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In the hearing world, it is common practice to search a telephone book or website to find a phone number for a specific service or organization, make a phone call to that organization, and obtain the information sought within a reasonable period of time. People who are Deaf, deafened, or hard of hearing are at a serious disadvantage because organizations either do not provide TTY service or, if they do, it often does not work. The findings of this review show that people who want to make a TTY call have around a one-in-four chance to find a number listed for a TTY. Furthermore, when a TTY is listed, they have less than a 50/50 chance to complete a call successfully. When taking a close look at the TTY interaction data (transcripts), it is apparent that one of the reasons for dissatisfaction was the lack of training of the personnel operating the TTY and a lack of knowledge an organization may have on the available technology. Some operators are unable to break a persistent scramble, while others do not know basic TTY protocol such as the use of GA (“go ahead”) to indicate “go ahead” or SK (“stop keying”) to indicate the close of a conversation. A user should not have to teach the operator on the proper use of the TTY; rather, the organization should have a clear strategy in place, ensuring the TTY line is advertised properly and attended, and offer adequate training to its personnel. The organizations which scored the highest had a holistic client-centric strategy in place, where the operator could provide information for various sectors of his/her organization (e.g. in transportation: information on schedules, lost luggage, boarding, external car rentals, etc.). Based on the findings of this study and on expert advice, there appear to be two main reasons for the current situation: - Lack of adequate procedures and guidelines to ensure that the right of equitable access is met: Among the 149 organizations that listed a telephone number, only 12% had a responsive TTY. This is an unacceptable service level. Despite the fact that many new technologies exist that could facilitate or complement TTY communication, little progress has been made in introducing these new technologies.
- Lack of proper personnel training in the use of TTY devices: Findings indicate that some organizations lack understanding of the TTY technology (e.g. when they advertise a relay service instead of a TTY proper), and that some lines are attended by untrained personnel.
The key issue in the present report is communication between federally regulated organizations and Canadians with specific communications needs and requirements. Although advances in technology such as e-mail and text messaging are helping to break down communication barriers, TTYs are the most widely used devices. Testing TTYs, as was done in this study, is a means of assessing the current level and quality of communication with citizens who cannot use the regular telephone system. This, however, does not imply that TTYs will remain the only or the best way to achieve the goal of effective communications. Perhaps a future study will look into how the Government of Canada and federally regulated organizations use new technology to cater to the needs of this audience group.
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