New York Metro Transit Systems Add Sign Language Interpreters on request
This is a classic experience in New York. The subway rods and suddenly the train stops. The lights are extinguished and it looks like you are trapped between the stations in a tunnel. For many New Yorkers, hardened for years of bad weather, prevailing garbage and joint cohabitation with rats, this is just another recurring event that has made less nervous destruction than experience. But for Jarru Musano, stuck on a train to the south 6, which had lost power, there was a little relief. Musano was born deaf and audio announcements were not helpful. Musano saw nothing in the darkness and had to rely on measuring the amount of panic in his environment.
“I knew that if it was serious, people would move fast,” he recalled the incident. Musano’s experience reflects one of the many ways in which people who have disabilities and more considerable, who are difficult, have difficulty in using public transport. Musano is CEO of ConvoA company that was founded in 2009 and connects people with signboards on request. The company is today partnership With the transit body of New York, New Jersey Transit and the port administration of New York and New Jersey, which wears its service at airports, trains and other major transit centers. This includes the metro system of Sofia Transport (MTA), Long Island’s railway and njtransit.
Through this partnership, QR codes will be placed in different places in these systems and their scanning will launch the Convo web application via browser. The user will be asked to provide access to their microphone and camera and then be connected to an interpreter of the Language Language in real time on their devices. This, of course, requires people to have mobile phones or tablets with working Internet connections that may not always be reliable. However, it is worth noting that MTA adds Wi-Fi cover to the metro stations to its network. Plus, many of these QR codes are placed on customer service cabins that have hand gadgets that could provide access.
Convo and its partners have conducted pilot tests at Penn Station, Times Square and Terminal Port Authority Terminal for months and in a press release that consumers generally report that “feelings of empowerment, involvement and newly discovered confidence in the interaction with transit personnel. “The company added that 44 of 47 users were able to successfully have access to the service during the pilot.
There are a number of reasons that use a translator in sign language would be more effective and effective than, say, write messages to your phone and pass them on to another person to read. First, for many deaf individuals, the language is their native language and it would be more intuitive to express themselves in this way than to write in English. The language of the signs also has a different syntax from English. The translator of the signs can also help translate as a deaf person signs, as well as while a hearing person speaks, which can reduce the dissatisfaction and time spent in transmitting a phone back -behind. It may feel reassuring and reassuring that there is a translator who understands what you are communicating, and since they are likely to be quite familiar with the situation, the translator can also help share information they already know from context and experience.
I went to look for these QR codes when I was in the Moynihan train hall this weekend and after I noticed the first ticket counters in the Lirr service area, I started to notice them everywhere. I counted a total of five of the small green squares and after scanning one, I was brought to my browser Convo page, which showed an explanation and tips for better service. I didn’t want to waste the time of a translator, so I stopped afterwards.
It should be noted that as a T-Mobile user I often lose my signal in the Moynihan train room and should use the public Wi-Fi at the station, which, according to my experience, has an unreliable speed.
This is one of the challenges that you will have to fight and work with, as the service reaches more people. “As we unfold this on MTA, we will learn the types of behaviors, the types of requests, the types of challenges we will face,” Musano said when I asked if languages ​​other than American sign would be supported. So far, ASL is default, although Convo should not stretch too hard to find translators for British, and more. In fact, Convo is already working with large networks in countries such as Australia and the United Kingdom, with Musano saying that he has partnerships with British Airlines, Aer Lingus, the British Railway and others.
The Convo Service at New York and New Jersey Transit Systems is free, and its Convo app already provides 20 free minutes a month to all users who need translators in signs.
This article originally appeared at Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/new-york-tro-tro-transit-stems-add-on-demand-sign-langaage-interpreters-152034505.html
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