Simon Pearse: Help fill in our survey about how deaf people use the phone

Earlier in the year NADP (National Association of Deafened People) decided to ask their membership how they use the phone. This was electronically through Survey Monkey although it also distributed paper copies with its membership magazine, Network.

The aim of the survey was to understand how different deafened people may use the phone in different ways depending on their age and level of hearing loss, and also on how long they have been deafened.

It also asked information on the communication provider e.g. Mobile/ landline operator along with experience on using Text Relay/ Next Generation Text Relay service (NGTS). In this way NADP wanted to identify how successful NGTS had been since launch and whether the deafened community felt it was useful or if improvements were needed.

UKCoD via its subgroup (Deaf Access to Communications (DAC) previously known as TAG) felt it was useful to extend this survey to the wider deaf community and an updated survey has been launched to capture the experiences and thoughts of all deaf people.

UkCoD/DAC intends to use this information to demonstrate the need for improvements to NGTS to Ofcom and communication providers, focus resources on those in the deaf community who are currently missing out and focus training to those groups of the deaf community who could benefit from using NGTS.

Already there are some very interesting and helpful observations coming through:-

• More people responding to the survey had a mobile phone than a landline. Many of whom have stuck with the same provider for many years.
• Understandably most people rely on SMS and email but recognise that the telephone via NGTS is helpful to get a quicker response, or simply when there is no other way, such as when they need to contact businesses, public sector, hospitals or their GPs direct.
• Many people have not even heard of NGTS and of those that have, some have found it difficult to use or set up. In the survey we have introduced a number of suggested improvements to NGTS and welcomed the thoughts of others.
• Helpfully, many people have found NGTS a life changer, giving them more independence and freedom, improving their ability to sort out their own business rather than relying on others.

The survey can be found at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/usingthephone or via: http://deafcouncil.org.uk/2016/07/26/survey-deaf-people-use-telephone/

The deadline for completing the survey has been extended to 30th. September 2016.

More information on NGTS is available at NGTS.org.uk

 

Simon’s hearing loss was first identified when he was 5. He made it through school and Uni without a hearing aid but accepted his fate in his mid 20s. He has been an avid user since. Simon was co-opted to TAG for broadcasting and became webmaster also responsible for social media. He joined the Exec of DAC (UKCoD) in mid 2014 and currently represents DAC in the NGTR steering board. Simon also represents Hearing Link TWG in the DTG Accessibility Group and OFCOMs CFC. Simon is a qualified Actuary.