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In practice it's really not that hard. We had a rotary phone until I was a teenager and never had any of these issues.

Also note that 10 digit dialing for all numbers is a fairly recent thing. We had 7 and 5 digit dialing - less to remember where you are in dialing.

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Reading between the lines of gmueckl's post a little, it's not hard for most people, but there are several aspects to the process that would challenge people with one or more disabilities:

> Mobility and dexterity, being able to dial the dials

> Memory and cognition, remembering where you are in the process

> (he didn't mention this) Sight, being able to see the dial accurately and consistently

I was also able to use the dial phone as a kid, but I'm glad it's gone, too.

(By the way, is there any way to make a bulleted list in hackernews text?)

Where I live, the phone system started with 3 and 4 digit numbers for the local area. Calling another area code adds 5 digits. Local numbers have grown to 6 or 7 digits since then. So numbers that have to be dialed are often around 11 or 12 digits these days.

I did learn using the rotary phone and had little trouble using it, but I quite distinctly remember falling into all of the traps that I listed for some reason or another.

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