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http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050518/NEWS01/105180023/-1/news01
NASHUA – A list of shorthand used by deaf people to communicate in writing with the hearing sits near many computers at City Hall now, from GA for “go ahead” to TY for “thank you.”
Thanks to a newly adopted Internet-based technology, people who are deaf or hard of hearing can communicate with City Hall to get a pothole filled, learn about zoning requirements, or ask a question of the Nashua Public Library’s reference desk.
The city on Tuesday rolled out the service through a technology that converts the desktop computer into a different kind of communication device.
“I’d hope the deaf would feel more comfortable with city government. They’d get an instant response,” said Mayor Bernie Streeter.
The new technology, called Textnet, is a program for Windows-based PCs. A deaf person makes a toll-free call and Internet technology turns the phone call into an instant message that pops up on a City Hall computer. The caller uses either a computer or the keyboard on a text telephone to communicate.
“The laws are fairly clear. These folks deserve the same access as voice callers,” said Don Zizzi, president of Equivalent Communications.
The city government is partnering with the Nashua-based company to bring the technology to the region.
Nashua is the first New England municipality to adopt the technology. The state of Maine is in the process of ordering the system, according to Zizzi.
“I am excited about it. We are the first,” Streeter said.
The program is a product of the Nashua-based company, HITEC Group International of Illinois, and NXi Communications of Utah.
Equal accessibility hasn’t always been the case.
Public agencies are supposed to have devices available to handle calls from people who are deaf. But a count of text telephone, or TTY, machines in city government uncovered only one at the school department and one at the Nashua Public Library.
Nashua resident Karin Harvey-Olson, 31, knows the frustration of the cumbersome TTY devices because she works with people who are deaf.
“Using TTY is a pain because you are going through a third party. It makes everything longer. People don’t know how to use them,” said Harvey-Olson, who has taught sign language for 11 years.
The trouble can be as simple as trying to order a pizza and the pizza shop thinks the call is from a telemarketer and hangs up, she said.
With this technology, the caller and a city employee can have an immediate discussion. And unlike popular instant message programs, this communication is encrypted to keep it confidential, Zizzi said.
“If you sent an e-mail, you can use the system,” he said.
The technology is making inroads slowly.
The Illinois and Wisconsin state governments have adopted it, along with public schools in Chicago and Milwaukee.
Six areas of city government here will have access to the system, from the Public Works Division to the Motor Vehicles Department and the Division of Public Health and Community Services.
The spread of high-speed Internet connections has been a boon for the deaf community.
Programs like Textnet and web cams are doing away with the difficulties of the old TTY technology.
Eric Eliason, an employment specialist at Northeast Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services, said that process is too time-consuming. “That is pretty much dying,” he said.
However, text-based technology presents some difficulties for people who are deaf.
Susan Wolf-Downes, executive director of Northeast Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services, said a lot of deaf people know American Sign Language as their first language and English as their second, so typing can be a problematic way to communicate.
Wolf-Downes said there are other technologies that allow people who are deaf to communicate in ASL, such as using a high-speed Internet connection with a sign language interpreter who would communicate with a hearing person.
Textnet is a subscription service, and the city is paying $250 a month but will not have to buy any equipment.
NASHUA – A list of shorthand used by deaf people to communicate in writing with the hearing sits near many computers at City Hall now, from GA for “go ahead” to TY for “thank you.”
Thanks to a newly adopted Internet-based technology, people who are deaf or hard of hearing can communicate with City Hall to get a pothole filled, learn about zoning requirements, or ask a question of the Nashua Public Library’s reference desk.
The city on Tuesday rolled out the service through a technology that converts the desktop computer into a different kind of communication device.
“I’d hope the deaf would feel more comfortable with city government. They’d get an instant response,” said Mayor Bernie Streeter.
The new technology, called Textnet, is a program for Windows-based PCs. A deaf person makes a toll-free call and Internet technology turns the phone call into an instant message that pops up on a City Hall computer. The caller uses either a computer or the keyboard on a text telephone to communicate.
“The laws are fairly clear. These folks deserve the same access as voice callers,” said Don Zizzi, president of Equivalent Communications.
The city government is partnering with the Nashua-based company to bring the technology to the region.
Nashua is the first New England municipality to adopt the technology. The state of Maine is in the process of ordering the system, according to Zizzi.
“I am excited about it. We are the first,” Streeter said.
The program is a product of the Nashua-based company, HITEC Group International of Illinois, and NXi Communications of Utah.
Equal accessibility hasn’t always been the case.
Public agencies are supposed to have devices available to handle calls from people who are deaf. But a count of text telephone, or TTY, machines in city government uncovered only one at the school department and one at the Nashua Public Library.
Nashua resident Karin Harvey-Olson, 31, knows the frustration of the cumbersome TTY devices because she works with people who are deaf.
“Using TTY is a pain because you are going through a third party. It makes everything longer. People don’t know how to use them,” said Harvey-Olson, who has taught sign language for 11 years.
The trouble can be as simple as trying to order a pizza and the pizza shop thinks the call is from a telemarketer and hangs up, she said.
With this technology, the caller and a city employee can have an immediate discussion. And unlike popular instant message programs, this communication is encrypted to keep it confidential, Zizzi said.
“If you sent an e-mail, you can use the system,” he said.
The technology is making inroads slowly.
The Illinois and Wisconsin state governments have adopted it, along with public schools in Chicago and Milwaukee.
Six areas of city government here will have access to the system, from the Public Works Division to the Motor Vehicles Department and the Division of Public Health and Community Services.
The spread of high-speed Internet connections has been a boon for the deaf community.
Programs like Textnet and web cams are doing away with the difficulties of the old TTY technology.
Eric Eliason, an employment specialist at Northeast Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services, said that process is too time-consuming. “That is pretty much dying,” he said.
However, text-based technology presents some difficulties for people who are deaf.
Susan Wolf-Downes, executive director of Northeast Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services, said a lot of deaf people know American Sign Language as their first language and English as their second, so typing can be a problematic way to communicate.
Wolf-Downes said there are other technologies that allow people who are deaf to communicate in ASL, such as using a high-speed Internet connection with a sign language interpreter who would communicate with a hearing person.
Textnet is a subscription service, and the city is paying $250 a month but will not have to buy any equipment.