Face to Face: videophones and equality of access to information for deaf people in Cheshire
| Date | 01 February 1997 |
| Pages | 23-28 |
| Published date | 01 February 1997 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb040629 |
| Author | Jill Nixon,Anne Parker |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management |
Face to Face:
videophones and
equality of access to
information for deaf
people in Cheshire
by Jill Nixon, Projects Officer, Cheshire
County Library Service and Anne
Parker, Project Worker for the 'Face to
Face'
initiative
Jill Nixon begins by describing a project to
exploit new techniques to provide equal
access to information services for people with
hearing disabilities, comparing the use of
Minicoms and videophones. Anne Parker then
provides an account of
the
second Public
Library Development Incentive Scheme
project, 'Face to Face'.
Introduction
The year 1993 marked the beginnings of
a
collabo-
ration between Cheshire's Library Service and the
county's Deaf Society to improve information
provision to the hearing impaired community in
Cheshire.
The Cheshire Deaf Society, agent for social work
support, advice and information in the county,
provided evidence of need. Of the 52,000 people in
Cheshire with a significant hearing loss only 5.9%
were registered disabled, thus having ready access
to sources of
help,
advice and information. The
needs of the remaining
94.1%
were largely unmet.
The Society received over 35,000 calls per year,
mainly for information. Eight thousand people in
Cheshire were unable to use a telephone because
of their deafness. This group of people included
many older people who lived far from the Soci-
ety's three offices.
The Deaf Society had begun to address the prob-
lem of information provision to the isolated deaf
community by the creation of
a
computer-based
bulletin board at its headquarters. External funding
financed the development of a system which was
unique in that the bulletin board was accessible by
text terminals, such as Minicoms, which enable a
deaf person to communicate with the telephone
network. However, further work needed to be done
to develop the content of the bulletin board and a
factor limiting the success of this venture was the
low level of ownership of Minicoms by deaf
people.
The Library Service and Deaf Society shared a
common interest, namely the provision of commu-
nity information and the exploitation of new
technology to that end. A decision was made to
jointly address the problem of information provi-
sion to the deaf community county-wide by
pooling resources. By securing additional funding
the partners were able to embark on a project from
the Public Library Development Incentive Scheme
to explore ways of exploiting new technology to
help overcome the communication barriers created
by hearing disability.
Project aims and objectives
The project's aims were:
• to provide people who are deaf or hard of
hearing with easier access to information
held by the Library Service and the Deaf
Society;
• to increase hearing impaired people's
awareness of, and participation in, the
services offered by both agencies;
• to make libraries more accessible and user-
friendly to a section of the community
whose disabilities and needs are often
overlooked.
To meet these aims six objectives were identified:
• installation of Text Terminal Devices (TTD)
in each of Cheshire's 56 libraries;
• investigate the value of videophones in deaf
communications and compare effectiveness
with use of the Minicom;
• develop the Deaf Society's information
bulletin board (Carnegie Bulletin Board) for
remote access by Minicom (TTD);
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