Mami Kanazawa

The present study reported the provision of information accessibility for people with hearing and visual impairments with the aim of allowing them to assume the role of speaker, chairperson or discussant, at a small-scale international symposium where both Japanese and English are used. First, both sign language interpretation and remote Communication Access Realtime Translation（CART）services, which display spoken words on a screen, were used for Japanese language users with hearing impairments. An English version of CART was shown on tablet PC for English language user with hearing impairments. The information accessibility for Japanese users with hearing impairments was generally satisfactory from preliminary discussions and arrangments made in advance with people involved, while there was limited preliminary discussion with English users with hearing impairments. Second, examples were presented for assisting information accessibility and mobility for both Japanese and English users with visual impairments, to asuume the role of a chairperson after preliminary discussions. This study concluded that having separate roles for people coordinating ways to accommodate those with hearing or visual impairments was key to smoothly running the international symposium. In the future, remote CART sevices, both domestic and abroad will be considered for English users with hearing impairments.