Like lampreys, the Deaf attach themselves to free floating communications technology.  Most were not designed with us in mind, but we seize on them anyway and integrate them into our lifestyles and culture.  Who could be surprised at our behavior?  Humans need communication.  We crave it.  Even the most decidedly anti-social, mentally ill person posts on forum boards and writes letters.  Of all possible disabilities, deafness may be one of the most reviled and feared.  On that, Helen Keller wrote,

”The problems of deafness are deeper and more complex, if not more important, than those of blindness. Deafness is a much worse misfortune. For it means the loss of the most vital stimulus--the sound of the voice that brings language, sets thoughts astir and keeps us in the intellectual company of man.”

Excluded from society, the Deaf cling to each other, forming enclaves, clubs, and friendships that stretch across miles.  Unfortunately, that which brings Deaf people together also makes keeping us together difficult.  For a century now, hearing people have had the ability to use radio and telephony to maintain long distance relationship.  Grandparents phone grandchildren.  Parents dial cousins.  Friends call friends.  Voices, I’m told, bring comfort and a semblance of closeness.  

More than that, telephones allow hearing people to conduct business, and call for help when necessary.  In the old days, deaf people needed to rely on the kindness of neighbors to make phone calls.  Can any of you readers imagine walking to a neighbor’s house at 2am, and asking them to call a doctor, for a sick child?

These days, though, Deaf people can call each other, and the hearing as well, using video telephony.  If hearing people were to walk through the computer labs at Gallaudet University, they would find themselves surrounded by hands flurrying in front of computer monitors; communicating to people hundreds, if not thousands of miles away as easily as hearing people can speak though a cell phone.

Twenty years ago, with the assistance of the State of Illinois, I received my first Tele-Typewriter (TTY) / Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD).  It was a big, bulky thing covered in medical-beige plastic.  Stripped down, the TTY/TDD was nothing more than an acoustic coupler with an ancient passive-matrix LCD screen.  Using half-duplex baud technology, which meant the TTY could only send, or receive, but not both at the same time (later TTYs were full-duplex, but produced gibberish), the TTY could communicate using acoustic tones to other TTYs.  Nifty as it was, I couldn’t use it.  I didn’t know anyone else who had a TTY.  My hearing friends certainly did not.

In the early 90s, Relay companies developed into a viable business.  Rather than relying on neighbors or live-in hearing people, the Deaf could use their TTYs to call a Relay Operator, who then would create a 3-way calling environment with the third party.  For me, and many others like me, Relay liberated.  I could call my friends and chat, an experience previously unavailable.  But, the limitations of half-duplex technology aggravated many.  In the half-duplex environment, Originators (ORIG) types, then lets Terminators (TERM) know that they’ve finished speaking by typing GA (Go ahead).  At this time, the Relay Operator (RO) is transliterating typed English into spoken English.  Upon receiving the GA, the TERM begins speaking and the RO types everything that is spoken.  Since the RO is bound by law to be verbatim, the communication process can be tedious and lengthily.

And, let me tell you, Interactive Voice Recording Units (IVRUs) are a special kind of hell for everyone involved.

At the same time Relay companies were flourishing, email came into vogue.  The problem with email is that while it allows for faster communication, it’s still only a rapid letter writing technology.  But, email gave way to texting and cell phone based emails.

My first cell phone was a RIM950.  It was black, weighed as much as a cracked brick, and charged for each character used.  But, I finally had access to instantaneous communication through what was the ancestor of texting.  My friends and my parents had RIM950s too, so I could stay in touch with people; however, the blackberry at the time still relied on people with similar communications technology.  And, I couldn’t use it to call businesses.  For that, I was still reliant on the half-duplex hell of the TTY.

A few weeks after graduating college, a cute deaf girl (who would later become my wife) inquired of my Videophone (VP) number.  I mentioned that I’ve never heard of VPs.  She hooked me up with a VP installer who came the next week.

The Sorenson VP100 was my first genuine videophone.  While I had used webcams to keep in touch with other deaf friends, the picture tended to skip and provide generous headaches as I tried to keep up with a natural rate of signing.  The VP100, though, provided a steady 30 frames-per-second (FPS) rate.  It was flicker free and gave me a picture large as what my TV could display.  The best part of having the VP100 was access to Video Relay Service (VRS).  Using the VP100, I could dial into IP-VRS and access a Video Interpreter (VI).  I can sign to the VI and have my language translated into speech in real time.  There’s no GA.  There’s no complication from using half-duplex technology.  I’m free to interrupt and communicate normally.  I can even pretend that there’s no middleperson translating my language.  TERMs never know that they’re talking to a deaf man.

I’ve been newly liberated by my Video Phone.

In the years since receiving my first VP, video telephony technology increased exponentially.  Videophones deliver precise, picture-perfect images using a variety of video technology.  My favorite way of accessing VRS is through my Macbook webcam, in iChat.  VP technology is in the process of being miniaturized.  At this time, people can VP wherever they have access to 3G or Wi-Fi service.  Technology companies are working on ways to bring VP technology to cell phones.  Expect to find people signing at their phones within the next few years.  Another aspect of video telephony, multi-point video technology, will allow several individual videophones to connect to a party-line type server.  All will be able to see each other and communicate accordingly.

The technological advances pushed by Deaf communication needs aren’t limited to VP technology.  Services used by the deaf adapt to VP-use.  Where previously expensive interpreters were brought in to maintain compliance with ADA-requirements, the deaf are finding 2-way Video Interpreting services.  This evolution in service reduces overhead for professionals who find themselves needing to hire interpreters.

While Videophones certainly have been co-opted by the Deaf, improvements in them are beneficial for everyone.  Advances in video telephony technology allows for better video conferencing and distance learning opportunities.  Corporations no longer spend thousands of dollars sending people to conferences and meetings when a simple VP will suffice.  The stay-at-home parent need not abandon home and child in order to further an education.  When the child naps, the stay-at-home parent can use a videophone to dial into a classroom.

A few weeks ago, my grandmother used Skype to see my son for the first time in months.  That, for me, is truly a miracle of technology.