Power Grid Blog
Why People with Disabilities Must Get Involved with Telecommunications Issues
March 6, 2012 | AAPD Power Grid Blog Team
As a deaf person growing up in a post-ADA world, I have seen the changing landscape of how much accessible technology has impacted our life for the greater benefit. As a child, I recall watching deaf people making important calls on the TTY and seeing TTYs in public places. I knew that as a deaf person, I could make calls from public places where there was a TTY. To a child with a disability, the understanding of communication self-sufficiency and independence was powerful.
Thanks to innovation, accessible telecommunication devices didn’t just stop at the TTY. Many of us remember our first mobile devices, the pagers that untethered us from landlines. The dawning of video phones came after that and enabled deaf people to truly communicate over the phone in sign language. I conducted my first internship interview over a relay service. Innovation gave us face-to-face communications on our phone. Social media engagement hugely raised the profile of people with disabilities in online interaction. Things that were previously only dreams now became possibilities and even realities in some cases.
Technology advancement and telecommunications are tightly wound together. As people with disabilities, we recognize how important telecommunications policies are and the decisions that the government makes ultimately impact our independency and self-sufficiency in a significant way. Just as increased representation enables people with disabilities obtain policy changes and passages of civil rights legislation that ensure our equality and independence, it is critical that people with disabilities are at the table for telecommunication and technology issues. We have people with disabilities and wonderful allies serving at the Federal Communications Commission and other federal agencies that are relevant to communication technology.
Corporations are taking notice, too, and increasing their outreach to people with disabilities. One such example is AT&T Advisory Panel on Access and Aging (AAPAA). I have been honored to serve on the advisory panel for two years now, representing the disability youth’s perspective. At the most recent AAPAA meeting in San Diego, February 28-29, it struck me how valued I felt by the corporation. As a young person with a disability, I have unique perspectives and ideas. My use of technology is relevant to many others. Youth with disabilities have much to contribute in this field through our consumer behavior and greater push for innovative ideas. As a modern, technology-savvy generation, our weight on telecommunications will only grow. It is important for us to ensure that our representation is being kept at the table and valued.
Our work is not done. There are many telecommunication issues for us to address, including pushing for text-to-911 capabilities in the United States of America. Even with the advancement and improvements in telecommunication policies and technology, I have known of people in my lifetime who have died because they or people around them were not able to dial 911 in an accessible way. This has to stop and we must push for greater accessibility in different ways to dial 911.
Ultimately, accessibility in telecommunications improves our lives, increases our independence, and saves lives. As technology improves, there will be additional opportunities for accessibility. I encourage all of you to educate yourself on disability telecommunications issues and give feedback to both the private industry and the federal government. Together, we can make a difference and be part of the change in the world.
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