Starting on June 14, coinciding with the National Day of Sign Languages, IFEMA incorporates into its digital environment and information points a pioneering technology in the exhibition industry that will make its activity and facilities accessible to deaf people.
The accessibility of people who suffer some type of barrier is one of the social objectives of IFEMA, in its responsibility as a public institution aimed at eliminating any physical barrier that allows its inclusion and the development of its activity within the framework of exhibitor fairs and visitors in a situation of disability. In this sense, IFEMA goes a step further, this time towards deaf people, thanks to the collaboration agreement with the specialized company Sign Language Communications, giving them the capacity of autonomy offered by the technology of the interpreter platform, which it is incorporated into the information systems of Feria de Madrid.
The project includes the main digital and informative tools of public access. On the one hand, the IFEMA website, whose contents have been adapted to the Sign Language, allowing deaf people to access any information, through accessible videos in Sign Language. On the other, the two main Information Desk located in the South and North access hall, will have a video service called through a tablet, with which they can access the interpreter platform in real time, communicating with an interpreter that will facilitate communication and solve all information needs.
Until now the exhibitors and deaf visitors had limited access to IFEMA to the need to be accompanied by someone who mediated in their communication, which left autonomy and sufficient understanding to make your visit to Feria de Madrid.
With this initiative it is possible to eliminate barriers of communication through the technology of Comunicados, besides encouraging the participation in fairs of deaf people, until now very limited.
In the words of Eduardo López-Puertas, general director of IFEMA, “From IFEMA we are working on achieving universal accessibility for all our visitors, exhibitors and employees. A goal that now extends to deaf people, with measures such as accessibility on our websites and all our digital media and communication through the Sign Language. Added to this is a new system so that all those who visit our fairs and facilities can be assisted with a simultaneous translation in real time to Sign Language. This undoubtedly represents a challenge and a great motivation to provide service facilitating accessibility as the only real measure that ensures the inclusion of deaf people in society ”
As of June 14, thanks to Sign Language Communications, this new technology will be accessible and operative in the institutional website of IFEMA, as well as in each of the websites of the Fairs that includes its annual calendar. The interpretation service in Sign Language will also start with a video call.
The IFEMA website, also accessible to blind people
In addition to adapting content to videos of interpreters for the deaf, IFEMA has added a text-to-speech conversion service to its website, aimed at people with visual disabilities or with difficulties understanding written texts, as well as anyone prefer to use the audio version to browse the web. The automatic online content reading tool is available in Spanish, English.
The ReadSpeaker Enterprise with Highlighting effect converts texts into audio format in real time through the use of “high quality” synthetic voices. With this service, the user can listen to the chosen content of the web simultaneously or download the file to listen later. In addition, the highlighted effect allows the reader to see the text highlighted while listening to it in a synchronized manner, which increases the understanding of the information.
The implementation of this tool is part of the commitment that IFEMA has always had with the different groups of people with disabilities since 2000, when it was one of the first websites with accessible resources ”
