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August 27, 2004

Sprint's work to help deaf earns award

From: Kansas City Star, MO - Aug 27, 2004

The Kansas City Star

The National Association of the Deaf has given Sprint Corp. its President's Award to honor the company's "exceptional service to the association" and the deaf and hearing-impaired communities.

Overland Park-based Sprint has been the leader in providing innovative relay services nationwide for 14 years, the association said.

"We are grateful for Sprint's strong confidence in the NAD over the years," said Andy Lange, president of the association.

Sprint provides relay services to the federal government, 31 states, Puerto Rico and New Zealand through a portfolio of communication services.

Traditional relay services involve a relay operator serving as an intermediary for phone calls between a deaf, hearing-impaired or speech-disabled user and a hearing party. The operator speaks words typed by a deaf user on a text telephone or on the Internet and relays the hearing person's spoken response by typing back to the deaf user. Sprint also offers a video relay service and an online service.

"Receiving this recognition is quite an honor, and we value our strong relationship" with the association, said Mike Ligas, region vice president for Sprint Relay. "Sprint is extremely proud of the innovative ways we've met the communications needs of our deaf and hard of hearing customers."

© 2004 Kansas City Star and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.