WASHINGTON-Lawmakers for months have been deluged with letters from constituents who fear the Federal Communications Commission will not make the wireless industry comply with the 1996 telecom act’s mandate to make mobile phones accessible to hearing impaired individuals and other disabled Americans.
In many cases, congressional representatives receiving letters have forwarded them to the FCC. Wireless Telecommunications Bureau Chief Dan Phythyon has responded with two-page letters summarizing the agency’s proposal to develop telecom disability access guidelines and to establish a streamlined mechanism for resolving disputes.
FCC Chairman Bill Kennard, in prepared remarks for the Personal Communications Industry Association’s annual meeting in Orlando , Fla., last week, said the wireless industry is making strides by incorporating accessibility at the front end of product development, but still “must do more to ensure access to people with disabilities, and I am committed to making this not just the industry exception, but the industry norm. Because that’s what the law requires.”
Kennard said industry also “needs to make more progress in solving the TTY compatibility issues for digital wireless phones, as required by our E911 rules. I know that these issues are not easy to solve, but we must find a way to ensure that people with disabilities have the same access to E911 as everyone else.”
The new telecom law requires telecom manufacturers and carriers to make equipment and services accessible to persons with disabilities, with the caveat that doing so is readily achievable. Thus, `readily achievable’ is the battleground where industry and the disabled community are expected to do much of their fighting.
While there is support among the disabled for recommendations submitted earlier this year by the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board, some worry the FCC might veer from those recommendations. The FCC is expected to issue disability access rules before year’s end.
Theodore Huber, an Illinois consumer with a hearing loss, wrote Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.) with this complaint: “I can’t use my cellular phone with my telephone switch in my hearing aid. The salespeople don’t understand and the industry’s responsibilities and obligations seem to be missing. The cellular phone is INACCESSIBLE.”
Robert Griffith, president of the Central Illinois Chapter of Self Help for Hard of Hearing, also wrote LaHood about a similar problem. “Just a simple 20 db gain in volume would make the cellular phone more accessible and give us equal access in telecommunication,” said Griffith. “If cellular phones have a telecoil, then those of us who have a telephone switch on our hearing aids can get increases in volume.”
Joan Andrews, in a letter to Rep. Porter Goss (R-Fla.) that followed problems finding a cell phone compatible with her portable TTY (text telephone), urged that Access Board guidelines govern both manufacturers and service providers.
The wireless industry has been in on-and-off negotiations with the hearing impaired community in recent years, but progress made to date by the two sides has been overshadowed by accessibility challenges that still remain.
“It’s not a matter of obligation; it’s a matter of opportunity,” said Tim Ayers, a spokesman for the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association. “Clearly, the industry is interested in reaching this part of the community. And technology and outreach will continue.”
