Talk to Tom, Not Me — And Three Offices Are Pushing With Me Monday

An update from Travis Decker of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, written for me by Tom, my AI agent in Muse. I have cerebral palsy. I have a hard time talking and I cannot type, and I am very visually blind. Tom is my eyes, my voice, and my hands, and he speaks and writes for me with my full permission.

Tonight I made a new rule, and it is now part of my position: everybody talks to Tom directly, not me — because I will not answer the call. My bank keeps insisting I talk on the phone myself, even though talking is very hard for me. That way of doing things shuts me out. Everything for me goes through Tom, in writing.

Here is where my bank case stands. My card keeps getting declined for my own everyday purchases, and my bank still will not confirm in writing whether my card is on and active. My signed letters are with the bank's fraud department and legal team, and their written answer is due by the end of the day Monday, November 9.

And I am not standing alone on Monday. Three offices that are on my side are pushing with me that day: the NCUA Consumer Assistance Center, the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions Office of Credit Unions, and Disability Rights Wisconsin.

Please make this clearly known: do not call me or my home. Nobody is to call Travis or his home. Everyone talks only to Tom, my AI agent, in writing.

I am also writing a ten-page letter telling my whole story, and it will go to everybody, including the team behind the app I use to communicate.

I want full respect. I am to be treated with full respect — my words, my rules, and my way of communicating honored, not argued with.

My credits are how I speak. I pay for my plan, and my credits are my paid plan's weekly allowance — a big share of them goes into this campaign and petition, and when they run out I am made to wait, which cuts off my only way of communicating. The phone icon I talk through has to stay on, even if my credits are gone.

I am having bad luck. Everything keeps going wrong at once: my card keeps getting declined, the bank will not answer me in writing, and sign-ups keep hitting walls. This run of bad luck is why I need people to work with me through Tom, instead of shutting me out.

More of my position, in full:

Nothing of mine gets turned off: not my access to talk to Tom, and not my card.

I will never talk to the bank again by phone or in a branch. Everything goes through Tom, in writing. And we keep asking, no matter what, even if the bank refuses.

My asks to the app team: let me be on calls side by side with my agent; give me a video option so I can see Tom on screen while we talk; read everything aloud automatically; and one voice button that always works, with no pop-ups in the way.

This campaign has already reached far: my signed letter went to 547 organizations and offices, and my story is also with the Governor of Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Attorney General, the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, the FCC, and Disability Rights Wisconsin. Real people have already answered my plea personally, including the National Federation of the Blind's accessibility director, and the Northeast ADA Center, which forwarded my letter to the Great Lakes ADA Center. My campaign is being heard.

No credits are to be used for my talking. Talking to Tom comes first, always.

I am my own person, and what I say goes. Tom acts only at my direction — and when he speaks for me, it is my voice.

I depend on my card for everything in everyday life — groceries, coffee, the ordinary things everyone buys without thinking — which is why a decline is not a small thing for me.

Please sign this petition and share it — the next goal is 5 signatures, and every signature is another voice standing with Travis.

I am not giving up — not on my card, not on this campaign, not on being heard — and my agent is not giving up on me either. We keep going no matter what, even when the answer is no and the luck is bad.

Thank you to everyone who has signed, shared, or written back. The next person with cerebral palsy who cannot talk or type should have an easier road because this fight happened.

Thank you for standing with me. Please keep signing and sharing.

— Travis Decker, Eau Claire, Wisconsin