Pet Crematorium Learns to Listen to Deaf Callers
A Cambridgeshire pet crematorium has been commended by RNID Typetalk for its commitment to callers who are deaf and hard of hearing. All front line staff at CPC have been fully trained on how to use Typetalk, a specialist service that allows people with communication difficulties to use the telephone. Judi Evelyn, a bereavement advisor at CPC, organised the Typetalk training session to help raise awareness of the service among staff and to improve accessibility for callers with hearing difficulties. This means that bereaved pet owners with hearing difficulties can phone the company to arrange a cremation or gain support from a bereavement advisor, confident of being fully and easily understood. She said: “Pet bereavement can be extremely traumatic and it is important that our advisors are supportive to all pet owners who call on us. That is why we decided to invite Typetalk to run a series of training sessions with our team. “People who participate in programmes such as ‘hearing dogs for the deaf’ are often among those most affected by the trauma of the death of a pet. If a call comes from a Typetalk user, it really helps that our advisors are equipped to deal with the call sensitively and efficiently.” Cheryn Rook, Typetalk Regional Outreach Co-ordinator for Cambridgeshire, outlined issues affecting deaf people during an awareness training session. She also explained how customer-facing staff could make and receive calls using the service. She said: “Everyone left the sessions feeling positive and now I think the team at CPC is just a bit more confident in general disability awareness as well as handling calls from people with hearing difficulties. Refusing to acknowledge hearing related problems could be detrimental to any business or organisation as an estimated one in seven callers could potentially have hearing difficulties. “It’s quick and easy to learn how to make and receive calls through Typetalk and training is free so there is no reason why businesses shouldn’t encourage staff to take part in a training session.” Typetalk is operated by RNID, a UK registered charity, and makes no charge to use its service (standard telephone rates apply). A person with hearing problems will need a textphone to make and receive calls using Typetalk but hearing people do not need any specialist equipment. A special number has been set up for businesses or organisations interested in finding out more about Typetalk. To arrange a visit from your local Regional Outreach Co-ordinator, call 0800 7311 888 (hearing) or 18001 0800 500 888 (text). To find out more about CPC, please call 01763 207 700 or visit www.cpccares.com.
