Apology & Retraction
Apology & Retraction for Statements in the 3/5/07 Press Release
re: People who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing.
TDI wishes to issue an apology concerning some statements made in its
press release dated March 5, 2007. Several statements in that press
release could be interpreted to mean that Video Relay Service (VRS) is
the relay of choice for all deaf and hard of hearing people, and that
the native language of all individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing
is American Sign Language.
TDI regrets that in our eagerness to emphasize the importance of VRS
for people who rely on sign language for communication, we inadvertently
made a couple of overly broad generalizations. We want to thank a few
consumer advocates for bringing to our attention the misleading language
that was used, and allowing us this opportunity to clarify the
situation. In no way were the statements intended to suggest either that
all deaf and hard of hearing people can benefit from VRS or that
American Sign Language was the native language of all deaf and hard of
hearing people. A corrected version of press release is appended below.
The reaction to our press release is a reminder to us of the rich
diversity that exists among TDI's constituents, namely people who are
deaf, hard of hearing, late-deafened and deaf-blind.
The important thing to remember when discussing relay services is
that it is all about choices. It is exciting to live in a time when deaf
and hard of hearing people now have several choices when making relay
calls. The various options offered by relay services today allow callers
to express themselves by either speaking, signing or writing, and to
receive information from the other party by either listening directly to
the other person, watching an interpreter sign for the other person, or
reading what the other person says. It is fantastic that now we are able
to select from among relay services that feature different modes of
communication, text, voice or video -- or even combinations of such
modes. The wonderful thing is that the availability of different relay
technologies makes it a more accessible world for all deaf and hard of
hearing people.
While TDI promotes different relay technologies, it does not endorse
one over another. TDI serves several distinct constituency groups, and
realizes that there is not one form of relay service that best meets the
needs of everyone. The technology required to provide functional
equivalency for a given deaf person may be very different from that
required for a given hard of hearing person. Again, it is a matter of
choice and we respect each individual's right to choose the mode of
communication and relay service that best meets their needs. And for
that reason, in years past TDI has promoted every type of emergent relay
service, including but not limited to TRS, captioned telephone, IP
relay, Speech-to-Speech and VRS. And we will continue to do so in the
future in our ongoing effort to secure maximum telecommunications
accessibility for all people with hearing loss and other communication
disabilities!
