Contact Center: available from today a service dedicated to deaf people

Since October 2020, the Civil Protection Department's Contact Center, available on the toll-free number 800 840 840, can be reached - without intermediaries by deaf people through the Pedius Mobile App. The mobile app provides an innovative and specialised service available for free on Google Play and App store.The start-up uses a speech recognition and speech synthesis system that allows the user to manage the call in complete autonomy, in a few simple steps:

• the user in the Pedius chat can type the request manually or choose the voice communication option;
• a synthetic voice will read the content of the message to the 800 840 840 operator who will answer in real time;
• the user will receive, through the App, the written answer that will appear on the display of the device. 

Pedius guarantees a simplified contact system that fully meets the objectives of the Contact Center, created in 2011, following the earthquake emergency in Abruzzo. Its purpose is to guarantee a specialised service of dialogue between the Department and citizens in ordinary, critical or emergency situations. The service immediately integrated various communication tools such as the toll-free number, the online "Write to Contact Center" form, the certified e-mail address, letter and fax. 
 
This year, during the Covid-19 emergency, the Contact Center handled thousands of requests, even from the most vulnerable people: among those, aged people and people with disabilities. The experience has prompted the Administration to equip itself with new contact tools to make the Public Relations Service more accessible, and to guarantee continuous attention and institutional response to citizens.

The Department's attention to these issues is not a recent activity: since 2004 it has been committed in the promotion of knowledge of the risks in the area for people with disabilities. With this aim, the collaboration with the integrated Social Cooperative "Europe Consulting Onlus" has been activated, within the framework of the "Abili a Proteggere" project and the working group engaged in the monitoring and dissemination of good civil protection practices.

A common purpose in the promotion of an inclusive civil protection culture and the impulse for new strategies for the adaptation of communication tools for people with disabilities.