telephone calls "a matter of life or death'', an advocate for the hearing impaired said yesterday.

Jennifer Jeffers-Grant told Hamilton Rotarians that a "TTY relay service'' which allows the hearing impaired to speak to people with full hearing would enable them to call the Police and Fire Services in case of an emergency.

She said Bermuda has TTY services for the impaired, but relay services for hearing impaired people to speak to those with their hearing is not available.

For the deaf, full TTY services "are a matter of life and death'', she added.

With full TTY, deaf people can communicate with Police and Fire Services, hospitals, business offices, doctor's offices, and schools.

"Deaf people in Bermuda have for so long been left out of vital parts of the community,'' said Mrs. Jeffers-Grant, who is hearing impaired herself.

Mrs. Jeffers-Grant is the chairperson of the First International Conference on Deafness in Bermuda to be held on November 17 to 22.

The conference will "bring the plight of the deaf to the attention of the population in general, as well as Government'', she said.

Another problem was closed-captioning for local television programming.

"Without closed captioning, we are completely shut out,'' she stressed. "The other night the mother of a seven-year-old deaf girl was watching television when the local news came on,'' Ms Grant added. "She (the girl) said, mama where are my words? "Deaf people depend on their vision to understand what is going on around them.'' In the US, closed captioning is available at movie theatres with special viewing for the hearing impaired, Mrs. Jeffers-Grant pointed out.

Mrs. Jeffers-Grant was educated in Bermuda at the Central School (now Victor Scott Primary School), Bishop Spencer, Friendship Vale and Whitney Institute.

She holds a bachelor's degree in Elementary Education.

She also holds a Masters degree in Special Education and teaches at Victor Scott.

"We want equal rights, we are not asking for pity,'' she said. "We want understanding! What do we have to offer deaf children of the future? "The other day I had an emergency,'' she said. "I could not call Telco for assistance. I had to call a friend.'' HANDICAP HAN