A deaf couple who live on a lonely Waikanae farm will be able to use the telephone when a new type of machine is installed.
So far, four teleprinter-phonetype telephones have been installed in the homes of totally deaf people in the Wellington area, the Wellington Deaf Society liaison officer, Mrs L. A. Walton said.
For two years, she has been working to form a deaf communication network. Her main concern has been for deaf people who when in trouble or ill, have to depend on someone else to help them get help.
With the new communications system, all deaf persons in the Wellington area will need to do is type a message to Mrs Walton, and she will set about helping.
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Eventually it is hoped to extend the service outside the area.
“We have 200 families in the Wellington Deaf Society and there are about 2000 deaf children in the Wellington district who will be potential users of this equipment,” Mrs Walton said.
The phonetypes are linked with an ordinary telephone. To make a call, the deaf person places the handpiece in an acoustic coupler and dials.
A light shows when the call is answered. Both parties then exchange messages using a teleprinter.
“The only drawback is finance. Understandably, it is an expensive operation,” Mrs Walton said.
The phonetype costs from $180 to $200 and will be hired from the Wellington branch of the New Zealand deaf communications network.
Mrs Walton’s son, Anthony, and his wife, who are both deaf, and two partly-deaf young men, Mr Lindsay Banford and Mr David Smith, received the first machines this month.
Anthony was educated at the School for the Deaf, Sumner, Christchurch, and his wife, Christine, St Dominic’s School for the Deaf, Feilding.
