Here you will find advice on how to present information clearly in ways deaf people find easier to access. As technology is advancing all the time, please do not hesitate to contact Scottish Council on Deafness with any queries you may have or for further information.
Information on websites should be provided in British Sign Language (BSL) with captions.
Printed material – such as newsletters and leafl ets – should be written in plain English using a clear plain font such as Arial with a minimum point size of 12. Where appropriate, images should be used. Wherever possible the same information should be available on DVD in BSL with captions. The Scottish Accessible Information Forum (SAIF) has free factsheets on accessible information, downloadable from their website: www.saifscotland.org.uk. Hard copies are available by contacting: email@example.com or 0800
A textphone is a telephone with a QWERTY keyboard and a small screen. Textphone to textphone calls are just phone calls using text rather than speech.
Someone who does not have a textphone can contact a textphone user via Text Relay through an operator. Similarly a textphone user can contact a voice telephone user through the text relay operator. For further information and guidance on the service visit www.textrelay.org. To find out about the planned service enhancements – known as the Next Generation Text Service – visit www.ngts.org.uk.
Fax and Email
A fax number and email address should always be included in contact information for deaf people who prefer to use these methods of communication.
SMS means Short Message Service and is also called texting or text messaging. Messages are usually sent from one mobile
phone to another. SMS can also be set up to receive newsflashes and other alerts or reminders.
Registering with TexBox gives companies the facility to offer live written conversations with deaf people through an application on their computer or mobile phone. Please note that this is a chargeable service. Find out more from www.texbox.co.uk.