UW-Madison’s TTY Service Earns State Award

Talking on the telephone. It’s something most people take for granted. Yet for people who are deaf or have a speech impediment, finding a telephone equipped to let them make a call can be a challenge.

UW–Madison is easing the telecommunications challenge for people who cannot use a standard telephone – and its efforts have earned it a state award.

The ADA Wisconsin Partnership presented its Award for Communication Access to UW–Madison July 26 after university officials last fall installed 13 TTY (teletypewriter, also called text telephone or TDD for Telecommunications Device for the Deaf) pay phones on campus.

The award is timely, as the university is preparing to add 10 more TTY pay phones on campus.

“The award reaffirms that we are doing the right thing,” says Marcia Carlson, facilities accessibility and planning specialist at UW–Madison.

Carlson accepted the university’s award at the Partnership’s “Celebration of the 7th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act” at the Monona Terrace Convention Center. The Wisconsin Association for the Deaf nominated UW–Madison for the award, one of six presented at the ceremony. The university also received a citation from Gov. Tommy Thompson.

The 13 campus TTY pay phones are located in Bascom Hall, Grainger Hall, Memorial Union, the UW Field House and several other university locations.

“By making the telephones in its classroom buildings, sports arenas and recreational facilities accessible to people with hearing and speech impairments, the University of Wisconsin–Madison has become a leader in telecommunications access,” ADA Wisconsin Partnership said during the ceremony.

Several university offices also have TTY telephones, and the UW Intercollegiate Athletic Department has a portable TTY telephone available to the public during football games, as is the TTY pay phone in the Field House.

As for TTY expansion on campus, all six public pay phone locations in the Kohl Center will be TTY equipped when the new sports arena opens in January, Carlson says. Four other TTY pay phones will be located in the Chemistry Building, School of Veterinary Medicine, Engineering Hall and near Babcock Hall.

“The goal is to have TTY access every one-sixth mile on campus,” Carlson says.

TTY telephones resemble a small computer keyboard. Above the display screen, a telephone receiver is placed face down to receive and transmit information. Both the caller and receiver must have a TTY telephone to communicate.

All calls between a TTY user and a person using a standard voice telephone in Wisconsin are routed through the Wisconsin Telecommunications Relay System. The relay system employs communication assistants who type hearing persons’ words and read TTY users’ typed words to voice users. These calls are strictly confidential. Calls between TTY users do not use the relay system.

The 23-member ADA Wisconsin Partnership promotes full implementation of the Americans with Disabilities Act throughout Wisconsin. It is funded by a grant from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research in the U.S. Department of Education. The grant is administered by the state Office for Persons with Physical Disabilities, part of the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services’ Division of Supportive Living.