Are you involved in voice mail, voice messaging, or audiotext/IVR? Do you know that Section 255 of the Telecom Act requires your products or services to be accessible? Jim Tobias co-Chairs the Industry Forum on access problems, access solutions, demonstrations of new products, and regulatory information from FCC staff. Visit our IVR Accessibility page.
FLASH 2!
Are you interested in the accessibility of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)? Inclusive Technologies has prepared a set of VoIP background material for the FCC Solutions Summit, May 7, 2004. It includes a short training course on VoIP.
...means not having to miss out on phone calls or email or the Internet due to a mismatch between what the product demands and what a user can perform.
Accessible telecommunications begins with considering the needs of customers with disabilities. You may be surprised to find out that some of the features these folks need make products and services more convenient for everybody. It's called universal design, or design-for-all. Want some examples?
Take a look at the Market Monitoring Report -- a database of more than 600 telecom products with universal design and accessibility features, compiled by Inclusive Technologies for the Access Board.
But accessible telecommunications means more than good design of the product or service. It means accessible business practices, like documentation in large print and customer service via TTY. It means taking these customers seriously in market research, advertising, and other corporate organizations.
We do both: technology and business practices. Take a look at our Inclusive services:
for industry...
for consumers and consumer organizations...
for public agency technology purchasers...
for public policy makers...
and our Accessible Technology Public Policy page, with full details of recent regulatory actions.
Many companies and organizations have web pages about accessible telecommunications. Here are some of the best:
Verizon
Verizon
Wireless
Pacific
Bell
Qualcomm
Telecommunications
Industry Association (TIA)
Nokia
Motorola
Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association Access Wireless
Ameriphone
Microflip
NXi
Ultratec
Ameritech
(now part of SBC)
AT&T
GTE
Hamilton Telecommunications
MCI
Sprint
Electronic Telecommunications
Relay Services forum (eTRSf) A great source
for late-breaking news about TRS, including a lively user discussion
National Exchange Carriers
Association (NECA) NECA administers the Interstate
TRS Fund
FCC activities on
TRS
The FCC has ruled that voice mail and audiotext/IVR are covered by Section 255 of the Telecom Act. Jim Tobias of Inclusive Technologies co-Chairs the IVR Accessibility Forum at ATIS. Contact us for information on this issue, including our background paper and the TTY Compatibility Testing Protocol.
Here are some companies that offer private TTY voice mail solutions:
CommWare
Teleco
Perfect Voice
Talking Caller ID
ClassCo
TalkingCallerID
Other Caller ID
Caller-TV (displays
Caller ID info in large text on your TV screen)
Caller ID for
TV (same as above)
American Council of the Blind
American Foundation for the Blind
Association of Late-Deafened Adults
National Association of the Deaf
National Federation of the Blind
Self Help for Hard of Hearing People
Telecommunications for the Deaf, Inc.
United Cerebral Palsy Associations
The International Coalition of Access Engineers
and Specialists (ICAES) -- the professional organization of access specialists
in telecommunications and information technology
RESNA -- rehabilitation engineering
and assistive technology
The National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) supports a Rehabilitation Engineering and Research Center (RERC) on Accessible Telecommunications. It's a cooperative program of Gallaudet University and the Trace R&D Center at the University of Wisconsin.
National Center for Accessible Media at WGBH.
First take a look at the Inclusive Technologies Public Policy page....
The U.S. Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (Access Board) is responsible for developing and maintaining guidelines on accessible telecommunications, among other issues.
The Federal Communications Commission is responsible
for regulating the telecommunications industry. The Commission has a Disability
Rights Office that coordinates all of its accessibility work.
COST-219 (European Union Telecom
Access organization)
Telematics
for the Integration of Disabled and Elderly people (TIDE) European
Union research and activity group
The InClude Project European information
support on disability and telematics
Did you really read everything down to here? If so, you probably need
a break from all this serious stuff! Check out the Devil's
Dictionary of Accessible Telecommunications -- a new standard in buzzwordiness
and regulatory correctness, with apologies to Ambrose
Bierce.
Trying to learn more about the world of telecom? You can't do better than the Telecom Information Resources site at the University of Michigan. Here you'll find all the companies, organizations, standards, and technology descriptions you could want. Search around for the dictionaries and tutorials -- they're easy to use and provide good background.
Comments? We want to hear anything you have to say about accessible telecommunications.