Using Libras to Support People with Communication Disabilities: An Alternative Communication Tool

Communication is accounted as one of the main abilities related to humankind development, as it allowed people to pass on acquired knowledge. However, conventional communication favors those with great communication skills, i.e. reading, writing or typing skills summed up to oral language; thus, part of the population is excluded from conventional means of communication. Using assistive technologies such as Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC), IVA prototype was developed, enabling communication between patients with motor or cognitive difficulties and health professionals. In addition to their basic needs such as hygiene or food, patients were able to express their wishes, for example to choose which type of food they preferred or which activity they wanted to perform. During the validation and testing of the prototype, healthcare professionals considered that learning LIBRAS would be valuable for patients and other professionals. Thus, the prototype was expanded so that it includes LIBRAS resources, allowing patients and professionals in education and health to use a form of communication through gestures and facial expressions. This new prototype was called LIVA. LIVA assumes the use of communication boards, in which the user selects by click what they want. When selecting an option to express patient’s desire, the information is presented in synthesized voice and the sentence is written in Portuguese; in addition, a pre-recorded video with a LIBRAS expert is presented, showing the same information in LIBRAS. Thus, user can understand what the sequence of gestures and expressions represents. The objective of LIVA is that when viewing the word, phrase or expression in LIBRAS the user reproduces the same signals to express themselves and this may allow greater autonomy for individuals with communication difficulties.