Texting turns up the volume for the hearing-impaired.
January 29, 2010 by TextMagicPR
Mobile phones have become the dominant mode of communication around the world and have introduced a broad spectrum of new ways in which people interact with eachother. Nowadays, companies can capture their targeted audience in a matter of seconds and friends can send urgent messages to eachother while on the road. But an often overlooked advantage of SMS technology is the efficiency in communication that it has brought to people with disabilities. For a hearing impaired person, SMS offers a way to communicate accurately and quickly and has subsequently become the most popular mobile solution for this demographic. And layering a service like TextMagic's Email to SMS can enhance the solution by allowing consumers to create longer, more emotional texts.
As it turns out, SMS has also improved communications for people with disabilities other than hearing. In a recent post by news commentator, Patricia E. Bauer, she sites how a mother in the U.S. reported that texting has allowed her autistic son to communicate effectively for the first time ever. The fact that SMS could open the doors of communication and be more than just a convenient mobile tool validates the TextMagic business model. In a survey conducted over the last two months to TextMagic customers, we came across several visually impaired people who have incorporated our service into their everyday communication. We tend to take the physical ability to text for granted, however, it is extremely challenging for someone visually impaired to compose a text message on a tiny mobile keypad. Almost impossible to create one that is precise.
Prior to discovering the Email to SMS service, TetxMagic customer, Philip Congreave, had little success with text messaging. "I used to try sending messages on my mobile but it was a very tedious process and very frustrating. Using TextMagic is similar to using an email program with Inbox, Outbox and Sent Items Folders and a Send/ Receive facility. Being able to use a full keyboard makes composing very easy." Mr. Congreave suggested using TextMagic with a screen-reading program such as Thunder which reads the words in the edit window aloud.
We invite you to learn more ways SMS is helping people with disabilities connect in a whole new way and to share your own experiences.
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