GATINEAU – Broadband has become, as CRTC chair Jean-Pierre Blais put it earlier basic service objective hearing, “vital” to Canadians, all Canadians. It’s perhaps even more essential to those with disabilities – those who are blind or vision-impaired or deaf.
For nearly two weeks, the CRTC has heard from a wide range of parties on a number of topics including whether speed targets should be established in a basic broadband offering, how to serve rural and remote communities and the impoverished. The Commission also launched a line of questioning into how a national broadband strategy should be initiated and who should lead it. But on two days earlier this week, commissioners heard a completely different perspective on what basic broadband and telecommunications should be.
For example, deaf Canadians rely on visual media to communicate, therefore video communications is critical to them. In the wired world, it seems this is easily addressed through Skype or other video applications. When they’re on the go though, they need to rely on video chat applications on their smartphones.
Rytch Newmiller, a member of the Deaf Wireless Canada Committee panel that appeared on Monday, April 18, noted that using applications such as FaceTime, Skype and Glide often results in users go over their allotted data caps. This results in overage charges. He added that while non-deaf Canadians can get unlimited voice minutes, deaf Canadians don’t enjoy the same benefit for mobile data.
The deaf community wants the Commission to ensure that wireless carriers offer plans with high enough data caps so they can effectively communicate without having to worry about overage charges. Some suggest a monthly cap of between 10 GB and 12 GB as being enough. They also want each carrier to offer some sort of data pricing uniformity.
Other associations representing deaf Canadians argue that video relay service (VRS) must be considered a basic service. Frank Folino, president of the Canadian Association of the Deaf, argued that VRS reduces communications barriers. (He is pictured signing his presentation in this CPAC.ca screen cap.)
“We have limited ability to be part of the fabric of Canadian society and we see major benefits of having the service for deaf and hearing individuals. It will give us functional equivalency when it comes to communication in the same way that hearing people use their telephone and other methods of communication,” he said.
CRTC chair Jean-Pierre Blais wondered about the status of TTY (text telephony) and how it’s serving the deaf community. Both organizations said TTY is on its way to the scrap heap. The CAD, which no longer uses the service, noted that over the last seven years, it’s received three TTY calls and they have all been from the same person.
“We see this as a game changer. This is going to advance the quality of our lives.” Frank Folino, CAD
VRS is the future, said Folino. “We see this as a game changer. This is going to advance the quality of our lives. Once VRS is in place and it’s up and running in ASL (American Sign Language) and LSQ (Langue des signes du Quebec), I see our community just really growing.”
For blind and visually impaired Canadians, basic telecommunications takes on a different tone. For groups representing these citizens, it’s more about universal product design and ensuring that new technology and devices fit their needs. It’s about taking a holistic approach to product design and applying an accessibility lens to it.
Curb cuts (ramped curbs at street intersections) are a prime example of thinking of universal design and accessibility from the outset. The blind and visually impaired benefit but so too do others.
When it comes to mobile communications, some devices come equipped with features and applications that make them usable by the blind. Leo Bissonnette, national director for the Alliance for Equality of Blind Canadians (AEBC), noted that without his iPhone, which has accessbility features built in, he wouldn’t be able to conduct his daily activities.
While some smartphone manufacturers make it easier for the blind and visually impaired to use their devices, it’s a little more problematic for modems. Lui Greco, national manager of advocacy at the CNIB, noted that modems don’t have accessibility features on them.
“As a person who’s blind, I find it extremely frustrating that the branding is prevalent in the backend of the devices. But yet, simple things like adding ball tags to images, which tells me what a button or a link will do, is absent,” he said.
The AEBC and the CNIB acknowledge that the CRTC has perhaps a limited role in creating a Canadian telecommunications landscape free of accessibility barriers.
They do say, however, that since the way information is exchanged has fundamentally shifted, so too should the basic service objective.
