Videophones and broadband connections are base of new Welsh product for the deaf

Here’s some assistive technology news from across the pond.

SignWales
has launched a video telephony project which has, on its surface, some interesting appeal for the approximately 2,400 Welsh people who are deaf and use sign language.

According to the article linked above, the product will use videophones that “will allow deaf people to communicate with each other in sign language at a distance and also to talk with the hearing community through the use of online interpreters.”

The project uses the strength and speed of broadband internet technology, aspiring to link the hearing and deaf world.

Additionally, the article states, “SignWales also offers daily news in sign language at the touch of a button, through a special server which makes the connections for the users.”

This promising project embraces sign language as the preferred communication tool of the deaf community. The primary cost that I can see will be for the videophones and the connection the service will require up front, as well as the on-going cost of the interpreters who will be what appear to be intermediaries when users communicate with hearing parties.

This is a very interesting project and only time will tell how it grows.