TOTAL CONVERSATION the myFriend Network

1. TOTAL CONVERSATIONthe myFriend Network July 2012 Gloucestershire Deaf Association and Deaf Studies Trust Supported by University of Bristol Centre for Deaf Studies

2. It is very simple • Take the 2.5 million (or so) users of voice phones (mobile and fixed line) in the area and connect them to all the people who have difficulty in hearing • Introduce all the Deaf and hard of hearing people to a new form of video telecommunications which allows them to speak, lip-read, read/write the text and see the other person during the call • Remove the cost barriers to use, so that the development will be truly enabling • And THEN we have a truly equitable society

3. The Pilot Project REACH112 (Responding to all citizens needing help) a three-year project part funded by the European Commission under the ICT PSP CIP programme. 22 partners from all over Europe, including user organisations and major global telecommunications companies – Vodafone (Spain), Siemens, France Telecom, Nokia.Large scale: €8.8m UK component: €2.4m Now myFriend Network is taking this forward. www.reach112.eu

4. In a nutshell • over 1700 home or personal installations of TC and around 400 RTT TC installations • supplied equipment or free downloads to PC, laptop, netbook or Android Smartphone • TC relay service – free to users during the project trial • a new telephone system • installations of TC in contact centres for direct calling • interface to textphones & text relay & 999 • no 3G mobile services? - reverts to text communication • feedback by calling 55117788 or by email to support@myfriendcentral.com • training for relay agents – sign language interpreters, lip-speakers and speech to text operators • Evaluation and business plan

5. What it looks like

6. Total Conversation Infrastructure

7. Total Conversation is in • Emergency services – Gloucester Tri-Service, Avon & Somerset Police, Avon Fire & Rescue • Blaenau Gwent Contact Centre • Bridgend Council – walk in service • Neath one-stop shop Soon • Welsh Ambulance – through ABM Health Trust and Audiology (Bridgend) • Welsh Blood Service

8. website for download – www.myfriendcentral.com Sign language explanation Feature list for software Calendar for relay availability

9. What REACH112 delivered in the five pilots in Europe in 12 months • Nearly 7,500 registered end users • over 970,000 Total Conversation calls • over 124,000 relay calls were made • that is, more than 100,000 hearing people were impacted as well as Deaf and hard of hearing people • Significant progress was made in access to emergency – in training, in awareness, in protocols – over 70 real calls processed

10. Voices • I phoned the doctor to make an appointment and the surgery had to call me back. Before TC I wasn’t able to make an appointment via the telephone but was able to call them directly, receive a call-back and book an appointment for the same afternoon. With TC the barriers to communication were gone.

11. A Deaf man visited a friend at the Hospice who was dying of cancer. He brought his smart phone and connected with a friend who lived far away. His dying friend was very pleased to see her friend on the video screen and communicated in sign language. It may be the last time for them to see each other. This Deaf man was moved to tears.

12. When I was at the leisure centre with my children, I received a video call from a friend. We instantly communicated using sign language on a face-to-face basis. It was amazing as I felt very equal with hearing people who speaks naturally on their mobile phones. Other hearing people who were with me were amazed and really thought it was innovative.

13. Case Studies • Sven got a TC device for home use and one for his hearing sister and her family. He bought a TC license for his parents. Sven uses voice with his family, has sign from his mother & sister but lipreads his father. Sven used textphone in the past – OK, but TC gave the extra dimension facial expressions & sign language

14. Cases – not all easy • Mary has a severe hearing loss and a sight problem. She also is a slow learner. After trying a videophone, we gave her a larger screen laptop. Never having had a computer, she did not understand how the mouse moves a pointer on screen. She called friends but was upset that they did not call her back. When introduced to the relay service, she could not follow what was going on. It became clear that she was not actually understanding the signing but trying to lip-read and to speak to the interpreter. • No breakthrough yet.

15. Relay Service Models in use Models are reversible – ie hearing voice caller to Deaf end-user – the greater impact is the number of hearing people contacted through relay – 5 times the number of active Deaf users Relay agents can see/manage all incoming calls 24 hour service – defaulting to text relay (a) when out of reach of 3G and (b) when no TC agent available Models also tested for speech/lip-reading and speech-to-text agents

16. Simple Sign-Relay Model myFriend mobile (smartphone) or myFriend (PC) Relay Centre: sign language or text or speech Centre-based relay agent To voice phone users

17. InterpretersBristol, Cardiff, Gloucester, N Wales Multiple TC callers Relay Central Relay agents in different locations GP Make appointments NHS Direct

18. Enabling health access in the community

19. Remote access - VRI Deaf person and health professional in same location Interpreter hears, speaks and signs – or uses speech to text Relay Centre: sign language

20. A&E access Lip-speech; speech to text Voice, text, gesture - signing HoH text or speech A&E case notes through interpreter Relay Centre: sign language

21. Cost Savings – Efficiency gains

22. Costs • Depends on extent of application – various options shown in the documents • Council-wide model – Around £500 per month – on-demand relay service • Individual user model - £9 per month for support for less able adults • Friends and family use free TCphone version