"New" communications facilities for deaf are introduced in Russia
People with hearing impairment are going to have a new service of MGTS in the immediate future. They should communicate with each other using special telephones with text screen or, bluntly speaking, textophones. But deaf people themselves are not so happy. They explain that such kind of connection should have been introduced 15 years ago.
That novelty is a telephone detachable device with a keyboard and can be connected up to telephone circuit and computer. These devices are going to be distributed within deaf communities. But representatives of these communities think about this novelty with skepticism. All-Russian society of deaf people informed that the problem of creation of something like that had appeared 15 years ago. The first model of telephone with creeping line has been developed in Permian telephone factory "TELPA" in 1990. But it was not being sold well. The price of that device was too high. 5-6 times as much than average pension. In contrast to other hardware that deaf men take for free this device was distributed only for money.
Other developments were just modifications of the first textophone. About 1000 "Dialogs" were distributed in Moscow as the experiment.
During last 15 years technologies grew very high. The price of "Dialog" is 5000 rubles. You can buy a cell phone for that money with all functions, including SMS. And in comparison with mobile phone textophone has some serious disadvantages: first, you can use it only at home, and second, it is not so easy to read messages from display of "Dialog".
"Our main goal is to integrate invalids with other society, - All-Russian society of deaf people informs, - but in this case invalid should communicate only with the other invalid."
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