WASHINGTON-The wireless industry and the hearing-impaired community appear headed on a collision course over the implementation of the 1996 telecom act’s mandate that equipment and service be accessible and usable by persons with disabilities if it is “readily achievable.”
The readily achievable caveat, among other things, has become a stumbling block that puts the Federal Communications Commission in the unenviable position of having to craft policy that extends wireless access to hearing impaired and other disabled individuals without imposing too heavy a burden on a competitive, fast-growing wireless industry.
Self Help for Hard of Hearing People supports the current readily accessible definition while the Telecommunications Industry Association-which represents telecom equipment manufacturers-argues the definition should be revised “such that the accessibility `checklist’ can be applied across product lines.”
The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association suggested the FCC take a flexible approach to implementing telecom disability requirements. The trade group noted, for example, that readily achievable can mean something different for wireless and wireline carriers.
“Commission regulation under Section 255 should not impair the CMRS (commercial mobile radio service) industry’s ability to meet marketplace demands, nor impose heavy-handed regulation which could stifle this vibrant sector of the economy,” CTIA stated.
The Personal Communications Industry Association said the complaint process should be structured to encourage wireless carriers and customers with disabilities “to work together to ensure that equipment and services are available wherever economically and technologically feasible.”
Phoenix Management Inc., a small Fountain, Colo., firm that makes an external device to enable hearing-impaired people to use mobile phones, has filed complaints with the FCC against manufacturers Qualcomm Inc. and Nokia Corp. for not equipping their phones with adapters and for not stocking hearing-impaired access products themselves at retail outlets.
“We feel that it’s essential that people take a very strong look the bottom line. And the bottom line is accessibility for all people,” said Shirley Crouch, co-owner of Phoenix.
Crouch said the firm plans to file additional complaints against wireless equipment suppliers, prompting some in industry to suggest Phoenix’s actions are commercially motivated.
“If they look at the population of people with disabilities in this country alone,” added Crouch, “there is an extremely large, untapped market that under the law should be provided accessibility and the freedom of communications.”
SHHH recommended other steps that should be taken to include hearing-impaired people in the wireless revolution.
“We can say unequivocally that our constituency, the 26 million hard of hearing people in American, has repeatedly indicated that the current levels of volume control on wireline and wireless phones are not sufficient to meet their needs,” stated SHHH.
“These are people with all levels of hearing loss,” SHHH continued. “They are part of mainstream society, many of them working, who need phones they can use comfortably and effectively-just like everyone else. At present, many of this group are precluded from using many telephones effectively.”
