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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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Submitted by hardtime2 at 04:51 PM on October 23, 2012
You are so right! I am hearing impaired and also disabled. I live alone and can only think of the horrors of being with out a phone . However my phone co, has never offered any help in that area, except to ask if I want a cell phone, I can NOT hear on a cell phone! Their hearing aid compatable telephones were too high priced as I am on a limited income,less than $700 a month does not go far these days. For some reason they have taken away my Lifeline credit which was a big help. My days are spent alone ,so i do depend on the computer as someone to talk to ,so to speak. Now they have raised my bill to over $70.00 a month just for phone line and internet, I can not deal with that, I have already had one heart attack . The stress is aweful and I am having to go without other things in order to pay these outragous charges,I make one to two calls a month possibly 3 at most. I have called asked called back asked again and nothing ever makes since ,except they said my 19,95 internet had gone up to 25.00.So this means they are charging me about $59.00 or more for a 21 to $28 doller phone line, All I get is a run aroubnd and never any answers,Espicially after I tellthem I am hearing impaired > Then it is even worse, they start mumbling and or talking so fast I have to ask them to repeat ,then I get tranferred 3 or 4 times and then HUNG UP on. Not knowiong who i can ask for help creates a major problem that I am stuck with! Life is hard enough for the hearing impaired without others taking advantage of it. Today for example when I called and the telephone rep wanted to sell me a Phone tv package andI told her no ,that was the end of our converstion,She cut me off.So after 4, 5, 6 phone calls and chats i am still in the dark as to why my bill is so high .No I do not make long distance phone calles either, When I asked today if it was possible someone else was using my account ,because they wouls always mention cellphones and uverse. She really Quit talking and told me she could not help me . There is nothing I can do, except give up my phone or computer.I do not look forward to a long winter without my pC . Yes things are hard and even garder for the hearing impaired.

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