Reviewed by: Mary Helene Hall
Reading time: 2 minutes
Last week, the Birmingham Airport Authority announced it is offering visual interpreting services and on-demand sign language interpreting to travelers as they make their way through Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport (BHM).
New airport service
Here is how service works.
For the blind and low-vision communities, the program is called Aira Explorer. It does the following:
- Connects the blind and low-vision communities with a trained professional who can describe, narrate, navigate and read aloud their surroundings
- Using a mobile phone camera, microphone and speaker, passengers can get the assistance they need — when they need it with things like searching for flight information, gate changes, the TSA Security Checkpoint or shopping for pre-flight snacks or souvenirs
For those who are deaf and hard-of-hearing, Aira ASL works similarly by providing live, real-time sign language using a mobile phone camera, microphone and speakers…