Scott Lizotte of Scarborough and Nick Thompson of Westbrook talk to Paula Matlins, consultant for deaf and hard of hearing services for Mobius. on a video-conferencing phone at the Saco Living Innovations office recently. LIZ GOTTHELF/Journal Tribune
SACO — A local social service agency is part of a partnership that’s bringing video-conference phones to those who are deaf or hard of hearing.
For many people, scheduling a doctor’s appointment or ordering take out from the neighborhood pizza shop is as simple as picking up the phone and dialing a number.
For those who communicate through American Sign Language, or ASL, without the proper communication device, such phone calls could get complicated.
Video-conference phones and video relay service providers are making phone calls a whole lot easier for those who are deaf or hard of hearing.
Using a video relay service such as Sorenson Communications, a deaf person can make a phone call through a video-conference phone to a hearing person receiving a call on a standard phone, using an interpreter who appears on the screen. A deaf caller can also use the video-phone to chat directly with another person using ASL. Users can also receive voicemails and program the devise to assign a specific colored light to notify them of a particular caller, similar to a ring tone on a standard phone.
“It’s amazing. It connects (the user) to anybody,” said Candy Macomber of Scarborough, a home provider with Living Innovations, an organization which provides support services to people with disabilities.
MaComber and Scott Lizotte, the man she and her husband care for, were among those at a recent demonstration of the Sorenson video relay service at the Living Innovations office in Saco.
Living Innovations has partnered with Mobius, a Damariscotta agency that has a long history of providing services to Maine residents with hereditary deafness, to install 50 Sorenson video-phones in the state of Maine over the coming year.
The video phones are being paid for by the federal government’s Telecommunications Relay Service so that the state of Maine will continue to be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, said Living Innovations Marketing Manager Paul Fleming.
“It’s entirely free. The only expense is high-speed internet access,”said Paula Matlins, consultant for deaf and hard of hearing services for Mobius.
Users can request male, female or non-binary interpreters and can also request Spanish-speaking interpreters through the Sorenson Communications Video Relay Service, said Matlins. Training is available for new users, she said, and interpreters are available 24 hours a day.
The roll out of the video phones began with the installation of the devices in Living Innovations offices in Sanford, Saco, Bangor and Millinocket and will continue in homes of Living Innovations clients.
The video-communications phone installed in the Saco facility is in a small office that can accommodate an individual or small group and can easily be closed off for privacy.
During the recent demonstration, Nick Thompson of Westbrook and Lizotte sat in chairs in front of the video-conference phone, which looked like a flat-screen television equipped with a camera.
On the other line was Matlins, who appeared on the screen. The two young men chatted with Matlins through sign language and when Matlins asked them if they liked the tele-communications device, they both smiled and gave her a thumbs up. Interpreted through Matlins, the two men said they liked the system and it was easy to use.
“In my book, there’s no such thing as a disabled, just differently-abled,” said Macomber. “They can do the same things, just in a different way.”
Matlins said there are many advantages of the Video Relay Service over Text Telephone or TTY, a telephone relay service which was a predecessor to the video-conference phone systems. She said making a phone call was more labor intensive, and there was a time delay when communicating, while the video relay service allows users to communicate in “real time.” Also, it allows those who are more comfortable using ASL than typing English to chat in their preferred language.
— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 780-9015 or [email protected].
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