“PT is clearly a global operator that seeks to transform itself into a sustainability reference”, said Fernando Soares Carneiro, Board Member, PT SGPS, during the press conference that disclosed the partnership between the Portugal Telecom Foundation and Qualcomm.

The major communications operator in Portugal and the leading multinational in digital solutions joined efforts sharing the commitment of contributing to the quality of life of people with special communication needs. It is “an ambitious program in terms of sustainability”, highlighted this Board Member who make known some of the solutions that the PT Foundation makes available for society and all citizens.

“We want this session to become a landmark”. Óscar Vieira, Deputy Director, PT Foundation, stressed the importance of the established partnership and underlined that “the total commitment of PT is to be expected” before several beneficiaries who were present at the conference that took place at Forum Telecom in Lisbon.

Óscar Vieira, Deputy Director, PT Foundation	Andrew Gilbert, chairman, Qualcomm Europe

Communicating is a hard task for many people. In the scope of the Wireless Reach TM initiative, and as a result of the recently established partnership between these entities, it now becomes possible to promote the integration of citizens with special needs through a number of developed solutions. People of different ages and contexts will gain access to certain devices that come up to provide the full equality of opportunities and the construction of a more inclusive and fair society.
 

Idália Moniz considered this partnership as an example

The Assistant Secretary of State for Rehabilitation Idália Moniz confessed that “this partnership is an example” and appeals to the “principle of inclusion and access for all”. It consists of an “extended partnership of willing people” to promote an access that should be each time freer and more democratic”.

The possibility of communicating

Portugal Telecom has a long history in terms of social responsibility. As a result of the partnership established with Qualcomm, Projects Star and Sunflower from the PT Foundation registered new

3G Smartphone equipped with TMN GRID Mobile

 These 3G smartphones, equipped with TMN Grid Mobile (software facilitating augmentative communication with communication boards, voice synthesiser and oriented to text messaging) have a critical role in terms of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), from the therapeutical viewpoint as well as in terms of personal and social development. José Caturra has cerebral palsy and is an example of the benefits afforded by this new solution. He works under a ‘Protected Work’ regime at ‘7 Ofícios’, Professional Training Centre at the Portuguese Association of Cerebral Palsy to where he goes autonomously every morning. With TMN Grid Mobile, José Caturra benefited from a tool that accompanies him everywhere, enabling easier communication, namely through text messaging. 

The cooperation between the two institutions enabled more projection for Sunflower Project. This initiative aims to respond to different limitations of people with special needs, by providing resourceless people with profound disabilities with smartphones and other mobile devices enabling them to acquire these terminals at the subsidised price being especially oriented to the provision of different types of technology, where Tobii, SICAM and Magic Eye stand out.

André Ramos uses the Tobii solution

Tobii is a sort of PC integrated in a small laptop that was donated to the Centre for Child Development also in the scope of the established partnership. Its aim is to evaluate the special needs of children with different types of disability, and can be used by them through its 3G board. André Ramos has cerebral palsy and Tobii can provide him with more autonomy, facilitating his school attendance through the PC without the need of pressing the keys with his nose as he used to do previously.

With SICAM (Integrated System for Augmentative Communication, featuring a 3G board and PT Grid Software), Rafael Ovalheiro, a 17-year-old, tetraplegic and ventilated as the result of a serious meningitis following a bicycle fall, is now able to attend the classroom with more agility, accesses the Internet, sends text messages and controls his wheelchair more easily.

Aware of its condition as the major telecommunications operator in Portugal, PT assumes its responsibility by promoting the extensive ICT access. Through the PT Foundation, it is quite confident and expectant that its association with Qualcomm will contribute to enabling and facilitating the integration of a growing number of citizens in a real Knowledge and Information Society. Through this association, Qualcomm sees the materialisation, in a significant number of real situations, of its vocation as leading multinational in the development of innovative products based on the most advanced technologies, contributing to life improvement, in this case of people with special needs.

The Projects

After a multi-year investment with the support of Qualcomm, the PT Foundation has extended its solutions in the mobile area. In the course of the last 20 years, the Foundation has already contributed, in terms of direct costs in social support projects that it promotes and sponsors, with more than Euro 25 million, excluding indirect costs, which include for example the work and know-how of its employees. It is worth highlighting that the PT foundation is the sole Portuguese foundation, associated to a telecommunications operator, with a public charity statute.

Recently, in the scope of this recent partnership, projects Star (Estrela) and Sunflower (Girassol) had new developments, irrespective of the possibility of developing future projects, also aiming to provide citizens with special communication needs with tools for integration in the Information and Knowledge Society.

Estrela (Star) Project
This project, sponsored by the PT Foundation and the National Federation of Portuguese Cerebral Palsy Associations (FAPPC), consists of the deployment of educational and training centres at the Cerebral Palsy Associations throughout the country. In these spaces, at each one of the 15 APPCs plus the UTAAC (Unit for Augmentative and Alternative Communication Techniques), Special PT Solutions for disabled people are installed, namely with cerebral palsy. With the support of Qualcomm, these resource centres are equipped with 3G smartphones featuring TMN Grid Mobile, which allow people with cerebral palsy to use the equipment in the scope of personal development and social inclusion programs and thus communicate with relatives and healthcare providers. TMN Grid Mobile is a voice synthesising software, using the SPC symbol international communication table.

Girassol (Sunflower) Project
This project aims to donate technologies of support for augmentative communication and mobility – namely smartphones or other devices with mobile access – to resourceless disabled people, unable to acquire the devices even at subsidised price. Sunflower Project provides mobile technology to people with profound disabilities living at home or at non-profit institutions, affording them an accrued mobility allowing them to go out whenever they may wish.