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The need for TDD/telephone relay service has been proven in eight states across the country. Now hundreds of thousands of calls are made sach day by deaf, hearing impaired and speech impaired people who previously had to wait and depend on a hearing friend or relative (or sometimes a stranger) to make their business and personal phone calls for them. This Includes numerous people who were denied jobs on the age-old pretext that "you might have to make a phone call in the course of your job so a deaf person could not handle this position." Millions of people have been denied the right to live their own lives independently because major telephone corporations have not taken the extra steps to provide simple phone service to that segment of the population until relay legislation is passed in their state. The technology necessary to provide relay service has existed for at least a decade.

A TDD/telephone relay service provides a vital link between people, hearing and deaf, who could not otherwise communicate over the telephone. A deaf, hearing impaired or speech Impaired caller who uses a TDD (Telecommunication Device for the Deaf) calls into the service and types to & Relay Operator over the operator's computer terminal. (In Minnesota, an IBM PS2 Model 50-Z is used with an Ultratech Intelemodem as a large screen TDD and for intrastate long distance Information. No record of a caller's conversation is kept on paper or disk to insure confidentiality.) The operator calls the voice user on a separate phone line. When both parties are on line, the operator reads the deaf caller's words aloud to the hearing person and types the hearing caller's words to the deaf person. The Relay Operator is only responsible to pass the conversation from one person to the other and acts as a "human telephone wire”. Like a telephone they do not censor, edit, correct, protect, advise, counsel or otherwise interfere with the business of the call. All calls and information ara kept completely confidential. Often the operator needs to translate the grammar of American Sign Language to spoken English and back again. This requires a knowledge not only of ASL grammar but also of the culture of Deaf people and the Deaf Community.

These services are more than just telephones and computer terminals. A relay service is comprised of both telecommuncations equipment and human beings. Neither functions without the other. Certainly it is important to have the best up to date equipment, but that's not enough. It's not only phone lines and fiber optics, it's about ethics, responsibility and cultural understanding. Just passing words is not sufficient. A Relay Operator must facilitate communication. That is a task which requires human intervention. Some Deaf callers type standard English, some type ASL grammar. Some callers feel they should try to use English, even if their English skills are not strong. Occasionally a celler has had no formal training in ASL or English and Invents their own grammatical structure. Here are some examples of relay conversations:

"Avoid of me to pick on you for smoking?" (Have you been avoiding me because I picked on you for smoking?)

"Touch finish New York you ?" (Have you returned from visiting New York?)

"I ask you question must my something mean prove or not have only interview?" (Do I need written proof, resume, references, or just an interview?)

"Thats well I very hope wait for open job that you will be much hard work doing that well I am good record that show it that too patience." (I hope you have a job opening. I will wait for it. I work hard and have a good record and I have patience.)

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"Time yesterday I called you but was not there I message someone but I waited for no answer on the phone but now I just calling you that is why." (I called yesterday but you were not in so I left a message with someone. Nobody returned my call so I'm calling now.)

A Deaf Caller wants to phone the auto body shop where his car is being painted. The manager says to the deaf caller (through the Relay Operator) "We are behind schedule so your car isn't ready. Things have been hectic here." Then the manager uses a common English Idiom hearing people use all the time. "We'll have all the pieces together by Friday." The Deaf caller, typing in ASL grammar, is unfamiliar with this common spoken English expression. He explodes, typing furiously on his TDD "Why pieces? Why you take apart my car? You must paint it only!" The Operator needs to translate the idiom and type in "Friday all finish ready".

A Deaf caller gives the operator a number to dial to call a friend. The Relay Operator dials and gets a phone company recording saying that number is temporarily disconnected. When informed that the number is disconnected, the Deaf caller types "Check the other phone in the living room. Maybe that's still plugged in." Hearing people are familiar with these recordings. We have heard them all our lives. A Deaf caller will not be that familiar with the Ins and outs of the phone system.

After five o'clock a Deaf caller wants to phone their doctor. The office is closed and the answering service answers, saying "Dr. Smith's office". The Deaf caller is not familiar with answering services and begins to ask medical questions, assuming the live person at the doctor's office must be a doctor or nurse.

These are typical examples of relay conversations. The callers are not using bad English. They are not ignorent people. They are using their own language, ASL, and encountering aspects of telephone use with which they are unfamiliar, aspects and events we take for granted. At the Minnesota Relay Service, operators are trained by a number of deaf consumers and interpreting experts in Deaf Culture, Language and ethics.

The "common carriers” and interstate phone companies mentioned in the bill are phone companies which have the technological capabilities but may not have the humanistic capabilities and cross-cultural understanding nacassary to provide quality relay service. It is a natural assumption to see "TDD/Telephone Relay Service" and think that a telephone company is the right choice. But the telephone/telecommunications aspect comprises perhaps 30% of the components of a relay service. It is far easier and more cost effective to put the 30% telecommunications aspect where the 70% Deaf Culture and Language expertise already reside.

At AT&T's California Relay Service (CRS), already operating for several years, an advisory commitee with a majority of deaf and hearing impaired consumers is currently "in the works" to provide the CRS with input and feedback from the community it serves. In Minnesota, the state board which contracts for the Minnesota Relay Service (MRS) as well as the Board of Directors of D.E.A.F. Inc. both have a majority of Deaf and hearing impaired members. The other Services in this country which are run by non-profit agencies are similarly Deaf controlled. We do not need to set up a separate committee for feedback from the Deaf Community because we are the community. The people who control these services also use it every day. To leave the daily decisions and policy Implementation of a TDD/telephone relay service in the hands of a hearing-controlled corporation is as absurd as running the National Organization for Women with an all-male board of directors.

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Within the first three sentences of It's testimony for this hearing, AT&T demonstrates it's "sensitivity" to Deaf people and Deof culture by invoking the name of Alexander Graham Bell. It is true that Bell Invented the telephone while trying to design a hearing amplification device for the Deaf, largely because his wife and mother were deaf. Bell also considered Deaf people to be aberrations of nature and felt they looked "freakish" if they used sign language. He forbade his wife to sign and supported such educational measures as tying deaf schoolchildren's hands so they could not use their own language. He attempted to pass legislation which would prohibit two deaf people from marrying because they might produce deaf children. Bell's name is considered a curse word in much of the Deaf Community. Do they feel this person is an appropriate representation of their commitment to persons with disabilities?

AT&T's California Relay Service claims to process 250.000 calls per month. In an article in the August edition of Silent News, Bill White reports this figure includes those Incoming calls put on hold that give a recording informing the caller that all operators are busy. please wait, etc. These are counted as calls handled even though a percentage of these callers hang up and never reach a Relay Operator. At the same time, because the call has been picked up by the phone system, it generates cost on the incoming WATS line. The cost of this time on the Incoming WATS lines is paid for by the CRS from the revenues generated by the legislated surcharge. The money is paid to the company which provides the WATS lines. AT&T provides those lines. If the service is insufficiently staffed or operator speed and quality of service is low, callers must wait before they get through to a Relay Operator. This is the equivalent of you or I picking up our phone receiver and staring at it for ten minutes before we dial the number However, Income is generated for the company whenever callers are put on hold for these very reasons.

Mr. White also reports that many of the California Relay Service's problems were anticipated by user groups during the planning stages, but deaf consumer representatives were shut out of key meetings. CRS is currently being sued by the California Deaf Community through an organization named Greater Los Angeles Dear.

I would like to clearly state that I do not question the motivation, dedication or personal commitment of Individuals such as Merril Tutton or any of the AT&T Relay managers across the country. In our testimonies we have agreed on a number of important points. I merely wish to point out that a large, hearing-controlled telecommunications corporation is not necessarily the best provider of relay service. These services work best when they are created and controlled by and constantly accept Input and feedback from the consumers they were designed to serve.

I also wish to express my alarm that the Federal Communication Commission is using the AT&T Californie Relay Service as it's sole model for the development of policies, procedures, guidelines and regulations to cover all relay services across the country. The FCC has no Intention, as of our last contact, to actively seek input from deaf and hearing impaired consumers, interpreters, linguists or persons with experience in relaying. This is somewhat akin to writing a medical manual on a surgical technique without seeking the input of qualified medical experts or even an experienced surgeon who has actually cut into a patient.

One of the worst problems facing any relay service is the lack of legal or bureaucratic precedent. As relay services are so unique and different from anything that has been done before, there are no existing laws, rules, regulations or bureaucratic systems designed to fit our unusual purpose and policies. Many problems arise as a direct result of people trying to cram the Relay Service into preexisting categories that don't apply to us.

We are not an answering service, we are not a long distance service and we are not an Information service. We are a unique system comprised of humans and machines designed to facilitate communication between two people who could not otherwise communicate over standard telephone lines. Our "Invisibility" while accomplishing this must be acknowledged by those persons in positions of authority over the services. They need to be made aware that precedents have to be set to fit the Service, Instead of the Services and the Community we are here to serve being hindered and frustrated by inadequate and Inappropriate laws and regulations. It is imperative that regulations be established to insure the deaf and hearing Impaired community's needs and rights are respected.

The bill touches on this briefly by prohibiting Relay Operators from disclosing the content of relayed calls. This is vitally important but the measure is insufficient. The confidentiality of relayed conversations must be protected as privileged information, the same as doctor-patient or lawyer-client conversations are protected. For any police officer to be able to walk into a relay service and insist on getting information regarding a call is akin to obtaining evidence through an illegal wiretap. (Not to mention that it would rely on the memory of an operator who takes 30 to 40 calls in a six-hour shift and may have relayed the call in question weeks or months before.)

Other problems have stemmed from relay services being treated as long distance carriers or recently (with Bell Atlantic) as an information service because of the necessary translation between English and ASL.

Much of the language of the ADA deals with setting up separate intrastate and interstate relay service. Even a single nationwide system has been suggested. This is unnecessary and potentialy wasteful. Currently all the services run by non-profit agencies are providing both ntra and Interstate service. (Using third-party billing for out-of-state calls.) Callers in states with AT&T services cannot call out of their own state. The technology exists which would allow a caller at point (A) to call through a relay service at point (B) to the destination at point (C) and only be charged for a direct-dial call from (A) to (C).

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We are currently using this system in Minnesota for in-state toll calls (intrastate long distance). If Interstate carriers (AT&T, MCI, Sprint, etc.) would implement this system to function whenever the Relay Operator dialed in a code after accessing the long distance company's lines, this could be done for interstate calls anywhere in the country, or anywhere in the world. However, no long distance carrier has bothered to do so as the only people with an application for this function are people calling through a relay service.

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1989 must be passed. The millions of deaf and hearing impaired people in this country have waited long enough for access to the communication equipment that hearing people have enjoyed all their lives.

I strongly believe that the concept of consumer empowerment is integral to the spirit of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Deaf Americans and disabled Americans are not asking for "parents" or pity, they are only saying that everyone deserves an equal chance. Clearly Equal Access is every person's civil right, but until consumer controlled TDD/telephone relay services are available nationwide, the phrase Equal Access is just empty rhetoric.

AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT

HEARING

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON

TRANSPORTATION AND HAZARDOUS MATERIALS

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON

ENERGY AND COMMERCE
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

ONE HUNDRED FIRST CONGRESS

FIRST SESSION

ON

H.R. 2273 and S. 933

BILLS TO ESTABLISH A CLEAR AND COMPREHENSIVE PROHIBITION OF DISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF DISABILITY

SEPTEMBER 28, 1989

Serial No. 101-95

Printed for the use of the Committee on Energy and Commerce

25-632

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

WASHINGTON: 1990

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Congressional Sales Office
U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402

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