Deaf telephone relay services that can change lives
Text Relay
Text relay has existed in the UK since the 1980s and as a national service: RNID Typetalk 1991-2009 and as BT Text Relay 2009-present. A strict legal regime has inhibited its development. Specifically, Text Relay is only directly accessible via traditional analogue phone lines.
Text relay enables deaf people with keyboards and screens to communicate via an operator who speaks or types parts of conversations as required. In its current format, the relay process can be quite slow and can inhibit conversations. Nonetheless it is a hugely valuable service. TAG wants to see developments in text relay which, for example, speed up the communication and allow direct mobile and internet access.
For more information, see
Text Relay, the UK's voice to text relay service.
Captioned telephony
Captioned telephony was available in the UK from 2002-2007 on a very limited basis. It offers almost simultaneous text transcription of the voice channel so that people with hearing loss can follow the conversation on their PCs or telephone displays with minimal delay. Captel, the only captioned relay service in the UK, was closed in December 2007 for funding reasons.
For a video explanation of one form of captioned relay see
Captel in action.
Video Relay
Video relay enables sign language users to communicate on the telephone through a sign language interpreter. The sign language user and interpreter interact via PCs and webcams or videophones. Three services currently operate in the UK: Significan’t’s SignVideo service, SOS in Glasgow, and SignTranslate in Buckinghamshire. In 2007, video relay services run by RNID and the BDA closed.
Useful links:
Sign On Screen (Deaf Connections in Scotland online video interpreting service)
Sign-Now (video relay and video conferencing, based in Scotland)