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Thanatosian -> RE: Human Connection (7/8/2004 4:56:40 AM)
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this topic touches on where I work - I am a relay operator - I relay telephone conversations between those who may have hearing and/or speech loss and those who can hear and speak
there are days when I (and all my co workers) want to scream in frustration - businesses that we call are rude, obnoxious, and/or uncaring - or they think it is a telemarketing call and just hang up - and not just, say, pizza joints or department stores, but also doctors offices, hospitals, and believe it or not audiologist offices.
I was fortunate in that before I started this job, I had been on the receiving end of relay calls at my former job with Domino's Pizza - and yes the first time was a bit confusing, but then I made sure that everyone who worked in the store knew that this type of call could come in and how to handle it - which, unfortunately, it does not seem many people in businesses do.
And, as dixiedumpling pointed out, there are few who know sign language, so even going to these businesses in person is not much of an improvement, since they are unlikely to have someone on staff who knows ASL (American Sign Language - sort of the standard here in the states)
guess my point is that the Deaf are, in fact, pretty much cut off from the rest of society - even though great strides have been made to change that fact - from closed captioning (not really accurate - they dont usually type word for word the dialogue) to relay service (we are required to type verbatim) to text messaging pagers, etc.
enough ranting for one day
Apply usual caveats here
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