Miss-Delectable
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Council Improves Services For The Deaf (from Yeovil Express)
PEOPLE who are deaf and hard of hearing should be able to get a better service from staff at South Somerset District Council.
The council employees have recently learnt how to use the RNID Typetalk service which enables people with communication difficulties to use the telephone with the help of an assistant who relays the conversation between the two parties.
The council was keen to take up the offer of free training offered by Typetalk recently and so far a total of 25 employees from its customer services team have received guidance on how to use the service.
The council's customer services team leader, Martine Cullimore, said: "Over the past few years, we've received a number of calls through Typetalk and many of our staff felt that we needed to understand a bit more about how the service works so that we could provide an even better service to all of our callers.
"Everyone left the sessions feeling positive and now I think we're all just a bit more confident in general disability awareness as well as handling calls from people with hearing difficulties."
The council's head of customer services, Jason Toogood, added: "We learnt how to communicate with Typetalk users by talking to the assistant as if we were talking directly to the customer - it just makes it easier for the conversation to flow and therefore it is easier for the customer to find out the information he or she needed."
Typetalk's regional outreach co-ordinator for the South west, Mark Cunliffe, outlined issues affecting deaf people during an awareness training session. He also explained how customer-facing staff could make and receive calls using the service.
He said: "An estimated one in seven callers could potentially have hearing difficulties, emphasising the importance of the Typetalk service. I would urge other businesses and organisations to follow South Somerset District Council's lead and take advantage of the training."
PEOPLE who are deaf and hard of hearing should be able to get a better service from staff at South Somerset District Council.
The council employees have recently learnt how to use the RNID Typetalk service which enables people with communication difficulties to use the telephone with the help of an assistant who relays the conversation between the two parties.
The council was keen to take up the offer of free training offered by Typetalk recently and so far a total of 25 employees from its customer services team have received guidance on how to use the service.
The council's customer services team leader, Martine Cullimore, said: "Over the past few years, we've received a number of calls through Typetalk and many of our staff felt that we needed to understand a bit more about how the service works so that we could provide an even better service to all of our callers.
"Everyone left the sessions feeling positive and now I think we're all just a bit more confident in general disability awareness as well as handling calls from people with hearing difficulties."
The council's head of customer services, Jason Toogood, added: "We learnt how to communicate with Typetalk users by talking to the assistant as if we were talking directly to the customer - it just makes it easier for the conversation to flow and therefore it is easier for the customer to find out the information he or she needed."
Typetalk's regional outreach co-ordinator for the South west, Mark Cunliffe, outlined issues affecting deaf people during an awareness training session. He also explained how customer-facing staff could make and receive calls using the service.
He said: "An estimated one in seven callers could potentially have hearing difficulties, emphasising the importance of the Typetalk service. I would urge other businesses and organisations to follow South Somerset District Council's lead and take advantage of the training."