Update September 2004

Since May 2004 Flemish deaf people and people who have a speech impairment can surf to www.teletolk.be or www.vlaanderen.be/teletolk in order to reach hearing people by telephone.

Teletolk (“Tele-interpreter”) was started in 2000: Deaf people then called the relay service using a minitel, a French textelephone, but that system has gone out of fashion. The internet offers a whole new range of possibilities and the Flemish government decided in 2004 to switch to an online relay service.

Any deaf, hard of hearing or speech impaired person who has a computer and internet connection can use this free service. Through a chat application you start a conversation with the Tele-interpreter, who will call the person you want to reach. The deaf person just types what he/she wants to say and the Tele-interpreter reads this aloud to the hearing person on the phone. The answers of the hearing person will be typed by the interpreter, so the deaf person can read them on his/her computer screen.

Fevlado, the Federation of Flemish Deaf Organisations, wonders if there are similar (online) services in Europe or in the world? We would like to exchange experiences and information about this kind of online communication support. If you have useful information, please contact info@fevlado.be.