TDI Conference Opening Ceremony

By Cheryl Heppner

Editor: Here's Cheryl's coverage of the TDI opening ceremony.

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Dr. Roy E. Miller, President of the TDI Board of Directors, officially opened the 17th Biennial Conference in San Mateo, California at 9:15 am on Thursday, August 23. TDI Executive Director Claude L. Stout welcomed attendees and noted that San Mateo is known for its local produce and goods. He noted that Dr. Frank Bowe, "a real mover and shaker" who had great impact on disability legislation and policy, had passed away and asked for a moment of silence in Dr. Bowe's memory.

Conference Co-Chairs Lori Breslow and Joe Duarte, members of the TDI Board of Directors, were introduced. Yes, that's our Joe Duarte, the man behind NVRC's fantastic listening system and the presenter for some of our most popular programs.

Conference Sponsors

TDI Conference sponsors were recognized and representatives of the companies gave short remarks

"Fisherman's Wharf" Level
AT&T
Sorenson VRS
Verizon

"Presidio" Level
Sprint
Hands On VRS (HOVRS)
Ultratec
SnapVRS
Hamilton Relay

"Cable Car" Level
RIM
Gallaudet University
NTID
America Online

"Bear Hunt Statue" Level
Motorola
VITAC
CTIA
Nokia
T-Mobile
TIA
San Mateo County
i711.com

Keynote Presentation

Roy Miller's keynote presentation was all about the exciting new TDI. He detailed the "lengthy and arduous task" of the TDI Board to develop a new strategic plan, starting with TDI's roots to understand what it has been doing and lessons learned.

Roy's PowerPoint presentation began with deaf scientist Robert Weitbrecht's development of the acoustic coupler for the TTY. With help from his colleagues, Andrew Saks and James Marsters, he gave deaf people access through telephone lines for the first time. Coincidentally, the work took place not far from San Mateo in the nearby Bay Area.

TDI began as an organization attempting to get this technology in the hands of the deaf community. It was a cooperation between Latham Breunig (with his wife Nancy) of the AG Bell Association and Jess Smith of the National Association of the Deaf. The first TDI members were a group of volunteers who modified and distributed TTYs.

Technology changed from the "bulky monster" that could weigh up to 200 pounds to an electronic TTY, which stimulated the birth of companies to produce it. A Braille TTY was also developed to give deaf-blind people access to the telephone network. Next came the "little teeny compact TTY" and then a way to connect it to a cell phone. This was followed by the small VCO phone.

As this was going on, telephone technology was changing too. The wooden box that used one hole for both talking and listening gave way to one with separate holes, then the rotary dial phone. "For a long time Ma Bell developed that in three colors," Roy said. "Black, black, and black."

Then came the touch tone phone with many styles, sizes and colors. The cordless and cell phone followed. More recently we've seen the emergence of the captioned telephone, video phones, and iPhone. Telecommunications relay services began. Computers went from the size of a building to hand-size. Pagers came into being and now they have telephones, cameras, Bluetooth, GPS, etc.

Along with full access to telecommunications, particularly for emergency services, came other concerns. The first television set came out in 1924 and those wooden boxes with blurry black and white images on the screen grew to become color images that were clearer. Then came cable, satellite, digital TV, and high definition TV. Meantime we lost ground when the silent movies gave way to the talkies. Open captions gained led us back to access again.

Now engineers can make almost any piece of equipment talk. A little talking microwave that tells you what setting to use to cook different foods. A refrigerator that, if you leave the door ajar, says "Sorry, you left your door open." Cars that tell us how to get where we want to go.

The New TDI

"As technology changes around us, an organization whose focus is on advocating accessible technology has to modify it's mission or die," Roy said.

TDI no longer works exclusively for deaf people, and hasn't for a long time. The TDI logo has been a TTY with a three-row keyboard and now much of our technology has no keyboard at all.

TDI began a makeover by changing its legal name to Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Incorporated, doing business as simply TDI. The new vision statement has added information technologies to the areas of concern. A tag line has been developed -- a short, simple way of saying here's what we are and what we do. It's "Shaping an Accessible World".

Roy unveiled the new TDI logo. The letters "TDI" are surrounded by a circle of dots. The dots increase in size as they go clockwise. The expanded dots represent the goal of expanding access to the technology in our world. The "TDI" is in italic text, which leans a bit. That and the clockwise movement of the dots are to show TDI is proactive, leading to the future. The very last dot in the circle is a bold red to remind TDI of the individuals it serves.

Other changes include:

- The old GA-SK magazine has been replaced by "TDI World" with a slick appearance.
- "TDI Briefs" will be sent to communicate directly with industry or government on critical issues of concern.
- A new version of the TDI E-Notes will be launched

At the close of the Opening Ceremonies, we were treated to the inaugural copy of "TDI World" and free t-shirts with the new TDI logo.

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