AOL launches IM tool for the deaf

Category: Accessibility

January 18th 08, 10:43

An AOL instant messaging (IM) tool is being marketed to deaf and hard of hearing users.

The company announced last week it is testing a real-time instant messaging application - said by AOL to be the first feature of its kind.

Tom Wlodkowski, director of accessibility at AOL, asserts that the popularity of IM among people who have difficulty hearing inspired the development.

He explains that the application - constructed together with Gallaudet University and the Trace Research and Development Centre - integrates real-time text functionality into the standard IM format.

"As a member of the deaf community and an active user of instant messaging, I knew there had to be a way for people like me to combine the familiarity of messaging on a TTY (telephone typewriter) with a quick and popular online IM service such as AIM," remarks Norman Williams, senior research engineer for the Technology Access Program at Gallaudet University who also developed the real-time IM prototype used by AOL.

Meanwhile, Bradford County Council has recently tailored a section of its site to deaf and hard of hearing residents.

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