On the occasion of the International Day for Persons with Disabilities on Monday, 3 December, Vodafone presents a brief reference to the company’s initiatives aimed at equal communication through products and services with access to all.
Specifically, in the context of the Corporate Responsibility policy it has been implementing for many years, Vodafone supports the pioneering, by Greek standards, multipurpose information and communication site for vision-impaired people, www.blind.gr, which is a product of the Association for the Technological Development for the Blind (STAT).
The site offers useful information about politics, technology, culture and sports, as well as relevant announcements by associations. It also provides a system for entering and managing information, which does not require special knowledge and has been designed on the basis of total accessibility by Persons with Disabilities, in full compliance with international W3C standards. The information entered in www.blind.gr is made available in real time and simultaneously on the Internet, via mobile phone and via fixed telephone (210 5226600).
The participation of established organizations from the community of vision-impaired people, including the National Association for the Blind, the Panhellenic Association for the Blind and others, combined with figures, with 4,400 visits to the site and more than 3,000 calls on the site telephone portal, prove that blind.gr has become a commonly accepted means of information. Moreover, pursuant to a decision by the Centre for the Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind (KEAT), the category ‘Legislation’ shall present all laws and EU directives pertaining to vision-impaired people under its auspices, which is an honour to blind.gr and further warrants its future course.
Vodafone also fashions its recently upgraded pioneering service ‘Speaking Phone’, which is compatible with with Nokia E61, Nokia E65, Nokia E70, Nokia N71, Nokia N73, Nokia N80 και Nokia N91 mobile handsets and which voice-activates the information shown on the handset’s display through the RealSpeak technology.
The service was introduced in 2005 and was developed in line with the needs of vision-impaired people, after being tested in cooperation with the Association for the Technological Development for the Blind (STAT). The service for ‘People with Hearing Impediments’, which has also been available since 2005, allows users to lodge complaints or ask for clarifications in relation to the use of their mobile phone from the client service department by sending an SMS. The reply of the client service department is also sent by SMS (13830).
For more information, please contact:
Ms Katerina Papakonstantinou, Corporate Communications Manager, tel. 210 6702166, mob. 6944 800070, fax 210 6702376, e-mail katerina.papakonstantinou@vodafone.com
Ms Christina Morfogeni, Senior Media Relations Coordinator, tel.210 6702365, mob. 6944 600955, e-mail christina.morfogeni@vodafone.com