There should also be a reference group of skilled user representatives that interacts
with the design or production team on a regular basis. This group will offer a more
wide-ranging and strategic view and may even input into the development process
itself.
To achieve a body of skilled user representatives, there needs to be training and
mentoring programmes. These ensure that user representatives may learn more
about technologies as well as the legislative and regulatory framework. In
addition, skills can be taught such as meeting procedure, public speaking and the
principles of representing group interests rather than their own accessibility
interests. Some of this may seem common sense to industry professionals.
However, people with disabilities need to learn to combine their personal
experience of disability with professional skills in order for the best results to be
achieved.
There have been user representative training programmes developed under
European Commission projects. However, these need to be ongoing and further
developed in more European countries.
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8.2.4 Service providers
The organisation offering telecommunications services may be different from the
manufacturer of the terminal or the network operator. This means that there needs
to be close collaboration between all parties when developing new services. The
development of a business case may be complex if various parts of the supply chain
are in different countries since different countries may apply different levels of
subsidy to various services for people with disabilities.
8.2.5 Appropriate marketing
With a new feature for an existing service, consumers can often quickly appreciate
the potential benefits. However if the service is totally new, it is often only by
trailling a system that it is possible to estimate whether the service is likely to be
commercially viable. Even then developers can seriously under or over estimate the
likely take up; SMS is just one example.
Marketing to people with a disability can present particular challenges since the
normal marketing techniques may be inappropriate; for instance printed
advertisements may have little impact on blind customers. There are additional
problems in explaining to people with intellectual impairments the potential
benefits of a new service; this may go some way to explaining the low take up of
new telecommunication services by this group of customers.
Some unmodified services are popular with people with disabilities if they are
affordable; for instance SMS is heavily used by many deaf people. Other services
use standard terminals in conjunction with a service centre. For people with an
intellectual impairment, a mobile phone can transmit location information and a
picture of the immediate environment to a remote service centre where a human
operator can guide the user to their required destination. Such a service would be
invaluable to an intellectually impaired or blind person travelling alone on public
transport when there is a disruption to their routine.
Marketing which is directed at a particular section of the disability community with
a product “for the disabled” can be less effective than marketing the same product
to the general public and mentioning that it can also be of benefit to people with
impairments. Many consumers, particularly those who are ageing, do not like to
consider themselves ‘disabled’ but do admit that their abilities are not as good as
they used to be.
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8.2.6 Training and support
Customers with disabilities will need support which may be additional to that
provided to non-disabled customers. For instance a blind user may not be able to
read the instructions for setting up and using the equipment; in this case it may be
necessary to provide the instruction books in alternative formats on demand (e.g.
Braille, large print and audio) or at least in electronic format that can easily be
converted into formats offering speech output. For a deaf person, customer
support centres might need to able to respond to text calls. For someone with an
intellectual impairment, the instruction book might need to be written in a
language which is easy to understand and has clear pictures or diagrams.
It is vital to ensure accessibility has been considered from the point of customer
interaction within the sales chain and onwards through the experience.
A particular problem is when the system has a malfunction, since it may not be
easy for the user with a disability to ascertain where the fault is located or to run
diagnostics even with help over the telephone. Therefore consideration needs to be
given to providing appropriate support services. However, identifying the source of
a fault is difficult for the majority of end-users and therefore an intuitive system
backed up with well-trained staff in customer service are essential for any
customer-oriented company.
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8.3 Legislation and regulation as drivers
When the market does not deliver the required result, national regulators have
stepped in with mandatory requirements. In addition some countries have
discrimination legislation such as the Disability Discrimination Act in the UK; such
legislation can also be found in countries such as USA and Australia. However the
trend is towards less regulation in the telecommunications area, so the role of
legislation at national or European level may become more significant. Legislation
such as European Directives tied to particular standards may become more
significant in future. This is particularly the case with the Public Procurement
Directive.
In the USA, government procurement requirements have been used as a way of
influencing manufacturers to provide information and communication technology
systems which incorporate accessibility features. Since there is no easy way to
measure accessibility, the approach has been to take each technology component
and specify accessibility requirements. Although this approach does improve
accessibility and is measurable, it has the disadvantage that it does not look at the
ease of use of the whole system by people with disabilities.
A mechanism needs to be devised that allows manufacturing and service provider
companies to make decisions in developing products safe in the knowledge that
legislative duties have been met.
The European Commission has indicated through a Directive that it intends to use
government procurement to require accessible systems. Traditionally the European
approach has been to use formal standards (eg from CEN, CENELEC and ETSI), and
then have Directives which make particular standards mandatory. This is likely to
be the case with public procurement incorporating accessibility requirements. The
European Commission will call upon the standards bodies to develop accessibility
guidelines to be referred to from the Directive.
In addition, the U.S. accessibility guidelines for public procurement purposes are
being reviewed in 2007 and it is anticipated that there will be collaboration
between the European and U.S. guidelines developers. This will provide a clearer
path for product developers in designing equipment that meets accessibility
requirements and thus for industry to more successfully increase their sales
through supply to government agencies as well as to the wider market.
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Regulation:
• While there is a trend towards less regulation in the telecommunications
sector, the question of how to protect the interests of disenfranchised people
in a free market will become a key issue and consideration needs to be given
to the provision of services for people with disabilities
• The scope of the Universal Service Directive could have significant
implications
• Government procurement can require the provision of accessible
equipment, but what is accessible will need to be defined in standards
• Inclusion of Design for All principles in standards should become as
commonplace as reference to quality standards.