For Those with Phone Anxiety

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As many of you know, I go periodically nonverbal, and I've found a useful tool that enables me to use the phone when I can't talk. I thought I'd share it because I know severe phone anxiety is relatively common around here. TTY (teletyping something or other) is technically for deaf people, and acts just like texting. You get a special tty phone number through your carrier and set up the associated app, and all you have to do is dial the number you want to call, then text what you want to say, and a relay operator texts back the other person's response. It's really easy, and you never have to actually talk to anyone. I find it very useful because of my voice disability that makes it really hard for others to hear me over the phone.

What a creative use of an AAC type service to help with your communication. Thanks for sharing this tip. In Australia we have something similar called the National Relay Service

Is a good idea. But what is the difference between texting and this? Is it a voice generated from the texts going down the phone?

Yesterday I had quite a morning as I had to phone three phonecalls. All of them I was nurvous to the point of... Well. Let me explain the third one. Somehow I would much rather meet people then use the phone. Over the phone I have to think quickly.
For example. I drove around 40 + miles each way to avoid using the phone so I could order car parts. I then drove back and drove up there another day to get them. (These were little fastners for the plastic panels under my car as I have a few missing and some are hanging off etc. The panels won't fall off, but they rattle and annoy me!) I drove back up to get them... They were in thw hose. They dissapered. My Mum had put them in a carrier bag as we had visitors and without thinking (As it was before Christmas) she needed a bag to give Christmas presents to the visitors and she does not remember who they were... We waited to now but no one has said anything so I had to drive back up to re-order the parts and... Well, yesterday before we set out to get them (As we have a bit of a potentially hectic week ahead) my Mum insisted we phone to make sure the parts were there. I look up the number. She dials and then ("Grrr!") before the other person picks up the phone she hands the phone to me! (Why does she do that? I only gave her the number because she wanted to phone!)
The previous two phonecalls? Car insurance companies. Actually phone calls.. Well, I would rather drive 40 miles each way as you have seen. But something worse then that for me as I can't trust it. Using the internet for any financial transactions and also filling out internet forms. Why? Because the questions have yes or no answers which I can't seem to answer yes or no to, and I can't leave them blank or go onto the next question as it does not let you... And there is no where to write the reason why I can't answer yes or no. Paper forms I could write small by the boxes to explain. I hate these online forms. Unfortunately last year (With my brothers help) I had to do cheap online car insurance because I could not afford my normal over the phone insurance (Yes, I know. I have anxiety over phoning but to do it online I find worse as at least I can explain things on the phone!). But the online car insurance automatically renews whe the next year comes... And I don't like that. I may not have an income. I can't take that risk.
So I had to phone them to cancel, and I have gone with a far more expensive insurance with an insurance broker I can phone... (To be fair the online site does have a customer service part to them which I phoned to cancel, but the real fear was "What if they change it to not have people there to phone and there isno way I can prevent money coming out of my bank?")
So I also phoned the car insurance broker and went for a better cover (Fully comprehensive where I did have third party online) and I have paid out for breakdown cover. I have paid out in all almost double the price, but I am happy not to have that automatic renewal and needing to do those tick box forms...

There is one insurance broker left in my area that one can call in an office and see someone. It is on the outskirts of our nearest city. BUT, if they were decent and honest I would much prefer to use them. See a person etc. BUT they are effectionally known as "Swindle" insurance. In the past we have gone through years of cover notes to find out we were never insured... And my Mum phoned just to get a quote and without thinking she said "Yes" (She does not think quick on the phones either) and so she decided to cancel. Their cancellation fee was double the cost of the insurance! They are such a disshonest insurance broker. And one good insurance company I was once with I can't use because once when I changed car they said they don't insure that make. He said "I will put you through to a sister company who does"... He put me through to the "Swindle" insurance company where I didn't catch the company name as the guy answering said it too fast or too quietly. I then asked for a quote... I had to take out the insurance for a year. I was soo annoyed!

So the broker I am with now may not be the cheapest way, but at least so far those guys have been honest, and I have been with them for several years (Apart from last year).

So though I am paying out around £150 to £200 more... I can now avoid online and I know the broker I deal with is genuinely trying to help.

But fair play to the online insurance company. When I have phoned them they have been soo kind and helpful. If everything goes to online and I have no choice, thenI will choose this online company as long as they keep staff available to talk to.

But I had a whole morning of trying to get past these "Welcome to..." (And they go on with a minutes of automated messages even before I get to the "If you want...... please press 1" and where I can't think quick enough to work out which one to press.... And I end up in a phone queue and I may not even be speaking to the right department because I have pressed the wrong number... And yesterday, I was doing that, and it said "Please enter your policy number (I had the number... But some were letters and no letters are on my phone... Just numbers... I was panicing!... I froze not knowing what to do... Luckily after a little while their system then put my call to a person as I didn't type anything!)

This would be very useful since a primary trigger for my selective mutism is anxiety, and usually when I have to talk on the phone with anyone other than my parents, at best I'm hard to understand (and at worst, of course, I can't force myself to talk at all no matter how hard I try). Thank you for the suggestion.

I have one question, is this something you have to qualify for in some way? Because if it is, I suspect the person determining my qualification would say "Well, you're not deaf and you're talking just fine to me right now, so clearly you don't need it." Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but that's usually the reaction I get when I try to explain my selective mutism, people don't believe me because I'm talking at the moment.

Nope you don't have to qualify, you can just Google your carrier and "tty service" and it should give you information on how to request a tty number. All I had to do was check a box that said yes I am disabled, no specification required. I have Sprint.

As for how it's different than texting, experientially it's not, but a relay operator reads what you text to the other party, and texts what the other party says to you. It's good for times when regular texting isn't an option, for businesses and things like that.

Awesome, that will be such a great thing for me to have when I'm more independent and having to do things like make my own appointments and calling the landlord to report a problem. Thank you very much for suggesting it, I don't know that I would have thought of it myself.

Glad I could help!