•In Kenya, there are about 500 qualified sign language interpreters serving the needs of over 260,000 people with hearing impairments, according to the Kenya Sign Language Interpreters Association.
•Local TV station Signs Media launched Assistallapp, a mobile phone app that allows deaf people to connect with interpreters.
People with hearing loss could access cheaper internet for video calls if a proposal they made is adopted by the Communication Authority.
The proposal requires telephone companies to include a category for a disability during SIM card registration.
Those registering as deaf would get highly subsidised internet because they do not make voice-only phone calls.
“Deaf people normally make video calls instead of the normal voice calls because video allows for signs. But video is extremely expensive,” said Habel Ouma, vice-chairperson of the United Disabled Persons of Kenya, the Nairobi-based umbrella body that made the proposal.
He added: “Sim card registration should have a category for deaf persons so that they can get a waiver when calling other deaf people through videos.”
Ouma spoke in Nairobi when local TV station Signs Media launched Assistallapp, a mobile phone app that allows deaf people to connect with interpreters.
In Kenya, there are about 500 qualified sign language interpreters serving the needs of over 260,000 people with hearing impairments, according to the Kenya Sign Language Interpreters Association.
Interpreters are mainly located in urban areas and the high cost of the services places them out of reach to low income and rural populations.
The app is seeking to close this gap. It’s a mobile taxi-kind of service where a deaf person instantly requests an interpreter through the app.
However, speakers noted Kenya has one of the world’s most expensive data rates.
According to the Worldwide Mobile Data Pricing 2021 report by British technology research firm Cable, Kenya has the most expensive data in East Africa.
The country ranked 118 in a list of 230 countries worldwide, from the cheapest to the most expensive for mobile data.
As a result, 72 per cent of disabled people do not use smartphones, according to Martin Karanja, the director of GSMA innovation fund and ecosystem accelerator at GSMA Mobile for Development.
“The mobile ownership gap of disabled people is 11 per cent. The gap widens in smartphone ownership to 72 per cent. We have done proper research on these numbers,” Karanja said.
Communication Authority said the idea to force telcos lower data costs for certain disabled people would be considered.
“We have noted the lack of access in mobile to disabled people. We will be looking at access to devices in underserved areas,” said Peter Ikimilu, an acting assistant director of multimedia services at CA.
He also noted the possibility of introducing Video Relay Services where a deaf person would sign to the relay officer via video call who, using their voice, relays the conversation to the other person on the phone.
“I will consult further and we can see how we can use the universal service fund to finance it,” he said.
The Assistallapp was launched by Maureen Mbaka, CAS in the Ministry of ICT.