Did you know that many Georgians who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have speech disabilities can now enjoy the convenience of communicating with family friends or business contacts by telephone, thanks to the Georgia Relay.
Here's how the Georgia Relay works: A person who is deaf, hard of hearing, or may have a speech loss types his/her conversation using a text telephone (TDD/TTY). A specially trained Communications Assistant (CA) relays the message by reading the text message to the hearing person at the other end. The CA then relays the hearing person's spoken words by typing them back to the TDD/TTY user.
Hearing callers who wish to reach people who are deaf, hard of hearing or speech disabled may simply dial 7-1-1 or dial 1-800-255-0135. Text telephone users may also dial 7-1-1 or dial 1-800-255-0056. Please note that when dialing 7-1-1, it will only work when dialing inside Georgia. There is no charge for dialing 7-1-1, and all options available to Georgia Relay users through existing 800 numbers will be available to 7-1-1 users. If you are experiencing trouble dialing 7-1-1 to reach the Georgia Relay, please call your local telephone company.
Relay service is also available over the Internet. Deaf, hard of hearing and speech disabled customers can simply go to www.georgiarelay.org to be connected to a CA. Customers may also go to www.georgiarelay.org to access video relay service, where a certified American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter will relay your signed conversation to the hearing party.
Telephone assistance is now available for people with Speech Disabilities. Speech-to-Speech service lets people with speech disabilities communicate on the telephone by using their own voice, or voice-assisted device, through the help of a specially trained CA by dialing either 7-1-1 or 1-800-202-4082.
Beginning in January 2008, Georgia Relay will offer captioned telephone (CapTel®) service, allowing individuals with hearing loss to view word-for-word captions of their telephone conversations. No fixed or per minute charges will apply on local calls to users of the service. Using a special CapTel® phone, captions are provided to hard of hearing callers by special voice-recognition technology, converting speech into text that appears almost simultaneously with the spoken word. Phones capable of displaying captions will be available through the Georgia Telecommunications Equipment Distribution Program (TEDP) administered by the Commission. If you want to learn about the TEDP, please contact the Georgia Center of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing at www.gcdhh.org or call 1-888-297-9461.
Spanish Relay Service is available to Spanish speaking residents of Georgia. TTY and Voice users can dial the Spanish Relay Service for local calls in Georgia and state-to-state calls anywhere in the United States, including Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. A Spanish hearing caller may dial 1-888-202-3972 to reach Spanish deaf, hard of hearing or speech-disabled residents and Spanish text telephone users may also dial 1-888-202-3972 to initiate a Spanish relay call.
These services are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week and enable people to place relay calls between Georgia and other locations anywhere in the United States and internationally to English and Spanish speaking persons. By law, each conversation is handled with the strictest confidentiality. There is no additional charge to access Georgia Relay. To learn more about Georgia Relay, visit the website at www.georgiarelay.org.
