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[Back to index of March 2007 articles] St. Barnabas’ benefits from new technology By Lucy Chumbley Deaf members of the Diocese of Washington are beginning to reap the benefits of some exciting new communications technology, said the Rev. Barbara Allen, rector of St. Barnabas' Church of the Deaf. The church recently installed its first video phone, she said, and it "has opened up a whole new world for people who are hard of hearing or deaf." Sorenson Communications, a Utah-based firm, is one of several companies pioneering this technology, Allen said. The company provides and installs the equipment free of charge for deaf people, who must pay only for the high speed DSL hookup. "We had several members of St. Barnabas' who requested and got video phones for their homes," she said. The church's Mission Committee contacted Sorenson to request a video phone for the parish office, and in December, the new phone was installed at the church. "It's simply a camera that sits on top of either a small TV, which is what we have, or a compatible computer monitor," Allen said. "I can sit in the office and communicate with somebody else who has a phone, who can be clear across the country." The church's video phone, which is available for St. Barnabas' parishioners to use on Sundays and by appointment, allows them to communicate using sign language, something that used to only be possible with face-to-face communication. "It's a real boon," Allen said. "It gives me access to my congregation and to other people in the deaf community." She and a parishioner, Ron Sutcliffe, were able to put the phone to immediate use by planning a book seminar they will conduct this month. "We had a conversation about how we would share this study, which Sundays and when we would be available, and we were able to do this whole thing through signs," Allen said. "It just makes for direct communication which is so important. The old TTY was fine in its time but it's not the best alternative." Both e-mail and TTY, the telephone typewriter, are text based forms of communication. Allen noted that members of the deaf community who have grown up using sign language, which is concept-based, as their first language sometimes find it more difficult to communicate using text. "We can e-mail back and forth," she said. "But that might not always be as clear as signing back and forth." As well as making communication easier and faster, the video phone will also allow Allen to do pastoral counseling, as it is both personal and private. "For the most part they will come to me, but I have had and will continue to have shut-ins," she said. "These people need me to come there. Up until the first part of this year, I did a lot of traveling in the area. We do a lot of e-mailing, but it is always better to have face to face time." In addition to enabling people to speak face to face, Sorenson offers a relay service, Allen said. This allows people without a video phone to place a call using conventional voice or TTY technology, which an interpreter will translate into sign language and relay to the person on the other end. St. Barnabas' video phone is still new, and the congregation is gradually getting used to it, Allen said, explaining that it is getting the most use so far from members of the Mission Committee and parishioners who already have the equipment at home and know how it works. "As time goes by, there are other people who'll say, 'I'd really like to use this thing - show me how it works,'" she said. "It's a process." As time goes by, the church also is experimenting with other communications technology to reach out to its members, she said. Ed Knight, one of the parishioners, has become skilled with a camcorder, and the church is now offering streaming video of services on its Web site, http://stbarnabasdeaf.edow.org. "It's a whole new way of communication," Allen said. "Better contact with each other and contact with the hearing world." [Back to index of March 2007 articles]
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