Sense are calling for new-style telephone relay services that will enable deaf and deafblind people to use the phone more effectively.
Sense are working as part of the Telecommunications Action Group, a consortium of deaf organisations.
Ask your MP to sign the Early Day Motion 1915 on modernising telephone services for deaf, deafblind and hard-of-hearing people. Find out more about the EDM.
Visit the Write to them website to find out who your local MP is.
Has your MP signed the motion already?
Visit the EDM website and look at the list of signatures for EDM 1915.
Current state of services for deaf and deafblind people
Captioned telephony
Captioned telephony was available in the UK from 2002-2007 on a very limited basis. It offers almost simultaneous text transcription of the voice channel so that people with hearing loss can follow the conversation on their PCs or telephone displays with minimal delay. Captel, the only captioned relay service in the UK, was closed in December 2007 for funding reasons.
Video relay
Video relay enables sign language users to communicate with anyone on the telephone through a sign language interpreter. The sign language user and interpreter interact via PCs and webcams or videophones. Two services currently operate in the UK: Significant’s SignVideo service and a fledgling service in Scotland. In 2007, video relay services run by RNID and the BDA closed because of a lack of funding.
Text relay
A form of text relay has existed in the UK since the 1980s and as a national service since 1991, but a strict legal regime has inhibited its development. Specifically, the current Text Relay service (formerly called RNID Typetalk) is only directly accessible via traditional analogue phone lines. Text Relay enables deaf people with keyboards and screens to communicate via an operator who speaks or types parts of conversations as required. In its current format, the relay process can be quite slow and can inhibit conversations. Nonetheless it is a hugely valuable service. TAG wants to see developments in text relay which, for example, speed up the communication and allows direct mobile and Internet access.
