Staff at Hand Morgan & Owen Solicitors in Stafford have improved their service to clients who are deaf and hard of hearing by introducing RNID Typetalk. The Typetalk service enables people with communication difficulties to use the telephone.

A total of 25 employees at Hand Morgan & Owen Solicitors have been trained on how to use Typetalk so far and the training will be rolled out to new members of staff. 

Jennifer Woodyard, Quality Manager at Hand Morgan & Owen Solicitors, invited Typetalk to give staff a training session. The aim was to help raise awareness of the service among staff and to improve accessibility for callers with hearing difficulties.

She said: “Everyone left the sessions feeling positive and now I think we’re all just a bit more confident in general disability awareness as well as handling calls from people with hearing difficulties.”

Sheila Frediani, Typetalk Regional Outreach Co-ordinator for the Staffordshire, outlined issues affecting deaf people during an awareness training session. She also explained how customer-facing staff could make and receive calls using the service.

She said: “Refusing to acknowledge hearing related problems could be detrimental to any business or organisation as an estimated one in seven callers could potentially have hearing difficulties.

“It’s quick and easy to learn how to make and receive calls through Typetalk and training is free so there is no reason why other businesses shouldn’t encourage staff to take part in a training session.”

Typetalk is operated by RNID a UK registered charity and makes no charge to use its service (standard telephone rates apply). A person with hearing problems will need a textphone to make and receive calls using Typetalk but hearing people do not need any specialist equipment.

A special number has been set up for businesses or organisations interested in finding out more about Typetalk. To arrange a visit from your local Regional Outreach Co-ordinator, call 0800 7311 888 (hearing) or 18001 0800 500 888 (text).