Home > High Speed Internet > Special Needs > Ddtp

The Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications Program Provides Internet Relay Service in California

Many Americans treat the ability to make a phone call at any time and at any place as an almost inalienable right. Unfortunately, America’s reliance on telecommunications can cause problems for those who have difficulty using a standard phone. In California, the Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications Program, or DDTP, provides access to basic telephone service for Californians who find using their standard telephone equipment challenging or impossible.

DDTP has two components with different, but complimentary roles. The Telephone Access Program provides home assistive telecommunications equipment to those in need. This equipment can be used to call someone in possession of similar devices, or anyone who is willing to go through a relay service.  Any Californian with a standard phone can use the California Relay Service to communicate with people who are deaf, hard of hearing, speech-impaired, or otherwise have difficulty using a standard telephone.

Telephone Relay Services and Your Broadband Internet Connection

DDTP champions several different types of relay services. The most common way to use a relay service is in conjunction with a TTY, which is a small telecommunications device with a keyboard for typing and a screen for reading conversations. A TTY caller initiates a conversation by dialing a relay operator, who will then connect the user to the receiving party and interpret the conversation in accordance with the user’s needs.

The Internet Relay Service is an online version of TTY relay. This service is a Web-based relay which allows a text user to initiate a call by connecting to an online operator on a site similar to a Web-based chat room. The online operator, in turn, dials the phone number of the receiving party. The operator will then read aloud what the text-user types for the recipient, and type out what is said for the text-user to read. The conversation between the text-user and the other party continues on in this way until the call is concluded.

There is also a relay service for webcams or video phones called the Video Relay Service, or VRS, which makes use of a video phone and high speed Internet access. VRS is very popular among people who wish to use sign language to communicate. The calling party initiates a connection on his or her video phone with a Relay Operator / Interpreter who is fluent in sign language. The Video Interpreter will then translate the conversation aloud for the receiving party using the standard telephone, and will translate spoken word into sign language for the initial caller.

Both the Internet Relay Service and Video Relay Service are vastly improved by having a broadband Internet connection, and in the case of VRS, high speed Internet is absolutely necessary to receive the full functionality of the service.

For those who have had trouble with standard phones in the past, a broadband Internet connection coupled with DDTP’s Internet and video relay services are the only way to go.