July 10, 2003
Disabled missing out on mobiles
In a report published July 8, The Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HEOC) found "that the new phone age of wireless technology and improved internet access does not extend to people with disabilities", according to Australian IT. For example, deaf people who use tele-typewriters to communicate over the phone network can't use mobile phones since the analogue network closed three years ago."
The three major issues facing people with disabilities in telecommunications, as set out in the paper, are:
-- lack of text connectivity for people who are deaf,
-- lack of access to all but the basic functions of mobile phones for people who are blind, and
-- the need for more detailed minimum standards on telecommunications equipment to assist people with disabilities (e.g. larger keys for people with arthritis, brighter colour contrasts for people with vision loss, volume controls for people with hearing loss etc.).
The discussion paper has been distributed to key organisations and individuals in the telecommunications industry and is also available on the Commission's Website.
For weeks now I've been meaning to write about Digit Wireless' Fastap keyboard, allowing for faster text typing on cell phone keypads. The technology has been much written about for it's ease of use and success in signing up with mobile carriers and cell phone manufacturers -- just recently the company announced developping a Fastap Keypad for Intel's cell phone reference designs -- but what is less well known is that the company has been endorsed publicly by the UK Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID), as "it's universal design greatly facilitates the entering of data", according to the company's President, Chris Hare.
"Because Fastap keypads have a one-to-one correspondence of each key, they are far easier to use by people who are blind. Because Fastap keypads are faster and have fewer errors they provide significant benefit to people who are deaf and speech-impaired".
Maybe something the HEOC should look into.
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