Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

New phone a boon to hearing impaired and mute

Plans are to install up to four TTY phones in municipality by end of summer
1421huey
Huey Tollett from Whistler for the Disabled demonstrates the new TTY phone installed by Telus last week.

By Andrew Mitchell

Frustrated with the lack of progress in getting TTY (teletypewriter) phones installed in Whistler for the hearing impaired and mute, Huey Tollett went to the top at Telus to ask CEO Darren Entwistle.

Within 24 hours Tollett had a commitment to start installing phones in Whistler, beginning with the installation of a keyboard-ready TTY Public Access Pay Phone in the breezeway entrance to Whistler Village off the taxi loop. Tollett expects to see at least three more phones installed by the end of summer, including a phone in the Roundhouse Lodge on Whistler Mountain.

For Tollet, who became hearing impaired later in life, it was an important gesture by Telus.

“This is huge,” he said. “This is something that the (accessibility) advisory group and Whistler Adaptive Sports Program has been asking for for years, and within 24 hours of talking to the CEO of Telus the order was in for the first unit.

“This is the first concrete thing we’ve seen in Whistler for a long, long time that really benefits the disabled community. It really opens Whistler up to the hearing impaired and mute, which is a lot of people, and it’s really good for Whistler, and tourism, and the Paralympics.”

By following a set of instructions on the TTY phone, a keyboard slides out from underneath the phone. Information typed into the keyboard is sent to an operator, who relays the information to the person on the other end of the phone. When the person replies, the operator transcribes that information which appears on the keyboard. In Tollett’s case, or where the user can communicate verbally, the disabled person uses the phone attachment to speak, and reads the replies on the keyboard.

In addition to the phone with the keyboard, there are two text phones in Whistler where the user can use the number pad and screen on a normal payphone to communicate while using the same predictive text messaging features on most cell phones. The process is slower, says Tollett, and the screen is hard to read in daylight. However, he says the technology is promising.

“Bell is on its second generation of that kind of phone and this is Telus’s first generation, and it’s still not there yet,” said Tollett. “The potential is there for the technology to get a lot better… and it would be great if every phone could be equipped with it. It’s definitely cheaper for the phone companies, and convenient for the hard of hearing because it could be on any phone.”

There are several challenges to installing TTY phones in Whistler. The main concern is vandalism, given that the keyboard units cost roughly $2,000. According to Tollett, that was one of Telus’s main reasons for delaying the installation of TTY phones in Whistler, and continues to be a concern.

The keyboards also need to be protected from the elements, which means indoors or under a roof, and have a readily available AC power supply.

Once the additional units are installed this summer, Tollett says the next step is to get the phones into places like Meadow Park Sports Centre, the Whistler Health Care Centre, and amenities like the new library.

The phone at the entrance to Whistler Village is currently the only one in operation in the Sea to Sky corridor. Eventually other communities will be added.

“Having this in Whistler is going to open the doors for everybody,” said Tollett. “Once Whistler has the phones, other communities are going to be able to request them as well.”

Last year Tollett launched Whistler for the Disabled ( www.whistlerforthedisabled.com ), a website created to provide information to visitors with a wide range of disabilities. The website gives advice on where to stay, the types of adaptive equipment at different local hotels, and lists accessible restaurants, stores and recreational opportunities. In a few weeks he’ll be publishing his Summer Activity Guide, working with local activity operators to determine what they can do to serve visitors to the resort that are visually disabled, hearing impaired, or have mobility issues or developmental disabilities.

Tollett started small with a limited budget, but has had his website recognized by organizations and associations for people with disabilities. When a story about his website was picked up by 360, an American magazine for the disabled, traffic to his site went through the roof for several weeks.

With the installation of a TTY phone and pay telephones with text messaging capabilities, Tollett expects the story to get picked up by groups for the deaf and hearing impaired throughout North America. The phones, along with services like the Whistler Adaptive Sports Program, could inspire more hearing impaired individuals to travel to Whistler.

“We’ve removed another barrier for the disabled,” he said.

The new phones came just as the province announced $1.14 million for accessible tourism projects in the province, through a 2010 LegaciesNow grant.

“People with disabilities spend an estimated $13 billion per year in North America on travel,” said Stan Hagen, Minister of Tourism, Sport and the Arts. “The Accessible Tourism Initiative will help B.C. businesses attract and better serve people with disabilities, such as people with wheelchairs, visual impairments and hearing impairments, who regularly travel, shop and eat out with family and friends. It will also create employment opportunities for some of the 300,000 working-age people with disabilities in B.C. who want to work.”

The money will go towards projects similar to Tollett’s website that provide visitors with accessibility ratings for restaurants, hotels and service providers; to a training program for service providers; and to raise awareness of the needs of people with disabilities.