ADA Best Practices Tool Kit for State and Local Governments

b. Telephone Communications

Public entities that use telephones must provide equally effective communication to individuals with disabilities. There are two common ways that people who are deaf or hard of hearing and those with speech impairments use telecommunication. One way is through the use of teletypewriters (TTYs) or computer equipment with TTY capability to place telephone calls. A TTY is a device on which you can type and receive text messages. For a TTY to be used, both parties to the conversation must have a TTY or a computer with TTY capability. If TTYs are provided for employees who handle incoming calls, be sure that these employees are trained and receive periodic refreshers on how to communicate using this equipment.

A second way is by utilizing telephone relay services or video relay services. Telephone relay services involve a relay operator who uses both a standard telephone and a TTY to type the voice messages to the TTY user and read the TTY messages to the standard telephone user. Video relay services involve a relay operator who uses both a standard telephone and a computer video terminal to communicate voice messages in sign language to the computer video terminal user and to voice the sign language messages to the standard telephone user.

Public employees must be instructed to accept and handle relayed calls in the normal course of business. Untrained individuals frequently mistake relay calls for telemarketing or collect calls and refuse to accept them. They also may mistakenly assume that deaf people must come into a government office to handle a matter in person even though other people are allowed to handle the same matter over the telephone.