By Chris Wilson

The Florida Telecommunications Relay, Inc. (FTRI) is helping people who are deaf, hard of hearing, deaf/blind and people who have speech impairments throughout the state stay in touch with family, friends and other important people in their lives. Last year, the Center for Independent Living (CIL) of North Central Florida, which is located near the Creekside Mall at 222 SW 36th Terr., became a distribution center for a 16-county area served by FTRI, which has been in existence for 17 years.

The FTRI loans people special telephones and equipment and provides training for the equipment. The phones can do everything from amplify incoming sound to amplify outgoing speech.

Anybody who has trouble communicating on the phone can apply to receive the equipment and training for free. All people have to do is fill out an application and have it signed by an approved certifier, such as a physician.

“If they have a hearing aid, all they have to do is walk in and we will get them the equipment and train them,” says FTRI services program director Myrtle Hoffman. “The hearing aid means they already have the proper certification. We can have them trained and ready to take the equipment home in about an hour.”

Among the available equipment are amplified phones. While average phones have a volume around 18 decibels (dB), the amplified phones feature volumes as high as 53 dB. They have adjustable amplification and the tone of the outgoing voices also can be adjusted. They also have visual ringers, such as a flashing red light, and a large button keypad.

Other phones available to deaf users are text telephones (TTYs), which feature a computer-style keyboard, built-in printer and a visual ringer. There also are Braille telephones for deaf/blind people. The Braille text telephones have a Braille printout and a Braille keyboard. There also is a vibrating ringer that the user can carry with them.

For those who have had Laryngectomies, there are phones with a built-in electronic larynx.

The TTYs operate through the Florida Telephone Relay. Anybody can dial 7-1-1 to connect with a relay operator, who serves as a facilitator for a conversation between two people. The operator receives text messages from a person who is deaf or hard of hearing and relays them directly to the traditional phone user. The operator also translates the traditional user’s conversation into text messages for the TTY user.

All of the equipment is on loan from FTRI?and it only has to be returned when a person moves out of state or wants to exchange it for different equipment.

Hoffman has been based at the CIL in Gainesville for about a year and says she loves her job. “I had a client once who hadn’t spoken to her daughter for ten years,” says Hoffman. “Her husband did all of the communicating on the telephone. I got her set up on a captel, which is a device for people who can’t hear but they can use their voice. We called her daughter and it was very touching, because you can hear her daughter crying on the other end. To help people connect with their families is just awesome.”

Hoffman says she has even had people call her from their deathbed to thank her for keeping them connected with family and friends.

“There’s more than a million people in the state of Florida who are just hard of hearing,” says Hoffman. “When we tell them about the program and that it’s no cost, they just can’t believe it.”

The CIL also performs its services for no-cost. The center is designed to empower people with disabilities to live independently. “We are consumer controlled, which means that we’re staffed and governed by a majority of people with disabilities,” says executive director William Kennedy. The Center provides workshops, computer training, assistive devices, individual and group services and employability training.

Kennedy says before the CIL?became an FTRI distribution center, it used to take people in Alachua County up to six weeks to receive the equipment. “Then, we would have to go in and train them on it,” he explains. “This partnership streamlines that process, so people can come into our offices and, within about an hour, do what used to take six weeks.”

For more information, call the CIL?at 378-7474 or visit the CIL at 222 SW 36th Terr. in Gainesville. You also can visit their website at www.cilncf.org.