I am hearing impaired. I can not receive telephone calls.

Virtually anything that I try to do on line, such as use a "Contact Us" web form, order ammunition (or anything else), etc., has a field in the form for telephone number. In almost every single case, that field is not optional. A telephone number must be supplied in order to submit the form. I always supply an email address, but not a phone number.

This is annoying, irritating, and aggravating.

One instance bothered me so much that I decided to file a formal complaint via ADA.org -- Americans with Disabilities Act. ADA.org is a U.S. government website. There is a form on that site for filing a complaint.

I filled in the form.

• Complaint: "Denial of Service to consumer."
  
  
• Type of Disability: I selected "Hearing" from the drop-down menu.

OK, now their system should recognize that I have a hearing disability. And, the fucking ADA website will NOT accept the form unless I fill in a telephone number.

I feel your pain and I'm certainly not making light of the situation, but you gotta admit, there's a certain amount of humor in services for the hearing impaired requiring a telephone number.

An elderly lady I used to do a lot of odd jobs for (since passed on) had a voice-to-text adapter on her landline. Actually worked pretty good and allowed her to live independently right up to the last month or so.

But, with email being as ubiquitous as it is, you'd think that'd be the preferred channel.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
I feel your pain and I'm certainly not making light of the situation, but you gotta admit, there's a certain amount of humor in services for the hearing impaired requiring a telephone number.

That is exactly my point. Irony. Stupid fucking third world shithhole "programmers."

Have your website done by the lowest bidder? This is the kind of garbage that you get.

It’s not the programmers. The programmers are the worker bees who do the bidding of someone else in such organizations. The programmers produce a product based on requirements that are given to them by whatever passes as stakeholders who are funding the work being done. ADA management is who you need to deal with. They’re violating their own policies.

quote:

Originally posted by jbcummings:
It’s not the programmers. The programmers are the worker bees who do the bidding of someone else in such organizations. The programmers produce a product based on requirements that are given to them by whatever passes as stakeholders who are funding the work being done. ADA management is who you need to deal with. They’re violating their own policies.

Yeah, I did send them a nastygram via FAX.

It's not just ADA. It's just about every website in the world. I can not remember if I have ever seen one where the phone number field was optional. It always seems to be required. Email address? Frequently optional. Mailing address? Frequently optional. Phone number? It always seems to be a required field, for no valid reason.

When I registered my business name on the Florida website, I ran into this. I emailed them, told them they were not in compliance with ADA. It was a matter of minutes before I received a reply from a staffer in state government apologizing; he handled everything with a manual override. Just about the only place where I have received a prompt response, correcting a bad situation. I don't think that the website has been corrected, not sure, but at least somebody responded and handled the problem.

quote:

It's not just ADA. It's just about every website in the world. I can not remember if I have ever seen one where the phone number field was optional. It always seems to be required. Email address? Frequently optional. Mailing address? Frequently optional. Phone number? It always seems to be a required field, for no valid reason.

When I registered my business name on the Florida website, I ran into this. I emailed them, told them they were not in compliance with ADA. It was a matter of minutes before I received a reply from a staffer in state government apologizing; he handled everything with a manual override. Just about the only place where I have received a prompt response, correcting a bad situation. I don't think that the website has been corrected, not sure, but at least somebody responded and handled the problem.

They do a pretty shitty job with handicap accessibilty features. I really love light gray print on a white background. The governmental websites are awful. I have seen websites with fifteen different little boxes all with tiny print, and language similar to what the IRS uses. Little attention seems to be paid to making a website simple and easy to use by all. Apparently other countries are even worse. My sister when visiting Saint Petersburg, Russia remarked on the absence of any assistance for handicapped individuals.

I buy a lot of things online from firearms and ammunition to clothing and specialty food items. I've never, ever, had a vendor call me. I get order verification and tracking information in emails, but no phone calls.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
I

Type of Disability: I selected "Hearing" from the drop-down menu.[/LIST]OK, now their system should recognize that I have a hearing disability. And, the fucking ADA website will NOT accept the form unless I fill in a telephone number.

You got to strike while the irony is hot.

 
Do you have a TTY device? When my Dad was still living, and deaf, I bought one so I could communicate with him using the phone. This was before the WWW.
 
I think most vendors are required to provide a special TTY phone number, per ADA. One time when I couldn't get through to a vendor, I tried their TTY line (since I had the device). It was answered right away. Experiment only. I did not make a habit of this.
 
The devices are a bit more modern now. No longer placing the phone headset into two rubber cups. You just plug your phone line into it.
 

TTY device requires a phone line, ¿si?

If necessary, I can make outgoing calls via relay service. In order to do that I need to be at a computer with an internet connection. The Relay Operator acts as a bridge, speaking and listening to the other party, and typing back and forth with me.

But, the relay service is for outgoing calls. Not incoming. The websites that I am whining about require a phone number on their form. I do not have a phone number with the relay service. You can't "call" me -- I have to "call" you.

What I'm bitching about is, I can not place an order on the majority of websites because the checkout form will not be submitted unless I fill in a phone number. Don't believe me? Try it yourself. Order some ammunition or something and try to check out without a phone number.

I just noticed that phone number is optional on Top Gun Supply checkout form. One of the RARE websites that does it correctly, but then again, it's Top Gun Supply!

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
TTY device requires a phone line, ¿si?

Si.
 
I am familiar with and have used the relay service as well (that's what a few pennies added on to your phone bill go to pay for). Oh well, no phone line, no TTY.
 
My Dad's first TTY (donated by the deaf services organization, and mind you this was in 1976) was an old teletype/teleprinter like they used to use at news services. It was a monster machine, but it served its purpose until the digital models became available.
 

quote:

Originally posted by henryaz:

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
TTY device requires a phone line, ¿si?

Si.
 
I am familiar with and have used the relay service as well (that's what a few pennies added on to your phone bill go to pay for). Oh well, no phone line, no TTY.

Yeah, I fired the landline provider years ago, even before I lost my hearing. The only time the phone ever rang was when Amy was calling to sell health insurance or lower my credit card rate or to remind me that my vehicle warranty was expiring and she had a great plan for me. I saw no reason to pay BellSouth hundreds of dollars / year to provide a channel for telemarketers. Anybody who had a legitimate reason to call me knew my cell phone number.

The relay service is great! If I need to make a "call" I just open a browser window with the relay service, type in a phone number, and I just read and write my end of the dialog; the relay operator speaks to the other party and types the replies back to me. Works well, and the best part is, it is outgoing only! NO incoming calls. No telemarketers. No robocalls. No soliciting for contributions. No surveys. No wrong number calls. Peace and quiet, freedom from phone calls. If you really do know me and want to reach me, you know my email address, or you can text me. In a way, my hearing loss is a blessing in disguise.

Get a Google Voice number and use it for checkout. Most people will never call.

If anyone ever calls you, you can have Google send all their messages directly to voicemail. Voicemails are automatically transcribed by computer voice recognition and sent to you as a message in the app.

You can then call them back via relay, or contact them via other means.

Alternatively, you can just put 867-5309 and a local area code for giggles.

V-Tail, this is akin to calling your ISP when your internet is down and only having a choice via phone of "going online and filing a out of order" order.

The phone number I give when I don’t want to enter one is 800-555-1212.

Is the ADA the group that mandates braille on the ATM bank drive-through machines?

quote:

Originally posted by dsiets:
Is the ADA the group that mandates braille on the ATM bank drive-through machines?

Yeah, the keypad with Braille is right next to the screen with instructions.

At least the blind users don't complain about the screen washing out in sunlight.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

Originally posted by dsiets:
Is the ADA the group that mandates braille on the ATM bank drive-through machines?

Yeah, the keypad with Braille is right next to the screen with instructions.

At least the blind users don't complain about the screen washing out in sunlight.

Also braille in elevators. I learned from a blind person that the "star" is the floor with the nearest emergency exit. This may or not be the first floor.
 

quote:

Originally posted by bronicabill:
The phone number I give when I don’t want to enter one is 800-555-1212.

Beat me to it. That was going to be my response.

Sure, you can enter a phony number. I sometimes use (999) 999-9999.

The point of this rant is the websites that REQUIRE something in that field.

Designers, coders, whoever does these things, need to realize that there are people who are not able to use a telephone effectively; some of us have hearing disabilities and are not able to receive phone calls. They need to make the phone number field optional and provide for an alternate means of contact.