Wegmans is now offering free access to live, remote American Sign Language interpreters at its stores through the Aira ASL app, the company announced June 2.
“At Wegmans, we are dedicated to delivering incredible customer service to every person who walks through our doors,” Tracy Van Auker, director of community engagement and communication for Wegmans, said in a statement.
The company’s partnership with Aira enables the grocery store chain to better serve deaf and hard-of-hearing customers “by providing them with an innovative way to communicate with our employees more efficiently.”
Access partners including Wegmans pay for the service to be used for free by their customers.
How does the Aira ASL app work?
After downloading the app from the iOS App Store, the Google Play Store or the desktop app, users tap a button, which starts a live video call with a professional ASL interpreter.
The user signs to the interpreter, and the interpreter says the user’s words out loud to a hearing person through the phone’s speaker.
“Encountering communication barriers in high-detail interactions while grocery shopping can be time-consuming and frustrating,” Henri Grau, director of deaf community engagement at Aira, stated. “Aira ASL at Wegmans means more efficiency with tasks like ordering a custom item at the bakery, getting help with locating a hard-to-find item, or discussing a product’s ingredients or preparation.”
Help for blind and low-vision shoppers
Since 2018, Wegmans has offered free use of the Aira Explorer app, which connects blind and low-vision shoppers with live, remote visual interpreters to guide them through stores.
Both Aira services also are available at the Frederick Douglass Greater Rochester International Airport. The Strong National Museum of Play offers Aira Explorer.
Wegmans markets with large deaf populations
Wegmans has 114 stores in the eastern United States, but its hometown of Rochester has one of the highest per capital deaf populations in the country, and its National Institute for the Deaf, the first and largest technological college in the world for deaf and hard-of-hearing students, has made it a cultural hub.
Wegmans also has stores in Washington, D.C., home of Gallaudet University, a liberal arts college for the deaf and hard-of-hearing, and Frederick, Maryland, where the Maryland School for the Deaf, serving students through age 21, has a campus.
Reporter Marcia Greenwood covers the grocery business and consumer-focused grocery news, as well as retail development, openings and closings. Send story tips to mgreenwo@rocheste.gannett.com. Follow her on X @MarciaGreenwood.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Wegmans now offers free live ASL help in stores
Reporting by Marcia Greenwood, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle / Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
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