In September of 2017, a mountain lion chased two deer onto
the athletic field of the California School for the Deaf. An unusual occurrence
to be sure, but a potentially dangerous one for anyone considering going
outside. In an institution where audible alerts are of little use, how best to
warn members of the danger and to stay indoors?
Believe it or not, up until just a few years ago, the answer
would be to send a runner to each of CSD’s classrooms and sign the news in
American Sign Language (ASL). Obviously, that’s an inefficient system that puts
one or more individuals at risk. In the case of more serious threats like armed
shooters, the potential for disaster is huge.
“One time, a few years ago,” says CSD’s Dean of Students,
Ethan Bernstein, “a guy was shooting up into the air with a gun down at the
corner, and Fremont PD came here and said we should shelter in place. We had no
real electronic communication then—people had to walk to each building and
inform them to shelter in place, which is a sketchy solution to be sure.”
In 2014, CSD went about looking for a partner that would
develop an emergency alert system for the school. Ultimately, the video relay
service provider Convo agreed to work with CSD, and during the summer of 2015,
Convo engineers and designers developed an alert system from the ground up.
“This wasn’t an off-the-shelf product,” says Bernstein, “Convo
and CSD worked together to develop it. It had never been done before. This
school was a pilot, but the system is now being implemented in other deaf
schools. It was a pilot and now it’s a model.”
The ConvoAnnounce system that resulted from the collaboration
puts a large video screen in every classroom, office, and dorm room at the
school. Not only is it good for signed announcements and public address
situations, it uses flashing red screens and large block text announcements
that indicate the type of danger, whether the school is in lockdown, whether
evacuation is necessary, and much more. Any staff member supervisor can access
the system at any screen to deliver a preset announcement of create a new one
to fit the situation.
Most hearing people have probably not heard of a Video Relay
System (VRS) of the kind that Convo operates. A VRS allows deaf, hard of
hearing, or speech impaired people to use a video terminal to use sign
language, which an interpreter then communicates verbally with the hearing party.
Convo was in a unique position to provide a solution, not only because of its
experience as a VRS, but also because it is a deaf-owned and signing-centric
company. As brand coordinator Leila Hanaumi explains, “Who knows the deaf community
and it’s challenges better than people who live the experience everyday?”
Convo develops its technology based on the core concept of
the deaf ‘ecosystem.’ That is, in any natural system, individuals, populations,
and communities benefit from the existing mechanisms of resource procurement
and usage. For the deaf, hard of hearing, and speech impaired people that Convo
serves, an environment—an ecosystem—that helps those people as individuals,
populations, and communities find resources, find each other, and find
fulfillment, best assists its constituents in being self-reliant. “We know
firsthand what a positive deaf ecosystem can do for our community,” says
Hanaumi, “It creates opportunities, increases choices, encourages
collaboration, and fosters connection.”
In that vein, the company has recently introduced an app (for
iOS and Android) that not only makes it easy for signers to communicate with
each other and to the hearing via VRS, but also provides videomail and an
extensive directory of deaf-owned and deaf-friendly services. As Hanaumi says, “what
makes this directory so special—and there have been other efforts to do the
same thing—is that we consider regular maintenance and updating of it part of
our job description.”
Another of Convo’s success stories Mozzeria, a deaf-owned pizzeria belonging to Melody
and Russ Stein in SF. Even though they used an online reservation service,
people were calling the restaurant, and the VRS and visual alert system in
place wasn’t working well—50% of calls were lost.
In response, Convo developed Convo Lights. The alert system
uses Philips Hue LED colored lights placed strategically throughout out the
store along the ceiling, under the shelving, by the oven, and in the kitchen to
signal when call is coming in, or, has been missed. Not only did Mozzeria’s
answered-call rate shoot to 95%, the overall effect is visually appealing as
well.
* * *
Looking back, an emergency alert system for the deaf seems
pretty common sense. But as Hanaumi explains: “Prior to [ConvoAnnounce] there
just wasn’t enough of a market out there to foster the development of
technology.”
“If you look at the history of technology,” she continues, “it
always is based on auditory culture—Alexa and Siri, for example—so there is a
barrier to the deaf community’s access to those technologies. Then, a company
like ours invents a sort of equivalent tech before the next round of innovation
and equivalency development begins again.”
In 2009, Convo was a start-up with less than 10 employees. Today,
it is one of the largest deaf-owned companies in the world with around 250
employees. The company’s success represents the unique alchemy that occurs when
a company and its clients share both a similar culture and a ‘can-do’ attitude.
Incidentally, the mountain lion was never found and the
deer, presumably are still living peacefully somewhere in the foothills of
Fremont.
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