Original by Kevin Carey, humanITy, RNIB/World Blind Union.  Edited by Axel Leblois, Executive Director, G3ict. Resources selected by Ben Lippincott, Industry Relations, Wireless RERC/Georgia Institute of Technology and Axel Leblois, G3ict

With over 4 billion subscribers worldwide, wireless phones have become the most ubiquitous ICT platform around the world with substantial penetration of both developed and developing countries markets.

This rapid development of wireless telephony (and wireless-enabled computing) has provided disabled people with a substantial improvement in their functional capacity; no longer do blind and visually impaired people need to locate a public telephone kiosk while wheelchair users no longer need to struggle with inaccessible kiosks. Deaf persons have embraced text messaging all over the world, opening an entirely new way to communicate with others. Elderly and disabled persons enjoy simple emergency call procedures.  Wireless (cell or mobile) phones are portable, personalised and always on, for work, leisure and emergencies. 
 

Drivers for accessible mobile phones

While critical accessibility issues affected early generations of handsets, substantial progress has been made by manufacturers to boost their accessibility driven by three major factors:

• The increasing availability of enhanced processing power for handsets coupled with innovative software for user interfaces such as voice recognition or text to speech

• Pressures from user groups and regulators to solve basic issues such as hearing aid compatibility and visually inaccessible handsets

• Realisation by wireless operators in saturated markets that disabled and elderly persons represent a large untapped market (see NTT DoCoMo success story with the Raku-Raku product line for disabled persons in Japan)

Accessibility features required by Persons with Disabilities

Accessible hardware and software is available today which can address the needs of users with various types of impairments: visual, cognitive, hearing, speech, physical.  For example:

• blind and visually impaired people can adjust display settings such as font size or color contrast;

• blind or visually impaired people can use text to speech to access menus, receive audio feedback and have text, such as SMS, read aloud;

• pictorial address books (containing an image of the person beside their name and phone number) has considerably empowered some people with cognitive disabilities to use cell phones;

• deaf persons can use a range of services including:

  • SMS text messages

  • sign language via video calls (on 3G networks)

• other video-based services such a text to Avatar

• persons unable to use a keypad can use voice recognition software.

Likely technological evolution and accessibility features

As technology continues to evolve, mobile phones and high end PDAs become a prime platform for assistive technology by providing additional functionalities not traditionally available on phones such as easy to use emergency keys, integrated GPS for geo-positioning, text scanning capabilities with optical character recognition to read documents aloud with text to speech software, or a mini Daisy reader to read downloaded books aloud.  For specific conditions such as hard of hearing users, bone conduction to transmit sounds to the inner ear is available.  Furthermore, by using 3G connectivity, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth technologies, smart phones will likely become platforms of choice to enhance proximity and mobility services for persons with disabilities. 

Disabled customers, however, require dedicated customer support services with trained personnel to take full advantage of those new features.  While dedicated point of sales and service have appeared in Europe and Japan, most operators around the world do not have such facilities.  And few operators have accessible services such as Braille invoices or dedicated remote phone support.  NTT DoCoMo, Orange or AT&T Wireless are examples of wireless service providers providing various forms of dedicated support.

This section includes the following resources:

Handset manufacturers accessibility web sites detailing the functionalities offered:

• Apple

• Motorola

• Nokia
  

• Research In Motion (BlackBerry)

• Samsung
  
  

Examples of wireless service providers accessibility web sites:

• AT&T wireless

• Orange

• Sprint

• Sprint Nextel

• T-Mobile

• Verizon

• NTT DoCoMo (PPT Presentation)

Regulatory and policy and program references on wireless handsets and services accessibility:

• FCC Order on Section 255 (United States)

• FCC rules on hearing aid compatibility (United States)

• ITI VPAT: Voluntary Product Accessibility Template

• Mobile Industry Good Practice Guide for Service Delivery for Disabled and Elderly Customers in the UK - (Word doc)

• Voluntary charter signed by French operators, disabled persons organizations, government and Regulatory Authority (in French)

• Accessibility criteria defined by voluntary French charter (in French) - PDF

• French Regulatory Authority report on voluntary charter implementation (in French)
  
  

Independent resources:

• Accesswireless.org

• MyWirelessReview.com (Georgia Tech RERC)

• Survey of Users Needs (Georgia Tech Wireless RERC) - (Word doc)

• Mobile accessibility - GARI (Global Accessibility Reporting Initiative)