Getting companies to understand 'I can't use a phone!'

Owain_Moneysaver

jdturk wrote: »

Obviously they are only in contravention of the DDA if the company knew that the person was unable to use the phone....you can't go all guns blazing if they don't know

This is the case for private sector, they only have to make reasonable adjustment when asked, but the public sector has a Disability Equality Duty so they should anticipate these things.

Trasthmatic

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

I always wondered exactly how someone hard of hearing was supposed to deal with the DSS now everything is by phone. Found out in the end - they take the word of a random person who says she knows the claimant and can give his date of birth. Just as well I helped out - they were closing the claim because he 'refused to communicate' with them. ??????????? He's going deaf!

Nearly every DWP number has a text phone equivalent. If you contact the RNID they will tell you how to get a text phone.
Also there is a service where a deaf person text phones another person, who acts as middle man and commuicates for them. I work in the customer service dept for a big company and have dealt with this type of call on a number of occasions. I think its run by the RNID but I'm not 100%.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Will tell him, but he's not deaf yet, just going deaf. He had a visit from social services and they said he wasn't entitled to anything else after providing a TV amplifier. Can a text phone be used on a mobile, as he doesn't have a landline for fairly obvious reasons?

Savvy_Sue

You can send faxes from a computer, if that would help?

Bloodheart

I'm very glad to hear from some people who cannot use a phone due to 'mental health' problems (social anxiety) - nice to know I'm not alone as all too often people seem to think if you're not deaf, or there's no physical reason for not being able to use a telephone, then you have no excuse for not using a phone and should just get on with it...if only it were that simple. I think this causes all the more problems when dealing with companies with problems like these.

See, when I used to work for T-mobile (yes, I was just about able to work in a call centre) I know we had a disability team, they seemed unable to do much, but at least there was some acknowledgement that people have disabilities and notes could be made on accounts to say, for example 'customer is deaf' so made it a bit easier dealing with security with other people calling on their behalf, or better for the company writing letters to those customers...surely other companies must have something similar? It's not ideal, it still means similar problems, but at least they know the customer has a problem so can cut them some slack!

Savvy_Sue

WRT special teams dealing with people with disabilities, I was listening to In Touch on Radio 4 the other day, and they were complaining that one of the ISPs (I think it was) was dismantling their team which had until now fielded all queries from blind and partially sited people. The theory was that everyone in the call centre would be suitably trained to deal with their queries. No recognition that if you regularly deal with one kind of problem, you're likely to get kind of good at it, whereas if you have one call every few months about a particular kind of problem, you'll be starting from scratch each time.

But that's progress for you.

Bloodheart

Let's just face it, call centres suck.

Considering how short a time most people stay in specific call centre roles, systems that limit actions you can take on customer accounts, and the lack of training...it's not so much starting from scratch every time, it's not being any help to begin with.

Shelle

I cant use the telephone because I am deaf (almost totally). My experiences with different companies vary greatly. 2 companies have it on their files that they are authrised to speak to either of my parents on my behalf, and they do this with no problems. With others I can go through the rigamole of Dad explaining I cant hear and that I would like them to talk to him instead. Sometimes they accept this with no question, other times they insist on "speaking" to me, whereby dad repeats the security questions to me and I talk on the phone giving them the answer.

Every time I need to make a call, I dread it and feel like I am gearing up for a battle! Just recently I needed to reset a password for my online banking, so got dad to ring the number, and was ready to do battle. It was all automated, and he answered the security questions without them even knowing it wasnt me!!! In fact, most of my fa,ily could have answered the questions as it was house number, postcode and date of birth!!! Too easy!!

I agree though, it does need to be made easier for deaf (or those that cant use the phone for other reasons) people, and the DDA has no effect on this issue. Companies dont realise the DDA supercedes the Data Protection Act.