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Adapted Telephones
Note: please also see: http://www.infinitec.org/totalresource/deaf/telecom.htm
When is the last time you shopped for telecommunication
devices? The field is greatly expanded and offers a whole barrage
of assisted devices recently released into today's market that give
disabled consumers more independence. An important note:
in July of 1999, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ruled
that future telecommunications devices must have accessibility
features (wherever they are readily achievable). See the FCC's Disabilities
Issues Task Force Web site for details: http://www.fcc.gov.
The new ruling will allow more people to use a phone with greater
ease and independence.
The SBC Special Needs Center is an
international entity facilitated by Hi Tech Communications. The
Center provides information about communication equipment designed
to assist people who are deaf, hard of hearing, visually impaired,
speech impaired, or who have limited mobility. Their job is to match
appropriate devices with consumers.
- Assistive Devices for hard of hearing and deafness
include clocks and wake-up devices, personal emergency response
systems (PERS), cordless amplified telephones, personal listening
systems, portable TTYs, PC platform TTYs, caller identification
that announces the caller's name and number, etc. (Some devices
for hard of hearing will also benefit those with blindness.
- Devices for consumers with blindness
or visual impairments range from screen-readers and magnifiers
to talking telephones and dialing accessories, talking note takers
and data assistants, video magnification products, closed-caption
television sets, and voice caller ID units.
- Assistive devices for speech include agumentative
communication, amplified speech, telephone handsets, anti-stuttering
devices, artificial larynx, and speech amplifiers.
- People with limited mobility can find safety
devices, as well as special phone rests and brackets, and voice-activated
telephones. To learn more, visit: http://www.hitec.com/cgi-bin/hitec.storefront/en/usertemplate/45?site=Hitec
or call: Call 1-800-433-8505 V/TTY.
Just whistle
. . . or speak, make a sound, or use a switch to dial, answer, or
hang up your telephone. Ablephone produces three types of voice-activated
telephones for people with limited mobility. For all the details,
visit:
http://www.ablephone.com
Access phone will soon be available
from Jacques Forest, a medical engineer in Quebec, Canada who has
muscular dystrophy. Access phone is a cellular phone one can keep
powered from their power wheelchair. Also coming soon is an electromechanical
articulated arm, Manipulo, allowing power wheelchair users to grab
and move various objects. Manipulo can be used to eat, drink,
control switches, hold a book or newspaper, water house plants—even
feed and pat pets, etc! This device is also fastened to the wheelchair
to go everywhere the user goes. Manipulo is small, very efficient,
and quiet. Forest has won awards for his inventions. For information,
visit: http://www3.sympatico.ca/alabelle
or email: alabelle@sympatico.ca
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