Four TTY phones are located on campus: Safety and Security (in the Athletic Center), the first floor of the Campus Center, the first tier of Magill Library, and the Dining Center foyer.

(This following is a reprint of an article from Clarke Mainstream News, the newsletter of the Mainstream Center at Clarke-School for the Deaf/Center for Oral Education, V. 17, #8, May/June 1998. In Pennsylvania the State Relay Service number is 800-855-1155. The Federal Information Relay Service is 800-877-8339.)

An Introduction to State Telephone Relay Services

Communicating by telephone is an integral part of growing up in America. From the time children figure out how to say "Hi" to Grandpa, through those nights when teenagers are up until 3:00 a.m. talking with a good friend, telephones are part of their life. For the young person with hearing loss, this used to be one situation from which she was completely disconnected.

With the advent of TDD's, or Telecommunication Devices for the Deaf, telephone use was finally accessible to those with hearing loss. But even then, it was only possible for the person with a TDD to communicate with others who had TDD's. Calling a hearing friend was still not possible, because most hearing households didn't have -- and still do not have -- the necessary TDD equipment. But today, there is a service that allows full communication access for people with hearing loss. With the advent of Telephone Relay Service in every state, people with a TDD can now communicate with anyone else who has a telephone. As part of the Telecommunications Act of 1992, every state was required to implement a telephone relay service by 1995. Today, every state has such a service. Anyone in Pennsylvania can use the State Relay Service by calling 1-800-855-1155. What is the Relay Service? It is a service provided by a telephone company with specially trained operators, or Communication Assistants (CA's), who assist with calls between people who have TDD's and people who do not. For example, Susan, who is deaf wants to call her friend John, who is hearing, to make plans to meet at the mall. John does not have a TDD, so Susan can use the Relay Service. If John later needs to call Susan back to change the time of their meeting, he too could use the Relay Service.

There are certain protocols when using a State Relay Service. For example, the Communication Assistant must relay (by voice or by TDD) the exact words that are being communicated between both callers. One of the problems in this process is that a hearing caller often uses such phrases as "tell him" or "ask her". In effect, this caller is talking to the CA rather than the other caller. This is inappropriate. The callers should talk or type as if the CA were not there. For example, it would be more appropriate for John to say, "Susan, we need to meet at the mall a little later," rather than, "Tell Susan I need to meet her at the mall a little later."

There may be variability in the skill and experience levels of either the CA or the caller. Sometimes a CA may not be clear when explaining how the relay works to an inexperienced caller. If this leads to confusion and misunderstanding, a caller might feel frustrated and reluctant to use the service in the future. To promote the use of the relay service for communication among students with and without hearing loss, it would be helpful to have the State Relay Service provide a training session for a class or a whole school. These sessions are usually free of charge and take 90 minutes or less.

Social inclusion is one of the most important concerns of students with hearing loss who are in regular schools. If using the telephone is an integral part of the social life of today's kids, then we need to ensure that the student with hearing loss has access to this kind of communication. Everyone with a reason to talk to this student by telephone needs to know about using the State Relay Service.