About Us

Facts and Figures about Typetalk

• There are over 9 million people are deaf or hard of hearing in the UK.

• There are 123,000 deafened people, 70,000 profoundly deaf people and 23,000 deaf-blind people.

• Around 2.5 million people have permanent or temporary speech loss. 500,000 people have a permanent stammer.

• RNID Typetalk opened in 1991 and is the only national telephone relay service in the UK. Typetalk provides telephone relay services for deaf, hard of hearing, deafblind and speech impaired people, giving equal access to the telephone network.

• Typetalk is a partnership between RNID and BT (BT funds and provides the access technology TextDirect, whilst RNID manages the service).

• Typetalk is available 24 hours/day, 365 days/year

• 200 Relay Assistants handle an average of 30,000 calls per week.

The History of Typetalk

• During the 1980s, Lady Pauline Ashley, the late wife of Lord Ashley, a former RNID President, was concerned that deaf and speech-impaired people were isolated by lack of access to the telephone system. She shared these concerns with Mike Martin, founder of the British Society of Audiology and pioneer of the first ever cochlear implant. Together, they had the vision for Typetalk.
• Working with colleagues from RNID, Mike Martin invented the first ever Typetalk technology, taking inspiration from the old-fashioned telephone system where operators would stay on the line to assist callers.
• In the beginning, just two operators sat in RNID’s head office and provided a telephone relay service for 100 subscribers.
• 1989 – BT donated £4m for the creation of Typetalk, with the support of RNID and OFTEL.
• 1991 – Typetalk originally opened at Pauline Ashley House in Speke, Liverpool. Seven full-time and 15 part-time staff answered 300 calls on the first day.
• 1994 – Typetalk answered its millionth call. The number of Relay Assistants increased to 200. OFTEL built in a requirement into the BT licence to provide a relay service for people with communication difficulties.
• 1995 – Having outgrown its Speke base, Typetalk moved to Harrington Dock in Liverpool, a former warehouse originally built in 1841. This building was name John Wood House after the late John Wood, who helped set up BT’s Action for Disabled Customers, and developed the Claudius Speech Synthesiser, the Converse Telephone and the initial Telephone Exchange for the Deaf, which later became RNID Typetalk.
• 1995 – the emergency service for textphone users is introduced. Relay Assistant numbers increased to 316.
• 1995 – the Lord Lieutenant of Liverpool and the Duke of Edinburgh attend the official opening of Typetalk at John Wood House and received a textphone for Buckingham Palace.
• 1996 – Typetalk is awarded ISO 9002 quality status.
• 1998 – Outreach and Customer Support departments open.
• 1999 – Typetalk is awarded the Two Ticks Disability symbol.
• 2000 – Typetalk answers its 10 millionth call and gains Charter Mark and North West Business Excellence Award for People/People Results.
• 2001 – BT TextDirect is launched.
• 2002 – Typetalk provides instant access to the telephone network without the requirement of registration by service users. Relay Assist is introduced.
• 2003 – Textphone to textphone only service is introduced. Typetalk is awarded the National Business Award for Best Use of Technology for the North West Region.
• 2004 – The 18000 textphone user’s emergency service is launched. Typetalk is awarded Investor in People status.
• 2005 – Typetalk handles its 21 millionth call.
• 2007 – Typetalk is awarded ISOQAR 9001 quality status.

Contact Us

Customer Support Helpdesk

Textphone 18001 0800 7311 888
Telephone 0800 7311 888

Fax 0151 709 8119

Email: helpline@rnid-typetalk.org.uk

Or, write to us at

RNID Typetalk
PO Box 284
Liverpool
L69 3UZ.

Opening Hours:

Monday to Friday, 9am to 8pm
Saturday and Sunday, 9am to 5pm
Closed bank holidays.

Our location:

RNID Typetalk
John Wood House
Glacier Building
Harrington Road
Brunswick Business Park
LIVERPOOL L3 4DF (multimap)

Main switchboard number:

Telephone : 0151 709 9494
Textphone: 18001 0151 709 9494

Directions to Typetalk

RNID Typetalk’s Mission

Our Mission is:

To operate and develop a service, which enables deaf, deafened, deaf-blind, hard of hearing and speech-impaired people to exploit the opportunities provided by the public telephone network.

RNID’s Vision

RNID’s Vision is a world where deafness and hearing loss are not barriers to opportunity and fulfilment.

What our customers say

“I am delighted with the Typetalk service and all the operators are lovely.”

“I think Typetalk is wonderful and I would be completely cut off without it. I ask people who have used it for the first time what they think and they always say how wonderful the Relay Assistants are and how easy they found the whole thing.”

“I have always found your Relay Assistants excellent and very helpful, keeping me in contact with the outside world. Thank you.”