FCC to Hear Case on Deaf Telephone Rate Inequity

Events, News, , , , , , , , ,
Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail

By BitcoDavid

The following announcement and the associated PDF embed are courtesy of H.E.A.R.D.

Deaf Community members & Allies should submit comments to the FCC by March 25, 2013.

Telephone Typewriter (TTY) This device is also...

Telephone Typewriter (TTY) This device is also known as a text telephone (TT), or telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD). TTY indicates a device used with the telephone for communication with and between deaf, hard of hearing, speech impaired and/or hearing persons. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

On December 28, 2012, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to address the long-standing issue of high prison telephone rates.  Hearing prisoners’ telephone calls can cost their family members as much as $17 for just 15 minutes of time.  These excessive rates prevent families from maintaining contact with loved ones.

Deaf, hard of hearing, deaf-blind, speech impaired, and hearing prisoners with deaf family members endure an even greater financial burden with respect to telephone rates due to a number of factors, including (1) telephone rates being applied evenly to TTY and regular voice phone calls, the former of which is much more time-consuming; (2) failure of prisons to install videophones and captioned telephones; (3) security measures that either prevent deaf prisoners from calling relay operators or cause them to incur additional fees by requiring relay services; and (4) security measures that require deaf prisoners to only place collect calls.

 
Telephone

Remember these?Telephone (Photo credit: plenty.r.)

The FCC has requested public comments on whether prisoner phone rates and on deaf & disabled prisoner telecommunications access. The attached document explains some of the inequities that persist for deaf, signing & speech impaired prisoners and their families with regard to rates for and access to telecommunications in prison.  Please follow the directions in the document to submit a comment to the FCC.

 
HEARD will post a signed & captioned video of this information this week.

[scribd id=123630894 key=key-40igrrqlfyuullgzo5a mode=scroll]

BitcoDavid is a blogger and a blog site consultant. In former lives, he was an audio engineer, a videographer, a teacher – even a cab driver. He is an avid health and fitness enthusiast and a Pro/Am boxer. He has spent years working with diet and exercise to combat obesity and obesity related illness.

Related articles
Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail