(OFF) Álex González. Social Education student at the UNED.
(INTERPRETER-I) Hello, are you Álex?
(ÁLEX-A) Yes, and you are...?
(I) I'm Isabel, the interpreter who will be recording the video with you.
(A) Oh, nice to meet you. (I) Same here.
(A) Hello, my name is Álex. This is my sign name.
and I study Social Education at UNED in Madrid.
I’m a deaf person and a sign-language user.
it’s my native language.
When it comes to studying at UNED, I face many difficulties.
For example, attending classes is challenging
because access to sign-language interpreters is limited.
Without that support, it’s completely impossible for us
to access the classes and their content.
Other difficulties that I see include,
when doing the work assigned to us by the various professors,
whether it's watching videos or listening to UNED radio,
obviously there's no adaptation facilitating access to these contents.
When it comes to taking exams, they usually involve written texts,
but it's very difficult for us to convey our ideas in writing.
So, perhaps, one of the adaptations
would be to use multiple choice exams instead.
Solutions for the future?
Well, it occurs to me that sign language interpreters
could be incorporated into the classrooms
to facilitate access to the content, to the tutorials.
Also, the classes could be recorded, so that those students who can’t benefit
from a face-to-face interpreter in the classroom, for whatever reason,
could follow the classes via videoconference
or an online platform.
When it comes to doing the work assigned to us by the professors,
when using the materials that are in a certain format,
they could provide us with not just the audio,
but the text as well.
And the exams could be adapted for deaf people.
That is, if the exam involves any added or previous work,
that material could be adapted.
I hope that these adaptations can be carried out
because I believe that, if they were,
more deaf people would take part in higher education
and, of course, it would be much more accessible for all of us.
Also, with regard to call management,
something very common when contacting professors and others,
in the case of deaf people it would be essential
to facilitate access to that service
through the SVisual video-interpretation platform,
which is accessible by deaf people and makes it easier for us
to complete all kinds of administrative procedures, etc.
Or even contact with professors through SVisual.
I’d like to speak to a UNED professor, at 91 398 0000.
(PROFESSOR-P) Hello.
(I) Hello, good morning.
Could I speak to Alejandro, please? Is that you?
(P) Yes, that's me.
(I) Perfect. I'm calling from the SVisual service.
It's a video display service in Spanish sign language for deaf people.
Right now, there is a deaf person, called Álex,
who wants to contact you.
I'm going to interpret the call, OK? I'll pass him to you.
(P) Thank you very much.
(A) Hello, good morning.
My name is Álex and I wanted to contact you
with a question in relation to something in your class.
How should I send you the work corresponding to this course,
to this subject?
(P) Well, Álex, you have to submit the work
through the virtual course, and do so before the exam.
With regard to 112 emergency calls,
there are adaptations for deaf people through the intermediation service,
using a device called DTS,
a text phone,
in which you, by contacting another such device
at the intermediation service,
can report your emergency by a text message,
using a specific phone number.
That way, the response is immediate.
It's a service that operates 24 hours a day.