I went to see my friend, a student and junior at Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf. We chatted, and showed me the neat additional of AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) bot: AIM Relay Service, which it chats like TDD.
Let me get straight from you if not familiar with TDD or Relay Service and my short history:
TDD (pictured on left) stands for Telecommunications Device for the Deaf, is an electronic device used for telephone communications for deaf person and hard-of-hearing impaired. A device is about the size of a small laptop computer with a QWERTY keyboard, and small screen with one line high. The TDD allows for the transmission of input text via the telephone. Direct communication can only be between telephones both fitted with the system.
The Relay Service is an operator service by deaf persons and hard-of-hearing to allow them to place telephone calls. It can make possible for the deaf to make phone calls to regular phone users. To use relay, typed messages are relayed as voice messages by a operator, and vice-versa. This allows callers unable to use a regular telephone, to be able to place telephone calls to people who use regular telephone, and vice-versa. The most common telephone number is 711, to dial the number to call the Relay Service from your TDD or voice.
I have been using TDD and Relay Service several times in the final two decades (1980s and 1990s) of twentieth century. I begun losing my interest into this in late 1990s, and switched to my computer to connect my people through network. Why?
Because of, today there are several new additional to use relay service on the computer rather than using TDD; the deaf and hard-of-hearing can allow using IP-Relay to call from your Internet computer to regular telephone. There are many IP-Relay websites (Sprint, AT&T and IP-RELAY.com) to talk like TDD. Also, the relay services provided the video on Sprint VRS, which use the sign language to chat on the webcam, and able to view the interpreter’s webcam to act like relay services.
Finally, I can use relay service through AIM, and it is neat idea to use my mobile pager (using my T-Mobile Sidekick), to connect AIM, and use this relay service anywhere; outside from my computer at home.
If you are interested to use AIM relay service, first of all you have to go Lormar Logic website to register your AIM screen name, add your screen name to the allowed user list on their buddy lists, for security reasons.
Today, I used old-fashioned TDD very few times, for someone (mostly hearing to use relay services) to call me at my home. Believe it or not, I used this for around four times in 2003!
Thanks to technologies, the life is getting easier for me like Deaf people.
Reference via Science Daily.
