ANKARA
Turkey will assist handicapped people to lead a full life with “third eye, third ear and third hand” technology, under a new agreement signed between Turkish Family Ministry and Turkish Transportation Ministry on Wednesday in Ankara.
The project about to be implemented in Turkey will provide sign language interpreters called 'third ears'- via a camera. This might involve a doctor with a deaf patient calling from hospital about a diagnosis. The doctor calls the translation centre from a camera phone. The sign language interpreter then communicates what the doctor says directly to the patient and the patient's response.
And another device called 'third eye' will assist visually handicapped people reading newspapers, magazines or checking their social network sites.
A call center will be set up for handicapped people to get such help in hospitals, courts and other government institutions.
The agreement was signed by Turkish Minister of Transportion, Maritime Affairs, and Communications Binali Yildirim and Turkish Family and Social Policies Minister Fatma Sahin.
In Turkey, there are about 8.5 million people with different physical and mental disabilities which represents approximately 12 percent of the total population according to TurkStat, Turkey's statistical authority.
“I couldn’t even go to a hospital without a sign language interpreter” said Mesut Turker who has impaired hearing. “I am very glad to be able to do things on my own.”
In the scope of the project, a new device – 'third hand'- will also be provided for those with physical impairment, which will empower them to use computers and other electronic equipment.
The records from Turkish Ministry of Labour and Social Security shows that 60 percent of people with disabilities in Turkey have access to social security (directly or indirectly).
Turkey also provides home care service for disabled people which helped 400,000 people last year. According to a report titled “Strategy and Action Plan for Home Care Service,” prepared by the Family and Social Policy Ministry, this number is expected to reach over half a million by 2014.
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