Hope for Advances in Telecoms for the Deaf

Following on from World Telecommunication and Information Society (WTIS) Day on 17 May 2008, deaf people in Britain wonder how long their wait for telecoms equality must go on. TAG, a consortium of the UK’s main deaf organisations concerned with e-communications, is calling on the government to make relatively simple changes to regulations which would lead to much-needed modernisation of telecoms for deaf people.

Despite recent advances in telecommunications, access to these services for deaf and hard of hearing people still lags far behind that of their hearing counterparts even though widely available technologies could create much-needed improvements. Several services using the newer technologies have recently closed through lack of funding and deaf people’s life chances are steadily reducing.

It is hoped that this year's WTIS Day, with a Call for Action in 'Connecting Persons with Disabilities: ICT Opportunities for All' will mark the start of serious UK Government moves to address the situation.

ITU (International Telecommunication Union) Secretary-General Hamadoun Touré said: “The key to the information society is universal access. Everyone must have equal opportunity to participate in the digital age. And no one should be denied the potential benefits of new information and communication technologies (ICT), not least because they are hampered by their disabilities. Better telecoms services that pay special attention to the formulation of universal design concepts and the use of assistive technologies for deaf and hard-of-hearing people would empower them to communicate more freely and derive the benefits of ICT available to all.”

Ruth Myers, Chair of TAG said: “Our campaign is essentially about civil rights. It’s simply not possible to participate fully in today’s society without having equal access to up-to-date telecoms. Only a very small number of deaf people do have such access – the rest are struggling with outdated systems or nothing at all! That must change and we call upon the Government to help make that happen by looking at the regulatory framework which could facilitate improvements.”

Associated Link: World Telecommunication and Information Society Day

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