who are deaf are paid for by the public; a tiny surcharge is included in everyone’s monthly phone bill to cover the cost of relay and related services.

Until quite recently, individuals like Somers could only make phone calls by typing on a TTY or “teletypewriter.” But now with VRS, using a small camera and a two-way Internet video connection, Somers can communicate more naturally and easily than in the past. The traditional TTY machine signals the deaf user by “ringing” via a flashing light or a vibrating wristband. In a traditional relay call, the deaf individual communicates with a hearing caller by typing on a TTY, with an operator wearing a headset speaking to the hearing individual on the other end of the line. With VRS technology, however, the deaf or hard-of-hearing caller finally gets to do what hearing people have been doing on the telephone since Alexander Graham Bell invented it in 1876 —communicating in his or her own language —which just happens to be American Sign Language. Using the video relay service, callers who are deaf sign to a sign language interpreter via a video camera and an Internet connection; interpreters then communicate directly to hearing individuals on the other end of the line.

Not surprisingly, says Chicago Hearing Society’s Sahakian, “The use of VRS is growing because it is a more natural means of communication for people who use sign language.” Chicago Hearing Society, a division of Anixter Center , provides sign language interpreters for video relay service in partnership with a national nonprofit, CSD. Consumers need a Web camera and a computer with an Internet connection or may use a “direct link” videophone with a television and an Internet connection. Public VRS centers also are available to consumers.

The demand for video relay calls is exceeding projections of the National Exchange Carrie r Association (NECA), an agency that contracts with the FCC — by 17 percent in February 2005 and 29 percent in March 2005. VRS providers include Sprint, AT&T, MCI and Sorenson.

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Chicago Hearing Society is a division of Anixter Center, one of the largest nonprofit organizations in the region and the 13th-largest charitable organization in Chicago according to Crain’s Chicago Business. The mission of Anixter Center is to assist people with disabilities to live and work successfully in the community. Anixter Center is a leading provider of high-quality vocational, residential and educational options, substance abuse prevention and treatment, and health care. Anixter Center is an advocate for the rights of people with disabilities to be full and equal members of the community. The organization serves more than 5,000 individuals a year through more than 70 programs at 35 locations in and around Chicago.