It's easy to take phone access for granted -- unless you're deaf or hard of hearing.
Even one who is blind or mobility impaired can talk on the phone - with or without assistive technology - any time or any place they wish.
But it's only recently that the deaf community has approached functional equivalency in having conversations over the phone with the same immediacy as hearing people have.
A leading proponent of deaf telecom access is Purple Communications, whose video relay software provides access to American Sign Language interpreters, enabling deaf callers to have near real-time conversations.
The P3 software works with Windows, Mac OS X and iOS, and Android devices and is compatible with popular communications programs such as FaceTime and iChat.
The availability of these technologies has opened new career paths for persons who are deaf or hard of hearing - a community comprising about a quarter of Purple's 200+ employees.
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