One recent example regarding communication part. I had a hearing person with me as an advocate to help me out. When the staff realized this person was hearing, s/he refused to write on paper and practically forced this hearing person to interpret for me even if s/he was uncomfortable and informed the staff that s/he was not there to interpret for me. We tried several times but this staff refused to respect my preferred communication method and we had to go along with it or leave with my questions/issues unanswered for the purpose of my important SSA visit. 

They have a special machine where you can communicate with the staff. It's not 100% perfect though because if you're trying to type a longer message or explanation, it gets cut off as you continue typing. The keyboard is bulky and causes a lot of typos. This is why I've continued to use paper/pen as my method of communication since we can see all of the messages clearly and point to a part if it's needed during our conversation. 

They do provide ASL interpreters. That's one of the positive things. However, SSA doesn't always give you enough time to request for one if there's a short deadline for turning in important paperwork or it's urgent to fix an error in order to receive your monthly benefit.