Back in November last year, deaf would-be iPhone users highlighted the lack of a data-only AT&T plan for the Apple cellphone, after the carrier began to sell a voice-only contract.  Now, a mere five months later, AT&T have released details of their Text Accessibility Plan (TAP), designed for those who are deaf, hard of hearing, have a speech disability and/or hearing loss.  Apparently created “with input from the community”, the new tariff costs $40 a month.

That $40 gets you the same unlimited data and visual voice mail as the standard iPhone contracts, together with unlimited SMS messaging.  Voice calls are charged at $0.40 a minute, presumably for both incoming and outgoing calls.  A two-year contract is also required.

However, AT&T are requiring customers to file disability certification forms [pdf link] before they can sign up to the plan.  That includes getting official confirmation of the hearing or speech problem from a professional the carrier deems appropriate:

“A certifying agent must be a qualified health care professional, audiologist or hearing health professional, speech or language therapist/specialist, representative of an institution, agency or non-profit 510c3 organization actively engaged in work in the disability area specified by the applicant. A certifying agent must have direct knowledge or documentation of the applicant’s condition or functional limitation” AT&T disability certification form

Users activate their iPhone in the normal way, then send off the certification form.  AT&T review it, and then - assuming the customer qualifies - switch them to the TAP plan.  Now I’m not deaf and as such I’ve not had to fill out such a form before, but it all looks very complicated; I’d appreciate someone letting me know in the comments whether this is par for the course or been made unusually difficult by AT&T.