Need help from TTY-TDD phone user

[Ber Rabbit]

Today I found out the hearing impaired employees at my job believe the TTY-TDD number they are supposed to call when they are sick is broken. They have evidently been complaining about this to the union and management for months (since the new system was installed). This is the experience I had today (I will describe it as best I can since I'm not familiar with this technology) and the problem I need help solving.

One of my friends took me to the TTY payphone and called the number, a TTY operator asked if she would like him to redial the number. He told her yes. She redials the number and tells him a TTY phone picked up the line. I see something like "Please wait for the next available representative" come up on the screen and I know he's on hold. He looks at me and says "broke" we write notes back and forth (very slow and evidently unreliable form of communication) for a couple of minutes discussing the problem. He didn't seem to understand the concept of being put on hold. I look down and someone has answered the TTY and is waiting for him to input information, he seemed surprised by that.

Anyway my question is how common is it for a TTY-TDD call to be put on hold? The TTY phone used to be answered by the supervisor but that phone number is no longer in use since a new call-in-sick system was put in for both voice and TTY. The new system covers a fairly large geographical area and it can be hard to get through using the voice phone number as well. Is it possible that our employer simply needs to do a better job of communicating the procedure to the hearing impaired employees? My friend doesn't seem to understand the purpose of the new number or what information he needs to give in order to use it. I told him I could meet with him tomorrow when we have time to sit down and write out the instructions for using the system.

I talked to the union rep about my theory and she said "I don't even know how one of those things works I just know they keep complaining about it being broken." Any enlightenment you can give me would be greatly appreciated so I can help solve this issue.

Thanks for your help!
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[mels_2]

Today I found out the hearing impaired employees at my job believe the TTY-TDD number they are supposed to call when they are sick is broken. They have evidently been complaining about this to the union and management for months (since the new system was installed). This is the experience I had today (I will describe it as best I can since I'm not familiar with this technology) and the problem I need help solving.

One of my friends took me to the TTY payphone and called the number, a TTY operator asked if she would like him to redial the number. He told her yes. She redials the number and tells him a TTY phone picked up the line. I see something like "Please wait for the next available representative" come up on the screen and I know he's on hold. He looks at me and says "broke" we write notes back and forth (very slow and evidently unreliable form of communication) for a couple of minutes discussing the problem. He didn't seem to understand the concept of being put on hold. I look down and someone has answered the TTY and is waiting for him to input information, he seemed surprised by that.

Anyway my question is how common is it for a TTY-TDD call to be put on hold? The TTY phone used to be answered by the supervisor but that phone number is no longer in use since a new call-in-sick system was put in for both voice and TTY. The new system covers a fairly large geographical area and it can be hard to get through using the voice phone number as well. Is it possible that our employer simply needs to do a better job of communicating the procedure to the hearing impaired employees? My friend doesn't seem to understand the purpose of the new number or what information he needs to give in order to use it. I told him I could meet with him tomorrow when we have time to sit down and write out the instructions for using the system.

I talked to the union rep about my theory and she said "I don't even know how one of those things works I just know they keep complaining about it being broken." Any enlightenment you can give me would be greatly appreciated so I can help solve this issue.

Thanks for your help!
Ber :lilbunny:

i'm not sure how common it is to be put on hold on a tdd system but in my experience when I have asked people (or typed) and asked someone to wait they havent had any issue with it. there is a relay service maybe if you call into them and ask to speak with a supervisor they can give you a hint or depending on the area you live in there may be a society for the hairing impaired. I know in my area there are a few schools for the deaf and they have always been helpful with answering questions on how to make things easier for our hairing impaired customers. It may simply need to change the wording on the answering service to something that they can understand.

 

[Ber Rabbit]

i'm not sure how common it is to be put on hold on a tdd system but in my experience when I have asked people (or typed) and asked someone to wait they havent had any issue with it. there is a relay service maybe if you call into them and ask to speak with a supervisor they can give you a hint or depending on the area you live in there may be a society for the hairing impaired. I know in my area there are a few schools for the deaf and they have always been helpful with answering questions on how to make things easier for our hairing impaired customers. It may simply need to change the wording on the answering service to something that they can understand.

From what I saw we hit the relay service and they re-dialed the number. The relay operator told us a TTY phone had picked up then she let us go. The voice system is automated and it's a PITA to use so I can only imagine what kind of mess they have with a TDD system. I don't even know where the system is located, they moved all of our sick calls to something called "Shared Services" and it serves a large population of employees. This is the system that I would have to find and contact to get any change made in the wording of the answering service. It's going to be much easier to figure out how the thing works and get the employees trained to use it. Unfortunately everyone seems more interested in pointing fingers and telling everyone else they should get it fixed (I don't think it's broken, it's just a training issue). I'm not a finger pointer; I've found it's much easier to solve problems myself than to try to get someone else to do it. Thanks for the info, any information helps
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[yukoneer]

still having problems? i am deaf myself, and could give some pointers to improve the communication needs of both sides...

if the problem's solved, then nevermind..

 

[ScubaJW]

there is another method of communication for the deaf... Use AIM, and add the buddy's name, "MYIPRELAY". It's easier to use computer than using the tdd/tty in my opinion.

To your post, Ber Rabbit, it is normal to be put on hold because they are really busy and sometimes I have to wait like 3 minutes or so. Sometimes it will disconnected.

and...yes I am deaf.

 

[yukoneer]

Yes, using AIM or another method of instant messaging program may alleviate the problem, however we dont know his company's policy of having a such program since most companies prohibit those... we're beating a dead horse now, because he hasn't mentioned anything if the problem has been resolved or not...

 

[Ber Rabbit]

He's a she
For some reason the replies never showed up as active in my usercp so I didn't know they were here.

There is a monthly hearing impaired meeting here where an interpreter is brought in and I attended that last week to get more information from the people who use the system. The interpreter said around this area it is rare for the hearing impaired to end up on hold. I was able to get some specific instances of problems from the employees and that was helpful, we have employee id numbers you have to use when calling in and one employee said the system wouldn't accept hers. It's possible there was a computer upgrade going on when she called and that would explain the problem. I was told that our company is working with some deaf employees to make the system more user friendly and they are asking people to be patient. Our employees are so frustrated they are ready to just come in sick to sign the paperwork and go home.

I don't know if an AIM would work due to the sheer size of the company. The person answering the TDD/TTY calls is not dedicated to that, it's an auxiliary duty. I'm not even sure of the physical location of the center, it may be out of state.

I'll have to find out if our employees are familiar with AIM. I doubt our company allows such things, don't know for sure though.

Any kind of insight into the deaf communication world is helpful to me and I thank you for your comments
Ber :lilbunny: