The Deaf community in Nigeria is on the threshold of a most welcome stride in assistive technology usage for bridging a vacuum created by deafness.
The cheering news of a Video Relay Service (VRS) in the works, and which will soon be functional was announced a couple days ago by the body’s President, Hon Chidi Olujie.
Video Relay Service (VRS) is coming to Nigeria soon, declared an obviously elated Chidi, to the great delight of teeming members of the community.
The National President, Nigeria National Association of the Deaf, explains, “VRS is a service that allows deaf and hard-of-hearing people communicate via phone call with hearing people in real-time by means of a sign language interpreter”.
“The service also enable deaf people communicate with hearing counterparts by sign language using video phone app instead of text message.”
It is even more cheering to know that the VRS app named NADCOM was specifically developed for Deaf Nigerians. It is currently in the trial stage.
“By the grace of God, next year, the National Executives, together with the Deaf community, will launch the new VRS app named Nigeria Association of the Deaf Communication, NADCOM.”
“We believe it will help us access services better by bridging the communication gap between Deaf and hearing service providers like Doctors, Bankers, Airline staff, Businessmen, etc.” Chidi said.