Syntagma Metro Station launches service for deaf and hard of hearing

A video communication station for the deaf and hard of hearing was launched earlier this week at Syntagma Metro Station, Athens.

In attendance was the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Transportation Yiannis Kefalogiannis, Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Affairs Domna Maria Michailidou, President of Greece’s National Institute for the Deaf (EIK) Venetta Lampropoulou and CEO of STASY Nikos Hairetas.

Greece became the first country in the European Union to offer this service free of charge at a metro station.

The communication station is essentially a tablet with a built-in Iris Relay Service application, which is a remote telecommunication service for the deaf and hard of hearing.

Greece’s National Institute for the Deaf (EIK) will operate the system inside the station on a pilot basis for a year, to provide public transport information to people with hearing problems.

"Today, in collaboration with the Ministry of Labor, the National Foundation for the Deaf and STASY, Greece becomes the first country in the European Union to install a remote interpretation system for the deaf and hard of hearing at a Metro station, providing the service free of charge," the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Transportation said.

"I want to believe that in this way we are improving their daily lives and the conditions of accessibility to public transport, which is, after all, a priority for the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport," he added.

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