What do you think of when you think of hearing loss?
- A person who is deaf?
- Someone who uses sign language?
In fact, everyone who has even the slightest difficulty hearing is hard of hearing.
The person who is totally deaf is called "Deaf" as you may have imagined.
People who are completely deaf are called "Deaf" and people with severe hearing loss, who can hardly hear at all, have difficulty communicating by voice.
In particular, people who are congenitally deaf have no knowledge of sounds, so it is difficult for them to speak.
The language they speak is sign language.
However, there are not so many people who can handle sign language.
Just as we cannot learn to speak English immediately, sign language also takes quite some time to learn.
In this article, we will introduce a company called ShuR, which provides remote sign language interpretation services.
If you are talking to a Deaf or severely hard of hearing person and they can use sign language, ShuR's service will enable you to communicate smoothly with them!
Sign language services are summarized in "For services using Japanese Sign Language and sign language interpretation services".
Please refer to it.
Current Status of Sign Language
When it comes to means of communication for the hard of hearing, sign language! Some of you may have an image like this.
Sign language is used especially by those with severe hearing loss.
It is estimated that there are about 23,000 "deaf" people in Japan who cannot hear any sound at all.
However, this number is only an estimate and has not been precisely surveyed.
It is also estimated that there are 20 million people with hearing loss.
So how many people use sign language as a daily communication tool?
The exact number is not known, but it is estimated that about 80,000 people use sign language.
About 15% of the Japanese population is hard of hearing (whether they are aware of it or not), but only 0.06% of the Japanese can use sign language.
You can see that not many people with hearing loss can use sign language.
To put it simply
Suppose you speak only Japanese.
You move to a city in Bangladesh with a population of 10,000, and there are only six Bangladeshis among you who speak Japanese.
Everyone else speaks only Bengali.
Now go out there and make a living! It is the same thing as saying, "I'm not going to do it.
You can see how difficult it is for a Deaf or severely hard of hearing person who uses sign language to communicate.
By the way, technically you can hear sounds, so you will eventually understand what Bengali is saying.
The hard of hearing and Deaf people are in an even more difficult environment because they can't get used to it.
About ShuR Corporation
ShuR Inc. will be a company that provides services for this 0.06% of the population.
Click here to visit the ShuR Inc. website >>>
A person with hearing loss requested a sign language interpreter at a municipal office in Osaka, but the office did not respond to his request, instead using written communication, and he was instructed that this lacked reasonable accommodation.
To a person who can hear, the difference between sign language interpretation and written communication may not be apparent.
However, the speed of speech and the expression of one's intentions are very different between the two.
In addition, a person with a severe condition may be able to speak and hear some sounds, and may want sign language as an aid.
It is not that they cannot hear at all, so they do not want to be addressed by written communication.
This is a wonderful company that takes away the hassle of arranging a sign language interpreter, as Osaka City does, in accordance with reasonable considerations.
About ShuR's services
What kind of services does ShuR offer?
- Mobile signing (remote sign language interpretation)
- SLinto
Let's take a closer look at these services.
Mobile Signing
Since there are various usage scenarios for mobile signing, the service is divided into the following categories.
Face-to-face Interpretation
Remote sign language interpreting where tablets or other devices are installed in places where there is face-to-face business, such as train stations, town hall counters, stores, etc., to accommodate people with hearing disabilities.
Call center interpreting
This is a service in which a contact point is opened on behalf of a company for people with hearing disabilities who are unable to make telephone inquiries, etc., and the service is handled in sign language.
ShuR will connect you to the company's customer service via videophone.
Telephone Relay
This service is commissioned by the Nippon Foundation's [Telephone Relay Service] to listen to requirements from hearing-impaired persons in sign language or text, and make calls on their behalf.
SLinto
SLinto is --- an online sign language dictionary with a sign language keyboard.
So there is a dictionary for sign language after all!
I didn't know this either.
This one seems to be called the Wikipedia of sign language, and is one of the world's largest online databases of sign language words.
The services of SLinto are as follows.
Look up a sign language
As a sign language dictionary, it is naturally possible to look up sign languages.
However, until now, sign language dictionaries have not been able to look up Japanese from signs.
We have developed a keyboard that allows you to enter signs based on the shape and position of your hands, and look up Japanese words based on the movements of your hands.
This is amazing!
If you don't know what the other person is saying, you have no choice but to ask him or her to write it down, but this service makes sign language easier to understand!
Of course, you can also look up sign language from Japanese.
Registering Sign Language
Proper nouns and technical terms take time to register as words and are difficult to look up.
SLinto allows you to add your own unregistered words.
Everyone appreciates sign language.
Wikipedia can be edited by many different people as long as they are registered.
SLinto also allows anyone to add new words, to correct sign language mistakes that have been registered, and to register good sign language ideas as they arise.
This makes the dictionary more accurate.
These are the main services of ShuR.
Conclusion
ShuR Corporation, I hope you are all interested.
It is difficult to communicate with Deaf people using sign language.
If you can do it by yourself, of course, there is no better way.
However, it is very difficult to do so.
Personally, I think it is cool when I see people speaking in sign language on the street, but I cannot sign at all.
I hope that you will use ShuR's services to make reasonable accommodations.
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