National Emergency Centre to offer services for disabled

People with hearing, speech and language disabilities in Georgia will soon be able to contact the National Emergency Service 112 via special audio and video messaging.

A project has been launched that will allow deaf people and those with speaking disabilities to phone the emergency hotline and communicate with the receiver. The project will officially begin in spring 2015.

The initiative is supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Georgia and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).

On another note, Georgia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs has launched a special website for Georgia’s deaf community. The website with online dictionary outlined 500 sign language gestures and was published in Georgian but had sections in English and Russian.

The website - www.geodeaf.ge– also had a search bar which enabled visitors to type in their desired word, to which a corresponding video tutorial will pop up for viewers to learn the gesture.