16 May 2005
People with hearing impairments have received a major IT boost today following the launch of a ground-breaking new program on the Disability Rights Commission's (DRC's) website.
Among the information provided by the new service are 200 pages detailing employment rights presented in British Sign Language (BSL), in a move thought to be the first of its kind in the UK.
The offering caters to people whose first language is BSL and utilises a high quality video clip available through high speed broadband connections.
DRC head of campaigns and marketing, Tom Berry, commented: "We're very proud of the accessibility of the DRC's website - since it was set up, we've been working to ensure it's as user friendly to as many people as possible, as disabled people and those with long-term health conditions have a wide range of communication needs - all of which we need to meet.
"People with a visual impairment, those with a learning disability or mobility impairment have been able to use the site almost from day one.
"But the technology hasn't quite kept pace with our goals - so getting the site user friendly for people using BSL has been an interesting challenge. Getting rights-based information to deaf people in their preferred format is a great step forward and we're looking forward to translating more of the site content into BSL."
This new innovative use of the Internet comes in the wake of requests for information from 3,500 people with hearing impairments in the last 12 months alone.© DeHavilland Information Services plc
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