Saturday, March 21, 2020

What Is TTY Mode How Does It Work on Cell Phones

What Is TTY Mode How Does It Work on Cell Phones SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips A TTY (teletypewriter) is a device that helps people who are deaf, speech-impaired, or hard-of-hearing use a phone to communicate. While TTY devices were initially designed for landline phones, they are used today with both landlines and cell phones. In this article, I’ll be talking about TTY mode meaning on a cell phone and how to use it, as well as offering other, more modern options for people with hearing or speech impairments to communicate. What Is TTY Mode on a Cell Phone? A TTY device is used to communicate by people with speech and hearing impairments. A user with a speech impairment can type a message on the TTY machine and the machine will send the message through a phone line or mobile signal. For users with hearing impairments, the TTY machine will turn voice messages into text messages so the user can read them. While a TTY machine may sound a lot like text messaging, its actual functions are more seamless. TTY machines allow users to continuously communicate as part of one conversation, without receiving constant message notifications and updates like from text messages. During a TTY conversation, the messages appear immediately on the other party’s TTY screen without interruption. TTY devices can be connected to both landlines and cell phones, allowing for portable communication. Today, many cell phones have a TTY mode. What's the TTY mode meaning? Well, TTY mode allows the phone to function as a TTY device. Depending on the phone, it may have a built-in TTY software, allow you to connect the phone to an external TTY device, or both. Many phones have three different TTY modes: TTY Full, TTY VCO, and TTY HCO. TTY Full mode allows both the sender and receiver to communicate through TTY messages. TTY VCO mode is for hearing-impaired users who can send messages through voice, but need to receive messages on a TTY text display. TTY HCO mode is for users who can receive voice messages, but need to send text messages. How to Use TTY Mode on a Cell Phone You can activate TTY mode on both an Android phone and an iPhone. In this section, I’ll talk you through how to use TTY mode on both operating systems. How to Use TTY Mode on an iPhone Tap the â€Å"Settings† app. Tap â€Å"General† from the â€Å"Settings† menu. Tap â€Å"Accessibility† from the â€Å"General† menu. Select â€Å"TTY†. Select if you will use the built-in â€Å"Software TTY† or if you will attach an external device through â€Å"Hardware TTY.† Exit to the home screen. Select â€Å"Phone.† Select the person you want to call. When the call screen opens, tap the â€Å"TTY† button. Type the message you’d like to send to begin the call. If you’ve turned TTY mode on an iPhone on, you can make a call with or without the TTY mode. You can also return to the settings menu to turn TTY mode off if you no longer need it. How to Use TTY Mode on an Android Phone Select the â€Å"Applications† tab. Select the â€Å"Settings† application. Select â€Å"Call† from the â€Å"Settings† application. Select â€Å"TTY mode† from the â€Å"Call† menu. Select the desired TTY mode (TTY Off, TTY Full, TTY HCO, TTY VCO, which are three different types of TTY I discussed in the previous section). Tap back to the main menu to make a call. You can now select whether you want to make the call normally, or using the selected TTY mode. To turn TTY mode off, you simply follow the same steps and select â€Å"TTY off† from the TTY mode menu. Alternative Options for Communication for People With Speech or Hearing Impairments Today, physical TTY devices are fairly out-dated. Most people use TTY mode on their cell phones, or communicate through one of these alternative means. Text Messaging For people with speech and hearing impairments, text messaging has become one of the easiest and most effective means of communication. Text messaging is easy, built-in to every cell phone, and most tablets, and computers, and doesn’t require any extra set up. Video Calls The rise in video calling technology like Facetime, Google Hangouts, and Skype has made it easier for people with speech and hearing impairments to communicate using sign language. Today, people with these disabilities can use video conferencing technology to talk in real-time with their friends and loved ones using sign language that both parties can see. Video Relay Services Video Relay Service is a form of Telecommunications Relay Service that enables persons with hearing disabilities who use American Sign Language to communicate with voice telephone users through video equipment, rather than through typed text. Video equipment links the VRS user with a TRS operator (Called a communications assistant, or CA) so that the VRS user and the CA can see and communicate with each other in signed conversation. Because the conversation between the VRS user and the CA flows much more quickly than with a text-based TRS call, VRS has become an enormously popular form of TRS. Recap: Using TTY Mode on a Cell Phone What is TTY mode on a cell phone? TTY mode allows people with hearing and speech impairments to communicate by using text-to-voice or voice-to-text technology. Today, most cell phones are equipped with built-in TTY technology meaning that you don’t have to purchase an additional TTY device to communicate. There are also numerous other methods of communication for people with speech and hearing impairments, including text messaging, video calls, and video relay services.

Thursday, March 5, 2020

Three Blatant Acts of Racism Against Obama

Three Blatant Acts of Racism Against Obama When Barack Obama became the first African-American elected president on November 4, 2008, the world viewed it as a signal of racial progress. But after Obama took office, he was the target of racist illustrations, conspiracy theories, and Islamophobia. Do you know the tactics used to attack him on the basis of race? This analysis covers three blatant acts of racism against Obama. The Birther Debate Throughout his presidency, Barack Obama was dogged by rumors that he was not an American by birth. Instead, the â€Å"birthers†- as the people spreading this rumor are known- say that he was born in Kenya. Although Obama’s mother was a white American, his father was a black Kenyan national. His parents, however, met and married in the United States, which is why the birther conspiracy has been deemed equal parts silly and racist. The birthers have also refused to accept as valid  the documentation provided by  Obama that proves he was born in Hawaii. Why is this racist? New York Times columnist Timothy Egan explained that the birther movement â€Å"has little to do with reality and everything to do with the strangeness of Obama’s background- especially his race. He continued, Many Republicans refuse to accept that Obama could come from such an exotic stew and still be ‘American.’ †¦So, even though the certificate of live birth first made public in 2008 is a legal document that any court would have to recognize, they demanded more.† When Donald Trump repeated the claims of birthers in April 2011, the president responded by releasing his long form birth certificate. This move did not completely quiet the rumors about Obama’s origins. But the more documentation the president released about his birthplace, the less ground the birthers had to suggest that the black president did not belong in office. Trump continued sending Twitter posts questioning the birth certificate authenticity through 2014. Political Caricatures of Obama Before and after his presidential election, Barack Obama has been depicted as subhuman in graphics, email, and posters. While turning politicians into caricatures is nothing new, the ones used to criticize Obama frequently have racial overtones. The president has been portrayed as a shoeshine man, an Islamic terrorist, and a chimp, to name a few. The image of his altered face has been shown on a product called Obama Waffles in the manner of Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben. The depictions of Obama as ape-like have arguably sparked the most controversy, considering that blacks have been portrayed as monkey-like for centuries to suggest that they’re inferior to other groups. Still, when Marilyn Davenport, an elected official in the Republican Party of Orange County, Calif., circulated an email portraying Obama and his parents as chimps, she initially defended the image as political satire. Mike Luckovich, Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, had a different take. He pointed out to National Public Radio that the image wasn’t a cartoon but Photoshopped. â€Å"And it was crude and it was racist,† he said. â€Å"And cartoonists are always sensitive. We want to make people think- we even want to tick people off occasionally, but we don’t want our symbolism to overwhelm our message. †¦I would never show Obama or an African American as a monkey. That’s just racist. And we know the history of that.† The â€Å"Obama Is Muslim† Conspiracy Much like the birther debate, the debate over whether Obama is a practicing Muslim appears to be racially tinged. While the president did spend some of his youth in the predominantly Muslim country of Indonesia, there’s no evidence that he himself has practiced Islam. In fact, Obama has said that neither his mother nor his father was  particularly religious. At the National Prayer Breakfast in February 2011, the president described his father as a â€Å"nonbeliever† whom he met one time,  according to the  Los Angeles  Times  and his mother as having â€Å"a certain skepticism about organized religion.† Despite his parents’ feelings about religion, Obama has said repeatedly that he practices Christianity. In fact, in his 1995 memoir Dreams From My Father, Obama describes his decision to become a Christian during his time as a political organizer on Chicago’s South Side. He had little reason at that time to hide being a Muslim and pretend to be a Christian as it was before the 9/11 terrorist attacks and his entry into national politics. So, why do rumors about Obama being a Muslim persist, despite his declarations to the contrary? NPR senior news analyst Cokie Roberts faults racism. She  remarked  on ABC’s â€Å"This Week† that a fifth of Americans believe Obama’s a Muslim because it’s unacceptable to say, â€Å"I don’t like him ’cause he’s black.† On the other hand, â€Å"it’s acceptable to dislike him because he’s a Muslim,† she declared. Like the birther movement, the Muslim conspiracy movement against Obama highlights the fact that the president’s different. He has a â€Å"funny name,† a so-called exotic upbringing, and Kenyan heritage. Rather than  point  out their distaste for these differences, some members of the public find it convenient to label Obama a Muslim, This serves to marginalize him and is used as an excuse to question his leadership and actions in the war on terror. Racial Attacks or Political Differences? Not every attack against President Obama is racist, of course. Some of his detractors took issue with his policy alone and not with his skin color. When the president’s opponents use racial stereotypes to undermine him or accuse him of lying about his origins because he’s different- biracial, bred outside of the continental U.S., and born to a Kenyan father with a â€Å"strange name†- an undercurrent of racism is often at play. As former President Jimmy Carter said in 2009: â€Å"When a radical fringe element of demonstrators †¦begin to attack the president of the United States as an animal or as a reincarnation of Adolf Hitler†¦people who are guilty of that kind of personal attack against Obama have been influenced to a major degree by a belief that he should not be president because he happens to be African American.†