I never heard of ARI. Can you explain what it is? Thanks
Sure thing. ARI stands for Audio Remote Interpreting.
You have probably heard of VRI (Video Remote Interpreting) which is a video and audio call between a deaf person and an ASL interpreter. ARI is an audio (no video) call between a non-English speaking person and an interpreter.
Know, I am willing to bet that as a deaf person you are thinking, why in the world would you include "spoken language" interpreting into a software program for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing? The answer is simple....perceived value and removing barriers to adoption.
As I have mentioned in the past, my father-in-law is deaf. When we designed the ACCESS Communication Platform, it was with him and his needs in mind. The home version is great for dad. It has all the features he wants. All his kids have the home version and all his siblings have the home version. This has made it really easy for dad to communicate with his family. But dad communicates with more than family. He also needs to talk to his dentist, his accountant at tax time, his auto mechanic, his optometrist, etc.
So when we created the ACCESS Communication Platform, in addition to the home version, we created versions for business, schools and doctors/hospitals. But we worried that asking them to purchase this software just for the one or two deaf customers/clients they had would be a problem. So we decided to add some additional features to their versions that would make the program applicable to a large group of customers/clients, thereby adding more perceived value to the software and removing the purchasing barrier of "I would only use it for one customer/client".
Adding ARI to the platform meant that when I went and talked to my father-in-laws accountant about getting the software, I could tell him that he could use it not only for dad (deaf customers) but also for non-English speaking customers, thereby increasing the chance that he would purchase the solution. In my father-in-laws case, that did the trick, his accountant, his mechanic, his dentist and his optometrist all purchased the program so that they could better communicate with dad and with their non-English or limited English speaking customers/patients.
Sorry, that was a long explanation....but i hope it made sense.
Gary