RAZ Mobility, a provider of mobile assistive technology, is announcing the launch of the Lucia phone. Lucia is an easy-to-use basic mobile phone specifically designed to address the unique needs of people who are blind, low vision or hard of hearing.
According to the National Center for Health Statistics, approximately 9 percent of adults in the United States have difficulty seeing even with glasses or contact lenses. Among adults over 85 years of age, that number increases to 23.5 percent. And the National Institutes of Health reports that approximately 15 percent of American adults have at least some trouble hearing. Lucia has been engineered from the ground up to help these underserved populations.
“Lucia is a fully accessible mobile phone with unique features such as large tactile buttons in different colors and shapes, a voice guide to inform the user of what is on the screen and what buttons have been pressed, ergonomic design and a SOS button,” said Robert Felgar, CEO of RAZ Mobility. “These features offer individuals with vision loss the ability to access every function of the phone with unparalleled ease. Lucia is perfect for seniors, such as blind veterans, and others who want accessibility combined with simplicity.”
RAZ Mobility has partnered with the Swiss Lucia phone manufacturer to offer this exceptional solution in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
The phone’s voice guide is available in English, Spanish and more than ten other languages so that it can be enjoyed by English and non-English speakers alike. It also has a large, high-contrast display with enlarged text, as well as the option to amplify the audio with the press of a button.
Lucia is an unlocked 3G mobile phone and confirmed to work on U.S. carriers such as AT&T, T-Mobile, and compatible GSM networks such as Cricket Wireless, Red Pocket Mobile, Straight Talk and Metro by T-Mobile. An unlocked 4G phone will be available in the future.
Nermin Selimic, COO at RAZ Mobility said, “As a provider of advanced mobile assistive technology we realized that there was no easy-to-use mobile phone available for individuals who are blind or low vision. In its 2018 report to Congress on accessibility, the Federal Communications Commission similarly concluded that there has been ‘little, if any, progress’ with respect to the ‘accessibility of non-smartphones. The Lucia phone is designed to fill this gap. In addition to consumers, many mobile providers worldwide have expressed interest in offering an accessible basic mobile phone to their customers.”
RAZ Mobility is the exclusive distributor for the United States and Canada, and is offering the phone to consumers, State government agencies, the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, wireless providers, non-profit organizations and for-profit companies.
