Video phone installed for deaf students

New technology at Hendersonville High School allows deaf students to make phone calls in their native language — sign language.

The first video phone in a Sumner County school was recently installed at the school. Previously, if a deaf student was in an emergency, he would have to ask someone who knows sign language to make a phone call.

Sorenson Communications, which empowers the deaf and hard-of-hearing community to communicate with both the deaf and the hearing using video relay service, installed the equipment in the school’s deaf education room.

The process started when Poppy Steele, executive director of Sign Club Company in Sumner County, requested that an old computer from the public library be converted into a video phone.

“Deaf students are now able to communicate in the same way that all other students can, and that’s a beautiful thing,” said Steele, who has been fighting for deaf advocacy for many years.

“This technology is important to provide deaf and hard-of-hearing students with the ability to communicate with their parents and guardians the way the way that is best for them,” said Jocelyn Pickering, deaf educator at Hendersonville High School. “It helps them gain independence by not having to rely on someone else to communicate for them.”