In your article of headlined ”Deaf phone service faces delay,” Rob Karwath notes that ”a dispute between the Illinois telephone industry and groups representing deaf residents threatens to further delay a state program to bring phone service to the deaf.”
Funded since January of 1986 by a phone bill surcharge, the program will, he reports, cost about $575 per unit delivered to deaf consumers.
While it is only fair that deaf and hard-of-hearing persons have equal access to telecommunications services, it is insane to expect consumers to pay this outrageous amount for TDDs.
I have purchased four TDDs over the years, both for home and office, and I, my deaf wife, friends and colleagues find that the current units that run under $200 apiece are quite sufficient for our needs.
If I can get a TDD for under $200, why can`t a corporation ordering tens of thousands of them get them at a much lower per-unit cost?
Something suspicious is going on here and I applaud the representatives of the deaf community for calling it into question.
