A new app called Jeenie, available for iOS or Android users, provides access to an ASL interpreter on demand, according to an article on Fast Company.
For about $1 per minute—or less, depending on the chosen plan—a user can press a button to start a video call, and an interpreter will appear in less than one minute, 24 hours a day. The service was created as an alternative to TRS or video relay services, which are more complex and expensive than what someone might need for an in-person conversation with a retail store clerk or restaurant server, for example.
“As we poked around in the language service provider world, we saw very expensive fees for in-person interpreters, $90 to $125 an hour, on average,” Kirsten Brecht Baker, the company’s CEO and cofounder, was quoted in the article as saying.
According to Fast Company, the company envisions working with public-serving businesses and organizations, who, as a requirement of the Americans with Disabilities Act, must provide accommodation to deaf customers.
To read the article in its entirety, please click here.
Source: Fast Company
Image: © Filip Uhlir | Dreamstime.com
