Which department in Student Health Services would you expect sees a lot of deaf and hard of hearing students? I would guess ENT, and I suspect most of you would agree with me.

So why is it that:
-The ENT receptionist doesn't know the basics of communicating with a deaf/HOH person? She doesn't always look at you when talking, so she's hard to lip read, and she doesn't get your attention visually or by touch before speaking to you.

-The ENT department doesn't have a TTY number?

-The receptionist doesn't understand what to do when she gets a TTY relay call?

-The receptionist doesn't understand why I don't want the doctor to call my cellphone, even after I explain that I'm temporarily deaf due to a bilateral ear infection?

-The ENT specialists are the only ones in Health Services without published email addresses?

I mean, come on, people. And, BTW, ideally there would be a way for those of us without TTYs (because of cost, or because we don't have a landline, or because we're only temporarily deafened) to communicate with these folks. Lots of institutions now offer IM as an alternative - usually AOL instant messenger, but occasionally some geekier stuff like Jabber/GTalk, too. I mean, FFS, we're probably 30% EECS majors here. Do you really think it would be that hard to get it set up? Fuckberries, no.