Deaf Struggle For State Assistance Hearing-Impaired Must Compete For $6,000 Grant In Idaho

Don’t go knocking on Ken Stevens’ door any time soon.

He won’t answer it. He can’t hear you. He’s deaf.

If you knock really loud for a long time, his friend and upstairs neighbor might hear you, come trotting down to open the door and let Stevens, 22, know you’re there.

It’s a pretty ridiculous way to admit visitors. But it’s all Stevens has.

Soon, he’ll apply for a chunk of a $6,000 grant, spread out across Idaho, to help buy a doorbell that flashes when it rings.

If the money doesn’t run out first, Stevens will get half off the already reduced price of $69.50 for a doorbell signaler and remote receiver.

The signaler flashes a light four or five times when the doorbell rings, and Stevens can put the receiver wherever he wants it in the house so he can see it.

The grant is a Band-Aid for a problem that keeps an already isolated population even more out of touch. It’s a step in the right direction, however.

“There are a lot of deaf people in this area,” Stevens said, through an interpreter. “They’re having a hard time paying for these things. They have to get them through a catalog.”

As much as 25 percent of Idaho’s adult population has a hearing loss, according to the Idaho Relay Service. At least 10 percent has trouble hearing normal communication. Roughly 5,000 Idahoans are deaf.

Stevens is lucky his doorbell is his only problem. He recently had a smoke alarm installed that flashes when it goes off, and he brought his teletypewriter (TTY) with him when he moved from Spokane in April 1999.

The teletypewriter allows Stevens to communicate by typing what he wants to say. Another user can read his words on a screen above another teletypewriter, and respond in kind.

If it wasn’t for that:

“I’d be stuck. I’d have to go to the library (and use the machines there.)”

Washington provides TTYs to its deaf population for free, when they sign up for phone services. The state’s customers’ bills are nominally higher because of it.

Forty other states have similar programs, most offering free TTYs or telecommunication devices for the deaf (TDDs) - which perform the same function - others at least at a lower cost. TTYs range from $100 to $600 per unit, depending on the features.

Similar bills in Idaho haven’t made it out of the House State Affairs Committee.

In 1992, the state passed legislation to fund a relay service, with an operator to connect deaf people calling each other via TTY or TDD.

With that legislation, the bill’s proponents would have allowed the funds to provide TTYs to deaf telephone customers.

But the public utilities commission loudly spoke against it.

Because the commission regulates public utilities, it shouldn’t be in the position to barter arrangements between TTY manufacturers and telephone companies, said Paul Kfellander, a public utilities commissioner.

“We’re not a private vendor,” Kjellander said. “We’re not going to be in competition with a private vendor.

“How could we regulate something we’re in complete and total control over?”

Since 1992, there have been several attempts at reintroducing legislation.

In the past legislative session, a bill came to the committee that would have raised telephone charges. That bill stayed in committee as well.

“I’ve never voted for any tax increases,” said Rep. Jeff Alltus, R-Hayden. “You start getting into problems with people being able to afford to have a telephone. There are already a whole bunch of taxes on telephones.”

A 1999 bill said customers’ rates would increase by 4.5 cents per line and 8 hundredths of a cent per minute.

In the meantime, advocates struggle to work with what they’ve got.

Verizon Communications, the nation’s largest local phone company, offers a 50 percent discount on long-distance calls to its deaf or speech-impaired customers. In local company-run stores, customers can use TTY equipment.

But Verizon stopped selling the equipment, because it had problems dialing 911, said public affairs manager Bob Wayt. The stores can still order teletypewriters - at regular costs.

Deaf people have few options, said Pennie Cooper, executive director of the Idaho Council for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

“Just imagine,” Cooper said. “You can’t hear to use the telephone, you can’t afford to buy a special device, you can’t call anybody on the phone.

“All you can do is have somebody else make your phone calls for you.”

The council has been torn about how much to publicize the grant’s availability, Cooper said. With such a small amount of money, she doesn’t want to get people’s hopes up.

But at least a deluge of applications could bring about more help in the future, she said. It could give the council fodder during the next legislative session to convince lawmakers that the need for assistive devices is truly widespread.

And the phone, while it’s the most commonly needed device, isn’t the only need. The grant also pays for amplified telephones, for those who are hard of hearing.

It buys signals, like the doorbell device, a baby cry and telephone ring, alarm clock and smoke alarm signalers.

The Idaho Assistive Technology Program, which provided the $6,000 grant, has also obtained $1 million to help parents, afflicted by all disabilities, to get assistive technology. That will help alleviate some of the state’s need.

But until more money becomes available for people like Stevens, he’ll continue to wonder if someone’s at his front door.

“We have some challenges,” Stevens said. “We need to develop different services for the deaf community.”