England VRS Ends
12 06 2007All..
It seems that the VRS/VRI in England ended because of lack of funds. They had been depending on charity to process VRS calls, but the charity funds have run out. They call VRS "SignTalk".
Comments made by UK folks clearly showed how valuable SignTalk had been.
I sincerely hope that UK Government will take action and help these UK deaf folks get their VRS up and running.
eyes open & thumbs up,
Ed
Oh my… I was wondering because of lack of transparency with “SignTalk” and not knowing how much it cost to earn, and spend… and lack of consumer involvement made this demise?
I hope UK deaf folks fight harder and get what they deserve, and its important that deaf consumers need to be informed about VRS industry.
Amy Cohen Efron
Sounds like it’s time to petition for govt support, as well as begin contacting those known for supporting these types of services through philanthropy.
Wish you well.
Dennis
I am not sure if OFCOM (similar to FCC) is williing to support VRS issues at all. We need to impact them and make them aware of this.
Keep in mind, everyone in USA pays the Universal fee for each line per month, in our phone bills. UK doesn’t have one. Could they add 10 pences to defray and support the Relay Service?
Paul
I may be wrong but my understanding was that the British Deaf Association (equivalent to the NAD in the U.S.) had a partnership with Communication Services for the Deaf to provide VRS in the UK. If true, then there is another (competing) VRS available there.
The RNID (Royal National Institute for the Deaf) is a charity in the UK that has been operating TypeTalk, the national relay service, funded by BT.
Thank you, Judy. Can someone confirm this? I seem to remember that, too, now that u mentioned this.
Hi,
I live in the UK and our monthly line rental to BT (British Telecom) £13 a month a phone call for a hearing person for an hour is £1.80
To use Innovative video relay service we have to pay £3 per minute so an hour call is £180.00 and the charity have to subsidise this.
As you can see we cannot afford this so who is making the money BT?
The government have sat on there arses (asses) and done nothing.
And for the national relay services funded by BT yeah right we have to pay for that service.
For the life of me I cannot understand that people with disability have to pay extra just to communicate
http://www.signvrs.org.uk/deafusers.htm
Thats correct, BDA is still alive and is in partnership with CSDVRS/CSD
Tim,
Hey ole friend. Thanks for the info. Do u mind sharing little bit more info. Does British folks have to pay for time use of VRS or is it fully gov’t subsidized or teleco pay for that and recover the costs from ratepayers?
Ed
don’t forget significant
http://www.significant-online.co.uk
i don’t know of anyone using RNID’s VRS
for work, this is usually subsidised by the government through the Access to Work scheme and others
Interesting BDA and Significant both advert in SignMatter both full page! I been try BDA VRS but cannot get through why? Significant always get through all the time!!! maybe charity cannot do well like private company?? All USA VRS are private company last one was CSD but they now become private company!!! Alison Bryan blog ask question why charity??