The Freedom Reader

  As a student of American Sign Language I have researched video relay services offered to the Deaf community. It is not difficult to imagine how easily a Blind/Visually impaired relay service could be implemented given advancements in modern cellular phone technology and improvements of 3G connection speeds capable of 1.5 megabits per second and more.

    Though currently just a concept, we envision such a system would employ a cellular phone and camera combination with a simplified key pad containing three major buttons - PHOTO/SEND, VOICE CALL, and RECEIVE. 

PHOTO/SEND: This button would photograph the print document (menu, mail, recipe, etc.) and then automatically send the image to the Relay service provider.

RECEIVE: Within seconds of receiving the image, the Relay provider would call the Blind sender and read the document to them over the phone.

VOICE CALL: This button would be used by the Blind/Visually imparied person to make personal phone calls through a voice activated contact list.

It is important to note that such relay services already exist and implementation of the service could be done on a trial basis with existing cellular phones donated by services providers on a trial basis. Such phones could be chosen for their simplicity and the associated buttons could be marked using adhesive Braille stickers or some other simplistic method.

Sorenson Video Relay Service is the service that I have researched.