Relay Service, aphasia and communicational mediation. A tangle of innovations
The rise of the Internet and video technologies has led to the development of accessibility services in several countries as the so-called video relay services. These services consist in requesting a remote operator, ensuring mediation between two interlocutors, one of whom cannot use traditional telephony. These services have been carried by deaf people, with written transcription and interpretation services between oral language and sign language. This study focuses on the French experimentation in 2014-2015 of this device for people with aphasia, and on the work of building a new linguistic mediation service specific to this public. Aphasia is a difficulty in expressing oneself and/or understanding language, oral and/or written, following a stroke (75%) or a cranial trauma (5%). Using both voice, text, co-verbal gestures and images is a means of communication adapted to aphasia. This also implies an adjustment in the way of expressing oneself. This study presents the ergonomic adjustments of this service, including the introduction of images, as well as the communicational mediation work of these operators and the different relay postures. It points out the diversity of the challenges and the issue of training. It opens up to other accessibility, as of emergency calls.