The Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID) - Typetalk

Typetalk: RNID Typetalk is a national telephone relay service for deaf, deafened, hard of hearing, deafblind and speech-impaired people. It lets deaf and hard of hearing people use a textphone to access any services that are available on standard telephone systems.

Typetalk provides a link between any textphone user and a hearing person. The link is a highly trained RNID Typetalk operator who provides a discreet and confidential service. If you are deaf, all you need is a textphone, which is a specially adapted telephone with a keyboard

If you are deaf you should dial 18001 followed by the full telephone number from your textphone. If the call is answered by a hearing person, a Typetalk operator is brought into the call. However, if the call is answered by another textphone user, the connection is direct with no need to involve an operator.

The textphone user will then type their part of the conversation. A RNID Typetalk Operator will read exactly what is typed to the hearing person. The hearing person replies and the RNID Typetalk Operator will type exactly what is said so the textphone user can read the response on their textphone display panel.

For further information on Typetalk visit the Typetalk website.