Archive for the 'relay services' Category
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Ed. note: I updated this post at 14:35 PST on Monday, Feb 11, 2008 to add more information of each candidate’s voting record on accessibility & deaf tech issues, and upgraded McCain’s grade from “F” to “D-” based on his voting record.
This post over on Daily Kos by “slinkerwink” describes how Barack Obama is the only candidate with consistently captioned videos. That got me thinking, and I did some research: a report card grading each presidential candidate on their accessibility to the deaf.
DEMOCRATS:
Barack Obama - Grade: A+
Barack Obama’s website lists disability as a major issue in the main navigation bar and provides a PDF file titled “Disability Plan FactSheet” which states:
Investing in Assistive Technologies: Barack Obama believes we must use technology to make community based living a reality for more people with disabilities. Obama supports the Fostering Independence Through Technology Act, which offers 21st century solutions, such as home monitoring and communications technologies, to overcoming barriers for people with disabilities.
Obama’s campaign has partnered with Project ReadOn to provide captioning for all their online web videos. Every single video on Obama’s website is offered in closed captioned format and is easy to find. And while this isn’t a deaf-tech item, I thought it was noteworthy that his campaign video features a deaf actress using American Sign Language.
In Obama’s technology record, he supports net neutrality and supports bringing high-speed broadband to every American, which is important for ASL vloggers, video relay services, remote video interpreting, and the like.
Obama’s voting record on deaf-tech and accessibility issues stands as follows: he supports the ADA Restoration Act of 2007, he voted for the Stem Cell Research Act of 2007 and the Stem Cell Research Bill (which is important for cochlear research,) and voted for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act.
The American Association for People with Disabilities submitted a questionnaire to each candidate asking them what their plan was for people with disabilities. Barack Obama’s answers are here.
Hillary Clinton – Grade: C
Hillary Clinton’s website does not list disability as a major issue in her campaign, and has a very hidden, hard-to-find page that outlines her plan for Americans with disabilities. In the assistive technology area, she states she plans to:
- Doubling Funding for Assistive Technology Loan Programs. Assistive technologies should be affordable to all people with disabilities who need them. Expensive loans that weigh down people already struggling are not the answer. Hillary will double loan programs that enable people to purchase assistive technologies and support state initiatives like the Virginia Assistive Technology Loan Fund Authority, which has helped Virginians of all income levels (including SSI and SSDI recipients) to access low-interest loans to purchase equipment like wheelchairs, Braille equipment, hearing aids, low vision aids, and communication systems. To ensure that financing such technology is never an undue burden on the work aspirations of people with disabilities, Hillary Clinton will require an income-contingent option that never requires more than a modest percentage of one’s income for repayment.
- Providing More Technical Assistance for Employers. Many employers are hesitant to hire people with disabilities because they are unsure about the accommodations necessary to enable successful work. President Bush has not kept his promises to fund programs that remove employment barriers that keep people with disabilities from work. He has cut funding for the Office of Disability Employment Policy by 41%, and his current budget proposes to cut the Office by an additional 34%. As President, Hillary Clinton will restore funding to the Office of Disability Employment Policy, with an emphasis on giving employers the tools to effectively employ people with disabilities. She will establish a new technical assistance resource center to provide real-time support for employers and help them link with local resources to implement workplace accommodations.
The video page has closed captioning (symbolized with a black “CC” graphic”) listed on some, but not all videos. Clinton has partnered with Project ReadOn to caption her videos, but as stated, not all of her online videos are captioned.
In technology, Clinton supports net neutrality, but voted for the Internet Access Tax Bill. She supports the ADA Restoration Act of 2007 and voted in favor of stem cell research and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act.
The American Association for People with Disabilities submitted a questionnaire to each candidate asking them what their plan was for people with disabilities. Hillary Clinton’s answers are here.
REPUBLICANS:
John McCain – Grade: D-
John McCain was one of the senators that helped to pass the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990 and served on the Board of Trustees at Gallaudet University, the only four-year liberal university for the deaf. He resigned from the Board during the student protests over the appointment of Jane Fernandes as president of the University>. Fernandes doesn’t know American Sign Language and McCain supported her as president of Gallaudet, so I wouldn’t be too quick to say McCain is “in touch” with the deaf community.
His website does not list disability as an issue, nor can I find any sort of plan for Americans with disabilites. His online videos are not closed captioned. He does not support net neutrality, he voted for the Internet Access tax bill, and in 1995/96, he voted “NAY” on the Telecommunications Bill S652, which provided more accessibility for the deaf with stronger FCC regulations on closed captions and Relay services. However, he supports the ADA Restoration Act of 2007, voted for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act, and voted for stem cell research.
The American Association for People with Disabilities submitted a questionnaire to each candidate asking them what their plan was for people with disabilities. John McCain did not respond.
Mike Huckabee – Grade: F
Mike Huckabee’s website does not list disability as a campaign issue, nor does it offer a plan for Americans with Disabilities. His online videos are not closed captioned.
The American Association for People with Disabilities submitted a questionnaire to each candidate asking them what their plan was for people with disabilities. Mike Huckabee did not respond.
Ron Paul – Grade: F
Ron Paul partnered with Project ReadOn to provide captioning on his online videos, but the first video on the page is “unavailable” and the videos on his website do not have closed captions. His website does not list disability as an issue, nor does it outline a plan for disabled Americans. Paul is also against the ADA Reform Act of 2007, stem cell research, and net neutrality.
The American Association for People with Disabilities submitted a questionnaire to each candidate asking them what their plan was for people with disabilities. Ron Paul did not respond.
Stone Deaf Pilots would like to officially endorse Barack Obama for President. He has the deaf and hearing impaired community’s best interests at heart and is willing to provide access for all. Please consider voting for Barack Obama if your state still has not had a primary election. A vote for Obama is an investment into a better future for the deaf and hard of hearing. To continue my support, I have created a Deafies for Obama page on MyBarackObama.com. Please consider joining and spreading the word!
If you are planning to vote for another candidate, please encourage them to make disability an issue on their campaign. Contact them and refer them to this post to help them understand how they compare to other presidential candidates on accessibility and disability issues.
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A Telecommunications Relay Service (also known as TRS, Relay Service, or IP-Relay) is a service that the deaf and hearing impaired use to make and receive phone calls to and from hearing people who do not have TTY/TDD‘s. There are many kinds of Relay calls, such as video relay (which I recently blogged about) and the most common is TTY/Voice – Voice/TTY, or text relay.
Basically, how it works is rather simple; the TTY user calls the Relay operator, who also has a TTY. (Computers and smartphones can also be used in place of a TTY with internet relay services or built-in TTY software.) The TTY user types to the operator; the operator speaks to the hearing caller and “relays” the TTY user’s typed words to them. The hearing caller responds to the operator, who types the voiced words back to the TTY user. Most relay operators (also called “CA’s,” for “communications assistant”) will also type in background sounds to help make the call more personal for the TTY user, such as (person laughing,) (person coughing,) (dog barking,) (sounds angry,) etc. I’ve freaked out hearing callers before by asking, “Are you tired?” when the operator told me that they were yawning, and one time the person I was talking to was talking about my birthday surprise with someone else in the room, and the relay operator typed it all to me. That was funny.
Here’s a diagram of a standard text relay call:
When one person finishes typing/speaking and is indicating it’s the other person’s turn to speak, they say “Go Ahead” (the typing person types “GA”) and when the call ends, both parties say/type “SK” which means “stop keying.”
If a hearing caller wishes to call a TTY user, they can do so by phoning a TRS and giving the operator the number of the TTY user they wish to call. Most internet relay services allow deaf/TTY users to subscribe to a phone number of their own, so hearing callers simply call that number and then they are automatically connected to the TRS operator and the deaf person.
TRS are paid for by telecommunications fees and are a public service. In the United States and Canada, the number 711 automatically connects one with the TRS. Relay services are available in many countries, including the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Denmark. TRS cannot be used to call 911 emergency services. Deafies in the US can make international calls, but deafies traveling overseas cannot call US relay services and must use the relay services provided in that country, if available.
A few downsides to using relay services are that the majority of hearing people don’t understand what it is. Usually when hearing people receive a relay call for the first time, they think it is a telemarketer and they hang up, meaning the deaf user has to ask the operator to redial and then wait while the operator explains the call. New frustrations ensue if the hearing person continues to hang up. I once had to call the parts department of a local motorcycle store to get something for my motorcycle and the service counter person hung up on me three times before I gave up and had my boyfriend call them and explain to them what was going on. They finally accepted my call and apologized profusely; they felt so bad that they gave me a 10% discount.
If you are a hearing person and you receive a relay call, it will go something like this: the relay operator will ask you, “This is IP relay anon 9033. Do you know how to use relay?” If you say “no,” they will go on to explain the service to you. The basic spiel is:
You are receiving a call form a person who is using a computer. I will voice what is typed and type everything I hear on your end of the line. You may begin responding when the person pauses or when you hear the words “go ahead.” Please speak slowly and in the first person because you are talking directly to the person. When you are finished speaking and ready for a response, you may pause or say “go ahead.” Relay will begin now.
Relay calls are a bit slower than a standard telephone call, which can be a little frustrating if you are in a hurry, but I suppose it’s just something we have to live with until the technology improves.
Another negative issue with relay calls is that they are often used by spammers/scammers. Many spammers in Nigeria discovered that they could use the relay to make free phone calls to the United States, and since an operator was speaking for them, the hearing caller did not hear the Nigerian accent and had no idea they were speaking to a foreigner; they thought they were speaking with a deaf person and of course, unscrupulous scammers played on the whole “sympathize with a disabled person” angle. More information on relay scams here: Link and link.
Relay services have been around since the early 1990′s, and the service has improved over the years. There is room for growth and improvement. I hope that this post will reach a lot of hearing people so that they will understand what a relay call is, and give deaf people a chance to call them. It’s extremely frustrating for me to receive a call from a potential employer and have them hang up on me because they got connected to the operator and thought they had the wrong number, or try to call the doctor and make an appointment and have the receptionist hang up on me because they don’t understand what the phone call is about.
Previously:
IP Relay
Video Relay
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Partnering with Sorenson Communications, the Salt Lake City airport became the first airport in the United States to install video phones for deaf and hard of hearing travelers. The video phones are located on each side of Salt Lake City International Airport’s two baggage claim areas, and the service is free.
To use a videophone booth, a deaf or hard-of-hearing individual enters a private booth equipped with a Sorenson VP-200 videophone connected to both a television and high-speed Internet. He or she enters the phone number of the hearing individual being called. Through the Sorenson Video Relay Service, a qualified ASL interpreter appears on the screen, connects the individuals and relays the conversation between them. The hearing party receiving the call uses a standard phone line. (via Sorenson press release.)
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I’m going to be writing about Relay services a lot this week to increase public awareness to the different types of Relay services and how they work. In this post I’m going to talk about the service I use, and why.
I use IP-Relay for almost all of my telephone relay needs. I started using them in 2005 when they announced their new AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) service, which worked effortlessly and meant that I could make phone calls from both my desktop computer and my TMobile Sidekick. In the past, deafies made Relay calls using a TTY, which was quite cumbersome; one, you had to make extra room on your desk for the TTY, and two, it was hard to multitask between the TTY & your personal computer if you were at work, and three – the TTY screens are small, usually just one line of text. Lastly, if you were out and about, it could sometimes be difficult to find a place to plug in the TTY so you could make a phone call. Think about it – most pay phones aren’t near power outlets.
In the early part of the 2000′s, telephone companies came out with Java-enabled online relay services that allowed deafies to make Relay calls using their desktop computer – here’s an example of the one provided by IP Relay. These were a little bit more convenient than using a TTY as you could continue working at your computer while you made a phone call, but I remember the Java application crashing a lot.
The new AIM service works great; all I had to do was add the user name “My IP Relay” to my AIM buddylist and I simply click on that screen name and type “CALL” in the window that pops up to start a phone call. It looks like this when I start a call:
I simply type back and forth to the Relay operator in the Instant Messenger window and the operator relays my typed words to the hearing person I am calling, and types the hearing person’s spoken words back to me. The interface is very useful as I can switch between applications while having the conversation and keep working, or I can look up things related to the conversation in an email window or browser window. I can cut and paste text in the AIM window; this was something I couldn’t do with a TTY or with the Java-enabled internet relay. I can save the chat windows on my computer.
In addition, since my TMobile Sidekick has AIM installed on it, this also means I can make wireless Relay calls on my Sidekick. No more carrying around a TTY, and no more having to hunt for a place to plug one in when I’m out. I’m constantly on the go, and having the ability to make wireless phone calls with ease is the bee’s knees. I love how the progression of technology gives me more freedom and independence.
When IP Relay announced their AIM Relay service, they also announced a new way for deafies to receive phone calls from hearing people. In the past, to connect with a deaf person via Relay, a hearing person would have to call the 800-number for the state relay service and then tell the operator to call the number of the deaf person they were trying to reach. IP Relay now allows deaf users to register for their own phone number; deafies get a phone number with an area code that is local to them, and can share the number with anyone. When a hearing caller wants to connect with them, they dial that number and are automatically connected with the Relay operator, and the deaf recipient automatically receives an Instant Messenger window on their computer or mobile device announcing the incoming call. There’s no need to tell the operator to dial any extra numbers and there are no additional steps; the hearing caller simply just starts talking. If the deaf recipient is away from their computer or does not have instant messenger turned on, the hearing caller can leave a voice message, and the IP Relay operators will type it up and email it to the deaf recipient. Very convenient and very accessible. IP Relay works with MSN Messenger and Yahoo Messenger as well.
The service is free and is funded by Telecommunications Relay Service Surcharges.
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In 2001, there was a commercial on television from a major ISP that was advertising broadband Internet services – I can’t remember exactly which one, but I think it was SBC. In the commercial, a woman is sitting at her window watching a new family move in next door. They have a son who is deaf and the woman sees the mother and son using sign language with each other. She sat down at her computer and looked up web sites with sign language instructional videos, trying to learn a few words so she could say hello to her new neighbors. The next day she baked a pie and took it next door, handing it to the deaf boy and signed, “I baked a pie for you.” Unfortunately, she has a dialup Internet connection, and the sign language videos she watched over the Internet had some lag, so she got her signs wrong. She unknowingly signed “I baked a dog for you” instead. The boy dropped the pie and ran away in terror while she stood there perplexed, wondering what went wrong.
In recent years, more people have moved from dialup to broadband, and Internet speeds have gotten faster and technology has improved to the point where it’s possible to download and view more videos and movies on the Internet without troublesome lagging and slow speeds. This has been a very positive trend for deafies who prefer to communicate in sign language as they can now sign to each other smoothly over the Internet using webcams.
Video Relay Service (VRS) is one example of the many technologies that deaf people have benefitted from in the age of streaming media. A Relay service is an utility that deaf people use to make telephone calls to users that do not have a TTY. How it works:
- An individual that communicates by American Sign Language, or another mode of manual communication, such as Signing Exact English, Pidgin Signed English, Linguistics of Visual English, uses a videophone or other camera-enabled device, such as a webcam to connect via broadband Internet to a Video Relay Service.
- The caller is routed to a sign language interpreter, known as a Video Interpreter (VI). The VI is in front of a camera or videophone.
- The VRS user gives the VI the number to dial, as well as any special dialing instructions.
- The VI places the call and interprets in normal mode as a neutral, non-participating third-party. Anything that the phone user speaks is signed to the video user, and anything signed by the video user is spoken to the phone user.
- Once the call is over, the caller can make another call(s) or hang up with the interpreter.
Telephone users can contact a Deaf, Hard-of-Hearing, or Speech-Disabled person via VRS. To initiate a VRS call the hearing person calls the VRS, and are connected to video interpreters who contact videophone users directly.
(Taken from Wikipedia.)
Here’s a partial list of VRS providers:
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I’ve posted about this before, and I’m going to keep posting about it, especially after reading this article in the New York Times:
In Bessemer, Ala., city employees could not get through to their own 911 system when a colleague had a seizure, at a time when the city and others like it are struggling to upgrade their systems at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Yet even the newest systems cannot adequately handle Internet-based phone services or text messages, which emerged as the most reliable form of communication during Hurricane Katrina.
“Everyone expects 911 to work perfectly 100 percent of the time,” said Patrick Halley, the governmental affairs director for the National Emergency Number Association, whose state-by-state tracking shows that New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are in the forefront of adopting new technology. “And the public doesn’t really care about 911 until they go to use it and expect it to work perfectly and it doesn’t.”
They’re aware of the problems that the current system causes for the deaf:
Experts are laying the groundwork for what they call Next Generation 911, which will better handle Internet-based calls, text messages, cellphone photos and other forms of communication already in common use.
“Deaf people are using text messaging,” Rick Jones, the operations director for the national association, said by way of example. “They can’t talk to 911.”
I hope the new changes come soon – and well before someone desperately needs them.
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Recently I had a job interview where I met with the interviewers in an office in downtown San Francisco. Two of the other interviewers were in Brazil, so they set up a conference call so that the people in Brazil could listen in. They assured me that the conference room would have Internet access, so I planned to bring my laptop so I could connect to IP-Relay via AIM and participate in the conference call this way.
Unfortunately, when I arrived, the internet connection in the conference room didn’t work. However, I never go anywhere without my T-Mobile Sidekick, so I whipped that out, logged onto AIM, and connected with an IP-Relay operator and jumped right into the conference call. It was a little daunting trying to keep up with seven people talking; the typed conversations moved very quickly up the small screen of my Sidekick, so I had to do a lot of scrolling up and down to keep up. My thumbs got pretty tired from all the typing I was doing, but it worked!
Deafies can participate in any conference call by connecting with a Relay operator from various services such as IP-Relay and i711. It works aquedately enough, but most standard Relay operators are not trained to handle conference calls and will often make misspellings and typing errors.
Sprint offers Sprint Relay Conference Captioning services, staffed by professional captioners who have experience captioning for live television broadcasts. Their typing skills are much faster and they can keep up with the rapid-fire back and forth spoken discussion better than a standard Relay operator, and they are less likely to make mistakes in their typing. After the call, users can get a full text transcript if they desire.
