TTYs for the deaf

[Ashley Carder]

> Hello folks,
>
> I have a question about those TTYs that the deaf use.  Are they real
> Teletypes, like ASR33 and friends, or not?  I guess probably not, because
> it would be so super-cool if they were that it's probably too good to
> be true, but I thought I would ask anyway.  So what are they?  Are they
> normal ASCII terminals with standard modems built in, or something
> entirely different?  Can one pretend to be deaf, go to some social service
> or whatever agency asking to use a deaf TTY, and dial into a timesharing
> host or BBS with it?
>
> It also seems like there are two kinds of deaf devices, TTY and TDD.
> What's the difference?
>
> MS


I have one of those that used to belong to a friend of mine who taught
deaf children.  This one is a real TTY, but not ASR-33.  It's the 5 bit
Baudot version from the 1940s, not the 8 bit ASCII.

I saw them use these things before.  They hooked up an acoustical
coupler to the phone and dialed someone else who had a TTY.  I suppose
instant messaging and other modern technologies have rendered the old
TTYs obsolete.

Ashley