A deaf woman is campaigning Canada to immediately adopt a video relay service that allows her to more easily speak over the phone through the use of an interpreter as it faces potential termination.
For the last year and a half, Lisa Anderson-Kellett has been able to speak to her mother over the phone by sitting in front of a camera and communicating in sign language with an interpreter. The interpreter then verbalizes what she is saying to her mother, and also signs back to Anderson-Kellett what her loved one is saying.
"I could visualize her emotion, her excitement and facial expression through the interpretation, and she then also received that energy from me," Anderson-Kellett told CTV News with the help of an interpreter.
The U.S. has been using a similar system for about a decade, but Canada is still in a trial run commissioned by the CRTC that ends Jan. 15. The CRTC will then study the impact of the video relay system, or VRS, and decide within a year whether if should continue.
Anderson-Kellett is very concerned about the service ending and being forced to use a text-based system for making phone calls.
"To go back would be difficult; it's just not as easy," she said. "Even for the hearing person."
Ryan Ollis, who is also deaf, fears he will lose autonomy after the testing phase ends next week.
"I think if VRS stops, then I'll be back to the old ways of depending a lot on hearing people for communicating," he said. "Having VRS makes me independent, and I much prefer that."
Anderson-Kellett says being able to speak to someone through sign language and face-to-face enhances her ability to have a conversation because she isn't forced to rely on other people.
"I consider it a basic right for equal access; a human rights issue for in terms of equality," she said.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Shaheed Devji
