TDI Town Hall Meeting - Part One

By Lise Hamlin

Editor: NVRC's Lise Hamlin attended the TDI Town Hall Meeting on June 1, 2007 and wrote this great article summarizing the proceedings. Note in particular Dana Mulvany's comments regarding the unaddressed needs of the OHL community.

You are welcome to share this information, but please be sure to credit NVRC. See the statement at the end of the article.

This is part one of two parts.

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June 2007

On Friday, June 1, 2007 TDI hosted a Town Hall Meeting at Gallaudet University. Over 30 people from around the DC region turned out for the event on a hot, humid evening. They were there to get a chance to learn more about TDI, and to air their grievances and concerns about gaps in telecommunication and media access.

Many in the crowd clearly knew each other and were signing or talking even before the event got underway. I spotted NVRC board member Tom Dowling in the audience, as well as Rosaline Crawford from NAD, Brenda Kelly-Frey from Telecommunications Access of Maryland, Greg Hlibok from the FCC, Jeff Rosen from Snap!VRS and several members of the Hamilton Relay team. Some Maryland residents attending were George Kosovich, Amy Bopp and Dana Mulvany. Several members of the TDI Board were present, including Carol Sliney from New Mexico, Joe Duarte from Virginia and Fred Weiner from Maryland. Dr. Roy Miller, president of the board of TDI, delivered the opening presentation.

Dr. Miller spoke about the work of TDI over the years, including their pioneering work to bring a national directory of TTY numbers to the community. That first directory was published in 1968 and included only 145 numbers. Since that time, TDI has advocated for better access to both telecommunications and media, through work on:

• TTY compatibility standards in 1983 with Electronic Industries Association 
• The Hearing Aid Compatibility Act in 1988 
• Title IV (national relay services) of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 
• Telecommunications Relay Standards with the US Department of Justice and the Federal Communication Commission in 1991 
• Establishment of 7-1-1 to access Relay Services across the country 
• Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act in 1996 
• On Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act in 1998

TDI has continued this tradition with its recent work on telephone and telephone conferencing access, television access, Internet access, travel access, movie access and 9-1-1 access.

Dr. Miller encouraged people to join the organization that best suited their needs. Organizations like NAD, HLAA, ALDA and AADB, he said, meet important needs for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. Still, he urged people to join TDI as well, because of their work for telecommunications and media access for over 40 years, which, he emphasized, impacts each of our lives every day.

When Dr. Miller completed his talk, Claude Stout, Executive Director of TDI came to the stage to take questions from the audience. The first question came from Jeff Rosen, who asked about the financial status of TDI and whether finding resources was a challenge for the organization. Claude responded that since 2006, TDI has been operating in the black. TDI depends on membership, donations, sponsorships, advertising in the Blue Book, and federal and local grants. They have approximately 5,000 members and another 500 institutional subscribers. He noted that all the financial information is publicly available.

Jeff Rosen also asked whether there were plans to modernize the Blue Book to include Video Phone numbers. Claude responded that TDI enters the information that members send them, which can include pager, email and fax information, if the member chooses to send that information. Claude did say they have been considering a Video Phone directory, but would need additional funding to support that kind of directory.

Here's Part Two

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