| 4. In which ways is the initiative creative and innovative?
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The initiative is unique, original and entirely cost-free.
Prior to the VC and the VVC, never were deaf users provided with the INPS and Italian Sign Language services in an organized and well-prepared fashion: deaf users were supplied with information and services through use of the lip movement language which, when unaccompanied by sound, would easily give rise to misunderstandings and resultant errors.
The new manner of tackling the problem of understanding deaf people’s needs was to involve in the initiative equally deaf employees.
This has made it possible:
- To create acceptance by deaf citizens by overcoming their frequent mistrust
- To create a process of professional development and more direct participation in the office activities by deaf employees who, prior the VC and VVC, carried out marginal and isolated activities.
Other innovative elements have consisted in the following:
- Consulting the “community of deaf citizens” to involve them in the divulgation of the initiative and in the trial phase as regards elaboration of the letter to send to users’ home addresses
-. Using IT resources already available in INPS for purposes of distant virtual connections aimed at solving problems unable to be solved merely with office resources.
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| 5. Who implemented the initiative and what is the size of the population affected by this initiative?
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The initiative has been implemented by Direzione Centrale Organizzazione Inps – Area Customer Care - Team “internal and external organizational problems associated with a disability condition and dissemination of a social security culture”. The population concerned consists of approximately 43,000 citizens who are INPS users and approximately 27,000 Italian citizens who are potential INPS users and are currently not receiving the benefits granted by the Italian State through INPS due to communication-related problems. At present, there are approximately 22,000 deaf Italian users making use of the service. The users increase the more other regions and other INPS offices are involved. Currently, 12 regions out of 20 are involved and 37 voice or virtual voice counters are active. The aim of Voice Counter, however, is not only to provide INPS services to deaf users, but also to make sure that, by overcoming communication barriers, all deaf Italian users may become INPS users and receive the communication allowance or other allowances envisaged by Italian laws. The activity program for VC and VVC is directly managed by the offices jointly with Central Management located in Rome. Central Management:
- Coordinates the whole activity nationwide,
- Conducts a constant monitoring,
- Organizes the quarterly calendar of Italian Sign Language interpreters available nationwide for the Virtual Voice Counter connections in such a manner that each office is aware on a day to day basis of which deaf employees are available to serve as translators for the various virtually connected offices.
- Central Management additionally checks the various customer cards to assess users’ judgments and suggestions (included in the notes) for the sake of a constant improvement of the service. For instance, Central Management, on a recommendation by the users themselves, has included in the customer card another initiative associated with VC: the request to register for a course in Italian Sign Language to learn how to use the INPS PIN number. Through the INPS PIN number, in fact, it is possible to attend to several administrative practices without the need to access a counter. To learn how to use it, training courses in Italian Sign Language have been scheduled for deaf citizens: all the requesting deaf users will be contacted back by the competent office and registered free of charge for a training course on “how to use the INPS PIN number” to carry out administrative practices by accessing one’s own customer area from the institutional website. To date, there are approximately 300 registered users in Rome alone: The courses on using the INPS PIN number, run in Italian Sign Language, will be managed by the deaf staff members following a specific professional training and apprenticeship.
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| 6. How was the strategy implemented and what resources were mobilized?
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The initiative was launched in 2 Rome offices (Roma Eur and Roma Tuscolana) in November 2014; a 4 months’ trial period was envisaged.
The strategy used was to involve the deaf staff after having learnt, from the hearing staff involved in the trial, the characteristics of the “culture of deaf persons” and their manner of acting and understanding through recourse to the specific sign language. To that end, in collaboration with the National Body for the Deaf that provided the intervention of experts in Italian Sign Language and expert psychologists, a training course seeing the participation of hearing employees involved in the trial was held. After studying the characteristics the service to the specific type of users was supposed to have, the second phase was to run a training course with an interpreter in Italian Sign Language (consisting of internal hearing staff knowing the Italian Sign Language) to teach non-hearing colleagues how to carry out the most requested administrative practices at the counter. The first working team that launched the trial consisted of 5 hearing and 7 non-hearing persons; currently (after slightly more than 2 years), the employees working on the initiative have become 369 between hearing and non-hearing people.
After the training course, the first letters were sent and the first appointments were managed, including through the integration of a satisfaction card (Customer card) given to the user to fill in. The appointments have been managed at the office, in collaboration also with experts in the field mainly consulted for solving complex. Given the extensive success recorded, even prior to the conclusion of the trial, inasmuch as the deaf persons have engaged in “word of mouth” a lot, requests for the opening of more Voice Counters started coming in from all over Italy. Thereupon, the central working team began the organization of the various training courses (for deaf employees and for people in charge of the URP) that are still going on. As the various courses are held, additional counters, real or virtually managed, are opened. To divulge the initiative nationwide, in April 2016 a message signed by the General Manager (Message number: 001506 of 06.04.2016) laid down the characteristics and social value of the service.
Monitoring the whole activity is entrusted to Central Management, which assesses the entire process even in respect of the new needs and demands of both deaf employees and users. The resources used are purely internal (technical and human), and the only costs incurred were thus for the dispatch of letters. No funds were solicited. Given however the high degree of professionalism (constantly expanding) deaf employees are exhibiting, a process of enhancement of the work undertaken by the employees operating at the Voice Counter has been initiated in order to lend high value to the activity and accordingly distinguish it positively from all the other office activities. The said exceptional appraisal of the activity will probably come into force already prior to the next semester.
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| 7. Who were the stakeholders involved in the design of the initiative and in its implementation?
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The initiative Designing Has Been done hearing the opinion Ente Nazionale Sordi (ENS) of the Rome Section Which Have Very appreciated the interest INPS to the problems of the deaf and have a Put Our Arrangement The Stalls of Their registered to be able obtain a validation of the language used in the letter to send to users. Validation It occurred proposing a text and making him see One to One to a HIGHER number of Deaf (60) in Figure out if there was Stata Understanding. The Data sono stati then statistically Treaties. Although the text of the letter is and have to change many times and for the validation we Took Over 3 months of work, and is reached, however, an excellent level of understanding Who never dates of Ambiguity Problems using the stessa.A Letter story Purpose and What to say the language Dai Deaf and Essential language and basic earnings not give a place a frantendimenti and misunderstood why and State Very Important able to comply PROPERLY ad esso.L'ENS and greater non-governmental organization What protection RIGHTS of the Deaf and EXTENDED and throughout the country. The ENS has contributed Also During Initial Project and State WHEN Without a Training Course for deaf staff for good to Understand the FEATURES of the Deaf Community, the psychology of the Deaf and The basic elements that characterize the communication mode used Take That Deaf Sign language and use of labiale.L'avvio Sector Project in the experimental phase and THER State supported by '' Department of Social Policies "of Rome Tuscolano What One of the areas of Rome and with greater number of the Deaf of the national territory. As part of the Start ceremony Councillor himself has Given About a supporting narrative discourse and sponsorship initiative
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| 8. What were the most successful outputs and why was the initiative effective?
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- The initiative was well received immediately with great success by the Deaf community. Many deaf ask appointment or present themselves at the counter even without having yet received the letter. Indeed even the deaf residents abroad by mail asking the intervention of SV to solve practices to meet all the demand it was necessary to double the number of days and hours of receipt at the headquarters of Rome Tuscolano and Rome Eur.
- The result judgment that deaf people have given to the customer card used for the evaluation of the initiative came in at 9.8 (scale values 1/10) almost full evaluation. In the notes there are always words of appreciation, support and thanksgiving
- In many Italian cities the deaf have requested the opening of door entry. To date they have been set up in 12 different regions Item 37 doors. In some major cities we were made of inaugurations ceremonies involving the media and leading authorities from the area.
- The INPS management has assessed since the first months of its success, and it instructed the IT structures to develop an appropriate procedure inserted in Intranet useful not only in order to enable the archive management but also to create a network between employees who work in SV (369 to date). It 'important to say that the procedure has been developed in collaboration with deaf colleagues to both the choice of graphics for choosing the language used in the various Menu Item'. Deaf employees are also asked to insert the photo in procedure also every colleague who works in the initiative throughout the country, what to emphasize the importance of the image for those affected by the communication difficulties associated with hearing loss
. The Italian Ministry of Health as part of a conference on disability has appreciated very publicly SV Item INPS. Even The Councillor for Social Policies within the Lazio Region Council took as a positive example SV to sponsor the LIS that Italy still has no official recognition; this means that the Italian PA to allow individual small local initiatives, there is still no national support in LIS for deaf citizens. The INPS with the One Stop Voice is a pioneer and has shown sensitivity and attention to the problems of the deaf, we hope will take the lead in order to extend SV in other sectors of the Italian Public Administration
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| 9. What were the main obstacles encountered and how were they overcome?
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The main obstacle was to win senior management to the mistrust that had to give to the deaf employee assignments of ATM activities. E 'it was won by doing the deaf employees a training course in LIS on site Popular activities and by showing executives the results of their activities. Currently the deaf colleagues independently manage the branches voice and turn to responsible dealings with the Utility only if they fail to conclude autonomously administrative practice.
Another obstacle has been the difficulty of communication with deaf employees. It is passed by making the team that launched the One Stop Voice a basic course on the LIS and the mentality and culture of the deaf. E 'was also very useful to support deaf employees who speak the LIS because they have deaf relatives. Currently the deaf employees normally communicate with colleagues deaf is using the basic signs in LIS or using the lip with a different communication approach. Currently the deaf employees are also used to hold training courses for employees, of course with the support of the team of employees of deaf SV e SVV. Another obstacle was to convince managers of locations with lack of space to offer appartanti spaces suitable also from the psychological point of view to accommodate a particular type of user such as that of the deaf characterized by spontaneous mistrust and need for privacy. It is overcome by using secluded rooms shared with other services in different times and days for which the ATM Voice is active only in specific days of the month. In those days the user is received not in the public hall but in a private room, with the door closed, the presence of tellers deaf and possibly responsible for relations with users and expert in the field
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