TDI (originally known as Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Inc.) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization headquartered in

Silver Spring, Maryland Silver Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, near Washington, D.C. Although officially unincorporated, in practice it is an edge city, with a population of 81,015 at the 2020 censu ...

, and was founded in 1968. Its original purpose was to promote widespread distribution of

telecommunications devices for the deaf A telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) is a teleprinter, an electronic device for text communication over a telephone line, that is designed for use by persons with hearing or speech difficulties. Other names for the device include tel ...

(TTY) and publish a

telephone directory A telephone directory, commonly called a telephone book, telephone address book, phonebook, or the white and yellow pages, is a listing of telephone subscribers in a geographical area or subscribers to services provided by the organization tha ...

of those that used TTY. The organization has evolved to serve as an advocate of equal access in telecom and

media Media may refer to: Communication * Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass el ...

for

deaf and hard of hearing Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an audiological condition. In this context it is written ...

people. In the 1990s and 2000s, this included encouraging

pay telephone A payphone (alternative spelling: pay phone) is typically a coin-operated public telephone, often located in a telephone booth or in high-traffic outdoor areas, with prepayment by inserting money (usually coins) or by billing a credit or debit ...

providers to incorporate TTY keyboards into pay telephones.

References

External links

Official site
Deafness rights organizations Deafness organizations Disability organizations based in the United States Non-profit organizations based in Maryland Deaf culture in the United States {{US-telecom-company-stub