People with Disabilities Face Huge Problems Finding Cellphones, FCC Told

"Providing access is not an art; it’s a science,” said Claude Stout, executive director of Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. “Consumers need to tell the industry and the government what we expect to see in the future, whether it would be with pagers, PDAs, hearing-aid compatible cellphones and the like. … We need to be considered in the beginning and not at the end. That means dealing with us and talking to us, maybe setting up focus groups."

People with disabilities “want to make sure we're not continuing to lag behind,” Stout said. “Technology changes so rapidly that we just cannot continue to play catch-up. I don’t want us to experience another digital divide."

Paul Schroeder, vice president of programs and policy at the American Foundation for the Blind, said the FCC should require carriers to provide many more specifics on what devices are available in stores and at kiosks.

"What people get too often from websites and companies is, ‘We have many phones with accessibility features,’ but not many specifics on which phone actually does what,” Schroeder said. “A lot of times you can’t find the things in stores … to be able to test whether the keys work the way you want them to, the display is something you can read, whether there’s speech output -- chances are there’s not, but to be able to test that."

Schroeder said Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act, requiring equipment manufacturers and service providers to make their products and services accessible to people with disabilities, gives the FCC authority to impose rules on making text messaging accessible in addition to voice. “Do what you can,” he said. “I believe you have the authority to cover messaging without any doubt. But you should determine that and move on it one way or another. If you can’t do it, we need to put more pressure on Congress to make that clear.”

The FCC needs to take enforcement actions based on complaints, Schroeder said. “We helped 14 individuals file complaints, all alleging essentially the same thing: They couldn’t get access to the displays on their phone. They couldn’t do text messaging. The keys in many cases … did not meet what we believe to be the standard of accessible by touch, or tactually identifiable. Virtually nothing came about from that. If you need proof of pattern, we filed that.”

"It’s an issue of enforcement,” said Lise Hamlin, director of public policy at the Hearing Loss Association of America. “There’s plenty of rules and there’s plenty of work we can do just enforcing what we have on the books. There’s been things on hold for a long time."

"With deaf and blind people here in the United States, there are times when we cannot even walk into a storefront to pick a phone or test a phone that we might like,” said Randy Pope with the American Association of the Deaf-Blind. “We've got to find more accessible equipment. It has to be specialized equipment and cost is an issue with that.” People who are deaf or blind often have few choices among wireless devices, Pope said. “There are people out there who quite frankly have no options.”

Milkman said the message of the panel was clear. “We need to set the bar high with respect to expectations,” she said. “I think almost every panelist made this point.” Speakers also made clear the FCC needs to do more to provide “positive reinforcement” for “companies that are doing the right thing,” Milkman said. The FCC needs to impose “consequences for failure to comply with our rules and with the statute,” she said.

Speakers also made clear that the FCC’s policies must go beyond cellphones, Milkman said. “Wireless, I think in the future, will be about machines talking to machines. It will be about a communications system that goes far beyond the personal devices that we're using, and we need to start thinking about that now to make sure that those systems are compatible.” The FCC needs to “model the right behavior,” she said. “If accessibility is important, then government agencies need to be accessible."

"It’s clear that going forward there’s going to be a balance of a lot of different things,” Strauss said. “It’s going to be a balance of partnerships, working together, facilitated dialogues, having the industry and the consumers sit in the same room and try to find solutions.” The FCC will also have to impose new rules and regulations, Strauss said.

CTIA Counsel Matthew Gerst stressed the intense competition in mobile. But Section 255 of the Communications Act limits how the industry can ensure accessibility to built-in features and compatibility with external assistive technology, he said. As the commission follows through on the National Broadband Plan, including with a possible “255 update,” it should allow the wireless industry to meet the section’s accessibility goals through built-in accessibility features and assistive-technology compatibility and recognize the availability of third-party applications, Gerst said. He urged the FCC to look at all text-based communication formats, not a single solution, for text-based communications to 911. CTIA believes the commission, public safety representatives and the accessibility community will cooperate with the wireless industry in the move to Next Generation 911, Gerst said.

Google’s accessibility product manager, Jonas Klink, emphasized the importance of collaboration and openness in improving accessibility. “Configuring once, making it work everywhere” is also important, he said, adding that customization is key. Information access is Google’s central aim, Klink said. The company seeks to make content available in all languages and in accessible formats, he said. Providing alternative access modes like keyboard shortcuts, captions, high-contrast views and text-to-speech technology helps everyone, not just people with disabilities, he said.

Rebecca Schwartz, TIA’s government affairs director, urged the FCC to open an honest discussion on accessible communications. Technology and open communications among all stakeholders are the key in improving access, she said. National Emergency Number Association CEO Brian Fontes urged a light-handed regulation approach. Voluntary cooperation works better than rules, he said. The FCC needs to work for standardization and international harmonization, said Judy Harkins, a professor of communications studies at Gallaudet University. She urged improving the voice quality of mobile services, which is critical in emergencies. Jim Mueller of the Wireless Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center underscored the importance of maintaining battery power during emergencies. He acknowledged lack of awareness of accessibility features in consumer devices.