App for disabled in AKM

ISTANBUL

Türk Telekom yesterday launched a corporate social responsibility project at the Atatürk Cultural Center (AKM), of which it is the main sponsor.

The free application called Audio Steps that can be downloaded to mobile devices, art lovers with visual and hearing impairments will have an experience that overcomes obstacles in the indoor and outdoor spaces of AKM, accompanied by the guidance of the application.

“The audio steps application allows the visually and hearing impaired to move around without assistance. With the project we have developed, we are proud to contribute to the disabled citizens to take more place in social life,” said Türk Telekom CEO Ümit Önal.

“As Türk Telekom, the leader of our country’s digital transformation, it is our primary duty to ensure that everyone benefits from technology. We aim to transform technology into benefit through our corporate social responsibility projects. Now we have a new route by adding culture and arts to our areas of responsibility. The first and most important stop of this route is the Atatürk Cultural Center, of which we are the main sponsor. Today, we are excited to make AKM even more accessible with our Audio Steps application for the visually and hearing impaired,” he said.

Stating that the Audio Steps application provides voice guidance to all entrances of AKM, cinema, library, exhibition hall, restaurants, cafes and Türk Telekom Opera Hall, Önal said that the application can be downloaded free of charge from all operators.

The application provides service in Turkish and English. It provides guidance with sound and simple icons from the outer door to the inner hall doors and emergency exits in the venue, also including the main and lower entrances and the parking lot.

Visually impaired user Ali Öztürk, who experienced the Audio Steps application at AKM, said, “It is very meaningful that a visually and hearing-impaired person can visit such an important center without the help of anyone. In this context, Türk Telekom’s application allows us to act as we wish in the interior and exterior spaces of the cultural center.”

The Audio Steps application also provides guidance to visually and hearing-impaired visitors of the Presidential Millt Library. Developed with a local software company that offers location-based applications.

Türk Telekom will host concerts, art workshops and events at Atatürk Cultural Center on Dec. 3, International Day of People with Disability.