PEOPLE WITH SPEECH DISABILITIES NOW HAVE
                        A TELEPHONE SUPPORT SERVICE


Californians with a speech disability can now use a new, free telephone
assistance service 24 hours a day. This service, called Speech-to-Speech,
provides human voicers for people who have difficulty being understood by the
public on the telephone.  

    Dial 800/854-7784 to reach a patient, trained operator who
    knows your situation and has acute hearing. This operator
    makes telephone calls for user and repeats their words exactly.

The service was successfully tested with 2,000 calls made by people with
speech disabilities in November. Speech-to-Speech is also useful if you use a
speech synthesizer. Speech-to-Speech is the only way for many people to
telephone others not accustomed to their speech. Many Speech-to-Speech users
are people with Parkinson's disease or cerebral palsy.

This is a service of the Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications Program of the
California Public Utilities Commission. It is also sponsored by the
Sacramento Center for Assistive Technology and the California Department of
Rehabilitation.