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Stay in touch - A guide to telephones and services for older and disabled people 2004 (view report contents)

Useful features for other difficulties

If you have difficulty speaking

Outgoing speech amplifier

BT Big Button Plus

The BT Big Button Plus amplifies your voice

If your voice is very quiet, a phone which amplifies it may help others to hear you. Check when buying: phones with this feature are less common than phones which amplify incoming speech. If you cannot speak at all, a speech device such as the Toby Churchill Lightwriter (see Accessories) may enable you to use a voice phone.

SMS Texting or email

Short message texting (see Useful features if your hearing is poor) or email (see Other equipment) may be a big help if you find it difficult to speak on the phone. ‘Chatterbox’ is a new service (see Useful contacts) which lets people text each other at low cost.

For other vulnerable people

Many people with a learning difficulty or dementia can cope well with a phone provided they are familiar with it. A straightforward fixed phone with the minimum of unnecessary features may be best. Avoid phones which don’t have the standard keypad layout, or where you need to scroll through complex menu options to use certain functions; or so-called ‘soft’ keys whose function varies depending on what you’re doing.

Pre-dial

Dyslexia can make it hard to read and remember numbers in the correct order. If you find it hard to read and remember phone numbers, a pre-dial facility means you can take your time dialling (see Useful features if your sight is poor).

Helpful memory features

Nokia 3330

The Nokia 3330 has voice dialling

 

Memory dialling may help (see Useful features if your sight is poor), while voice dialling (on many mobiles) lets you store a name or other word you can speak into the phone to call a certain number. Some phones can store and display a name or (on some mobiles such as the Motorola V500) an identifying photo for each number in its memory.

 

Report Contents

Introduction

Telephones

Other equipment

Buying a phone & phone services

Useful contacts

 

Fixed line Operators

Mobile Operators

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