I loved reading this Fox News story because the owner of an auto shop took the initiative to create a new product because he wanted his shop to communicate with customers who were deaf. As a result, he saw business go up from 2 or 3 deaf customers to 30 per month! It’s a great example of how making your business or Web site accessible can boost a business.
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A great story like that should include stories like ;
A Riverside county judge using a $40 pair of communication devices to communicate with someone contesting her parking ticket.
Deaf Los Angeles students using a CART system to communicate with other students.
St Paul paramedics using a ‘pinkberry’ to communicate with an elderly man stuck in an elevator.
You can call them $40 “knockoffs” but they are as good as , some better than, the ones costing thousands of dollars.
Richard Roehm
I’m impressed with his entrepreneurship, but even more with his going the extra mile to make the service accessible to the deaf/HOH. Most businesses honestly don’t care whether the deaf/HOH can understand and be understood, I don’t think…it’s sad that we have to work so hard to overcome that communication barrier!
For years I didn’t even try…I think I was trained from childhood to not make waves…but that leaves you occasionally feeling like a second-class citizen…and that’s not fair. HOORAY for businesses that reach out! 🙂
Just saw this over Kokonut Pundit, which references the above story. It says that the owner is in talks with Starbucks about carrying the product in their stores. Wow!
Meryl
You may want to take a look at an online forum hosted by one of my clients, ooVoo. It’s at http://forum.oovoo.com/forums/t/173.aspx
ooVoo is an online telecom company that’s making inroads into the deaf community. Up to six people can take part in it at once. Figured you may have an interest.