Sign Wales Video Telephony Service Announced

New video telephony service for deaf people announced

Press Release

For a hundred years, hearing people's telecommunications have been based on voice; now in a unique development, deaf people in Wales are about to receive a voice ... through the use of vision.

Sign Wales, a Cardiff-based social enterprise, set up by the Deaf Association of Wales and Deaf Studies Trust has created a new concept in videotelephony which 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. With support from BT and SME business support champions Business in Focus it has been possible to set up the trials in South Wales. Now deaf people can phone each other using their own language.

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 important and life-enriching feature of the new service connects deaf people to not only news but also a range of information from companies and local authorities who must by law include deaf signers in their distribution. What is additionally unique in SignWales is the ease with which business and public bodies can supply this information and talk directly to deaf customers and clients.

One supporter of the SignWales initiative is business woman Sarah Lawrence. Aged 28 years Sarah owns Deaf-Friendly Solutions, an in-service training business for deaf and hearing organisations.

Sarah said, “If only there was an immediately available interpreting service, I could reach people and they could reach me - much more easily. SignWales can provide that for me - it will be a significant boost to the business.”

A preview of the new Sign Wales service took place at the BT Showcase at the company's International Data Centre in Cardiff Bay on July 18. Participants were able to see the new service and the technology that will be used. Guests witnessed deaf people communicating at a distance in sign language, the use of video mail to leave messages, the daily news in sign language and contact with a deaf call centre and remote interpreters, providing the link to the hearing world. All of this was achieved at the press of a button on the videophone screen.

Jim Kyle, Project Director, Sign Wales said, “In Wales, there are around 2,400 Deaf members of the deaf community who use sign language. Around 1,200 households will benefit immediately from a videophone. Since deaf people tend to have hearing children and relatives and since they will also need to have videophones at work, and in public places the user group rises to around 4,000. If we include hard of hearing people, who do not use sign language but who cannot use a voice telephone effectively there are at least another 150,000 users (according to the Welsh Health Census).

With partners AuPix (the UK's only designer of videophones) BT and Business in Focus, we have been working very hard to develop a service that meets the needs of deaf people. SignWales is the solution.”

Ann Beynon, BT Director Wales, said: "BT is proud of the products and services it provides to it's disabled customers and believes the kind of work being undertaken by Sign Wales is an excellent development and will help to improve communications for deaf and hard of hearing people."