Ofcom has final supported, what deaf have been telling the RNID for the past 8 years, in that the 'Typetalk' text-relay system is no use to deaf people, and doesn't work for them. The RNID's flagship BT collaboration system is now in tatters, so how long will BT continue to fund this Turkey of a system ? Even at this time, the RNID is continuing to put funds into this system, for whom ?
When the mobile telephone came in it was doomed. It is debatable viz-phones are deaf viable either, since there is no centralized system to make it nationally effective, and deaf in Britain have not taken up the vizi-phone options, if they DID who would have one they could call but themselves ? As an 'Access' to the system not on is it ?
In black and white, Ofcom says it how it is, and since the RNID has never listened to the deaf, perhaps it will now listen to the official and legal British regulator of the telephonic systems. Why is the RNID, STILL pushing this as a viable 'deaf' system, when clearly deaf do NOT use it, the amount of calls made by the Typtalk system did not amount to more than a few calls by 11,000 Hard of Hearing people.
Another conundrum (From the RNID's own official site) was this comment:
Typetalk tells me that on average they handle 35000 calls per week. So by my limited mathematical ability, that means/suggests that 504000 divided by 35000 (RNID stated membership), equals approx 14 minutes spent on each call. Now given that typetalk calls take longer than voice calls lets guess that the typing takes up at a conservative estimate 3 minutes, so then it seems that typetalk callers only spend 10 minutes on a call.
The key statistic being the RNID claiming 3 times as many calls are taking place, than the official regulator has noted. This figure is also exactly the same number as the members they have ! This would suggest the RNID is 'bigging up' the Type talk system to justify its loss and obsolescence....
Text calls on mobiles by deaf were in millions ! That the general public never accepted or knew about Typetalk, and the RNID making users do the hard work of making them aware at their own expense, while they took the credit. Was funding given to the RNID for the deaf, used to produce a telephonic system for hard of hearing, who are the only people using it ? Because HoH would never have got that funding ? When will the RNID stop exploiting deaf people to make access gains of others ? Will BT now abandon it ?
Quote:
There are around 850,000 severely and profoundly deaf people in the UK. For them, making a normal phone call is either difficult or impossible. Of course, there are other ways of communicating and many deaf people are heavy users of email, texting and instant messaging. But although this puts them on equal terms with hearing-people, none of these options is quite the same as a phone call.
After all, a call is about natural and flowing conversation with all the emotions and subtleties of the human voice. That isn’t the job of an email or text, and the time lag between sending and receiving makes this kind of ‘conversation’ painfully slow.
However, there is a service created especially for deaf people. It’s a basic text relay service which is funded by BT and operated by the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID). It’s available throughout the UK, 24/7, for the price of a normal phone call.
Although deaf people told us they value the text relay service, it only has 11,000 regular users and the figure is decreasing. People in our discussion group told us that the service:
•is slow, providing a typical conversation speed of just 30 words per minute. This means they can’t get much work done, and even simple social calls are a frustrating experience;
•doesn’t allow natural, fluid conversation;
•often suffers interruptions as relay operators change shifts or take emergency calls;
•doesn’t work well for inbound calls. Hearing-callers often don’t know they need to dial a prefix to trigger connection to the relay centre;
•won’t work with the automatic systems used in many call centres;
•suffers from high hang-up rates by hearing-people who receive basic text relay calls; and
•can suffer from mistakes when the conversation includes professional jargon or detailed information. This can be a real problem in many jobs, and when ordinary customers are dealing with businesses.
3 comments:
Typetalk? I think I've used it twice in my life - an Everest of hassle.
I do wish that charity would pack up and go away so that we can get on with attaining full equal rights.
I'm fed up with being tossed crumbs so that RNID can snaffle in the trough.
Text relaying is so slow and good for emergencies or short conversations. I wonder why video relay isn't being emphasized? You get communication points done so fast with video relay.
Perhaps video phone hasn't been introduced as it would have limited use, sign language user to sign language user via videophones would be the only time this method would actually work. Also the quality of the video via a telephone line or even internet connection is generally pooor.
What if you needed to phone a company such as a bank or even a plumber or some service similar? Maybe every single person in the country should learn basic sign language just in case they ever recieve this type of phone call? It's a nice idea and would be of good use but lets be realistic here, it isn't going to happen.
What about Speech Impaired users like myself, or old aged people who have lost their hearing with age, who will not know sign language and find Text Relay/Typetalk an absolute life line? After all the service is targeted at these customers also.
I do agree though, that the calls can take slightly longer, but that is the reason why we receive a 60% discount on all text calls via the prefixed number.
If people don't like Typetalk, then fine, dont use it. However, there are tens of thousands of customers who use it, some of whom's career depend on it, or is a lifeline to the outside world.
People need to realise that this "IS" the only way for many disabled people to access the telephone in as normal manner as possible. I have worked in USA, Canada and Australia over the past 2 years and they all use exactly the same technology as we do here in the UK. Believe me when I tell you, our relay is by far the most efficent and professional service out of the lot of them. Some even only open on a 9am to 5pm basis and close on public holidays!!!
I challenge anyone who complains, to actually come up with something constructive on how they could possibly improve on the service? Do not say videophone or text messages as, quite simply, that is not always viable.
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