ITU-T Workshop on
“Telecommunications relay services for persons
with disabilities ”
(Geneva, 25 November 2011)
Next generation relay services in
Australia
Sandy Gilliland
Chief Executive Officer
Australian Communication
Exchange (ACE)
Geneva, 25 November 2011
Presentation outline
Background on ACE and Australian
relay services
The National Broadband Network a truly enabling infrastructure
Our Vision for the future
Challenges and opportunities
A change in philosophy to shape
legislation, regulation and funded
services
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Introducing ACE
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ACE is a national not-for-profit
The organisation is dedicated to
enabling communication access for
Deaf, hearing impaired and speech
impaired Australians
Our Vision is ‘Access to Communication
for Everyone’
The organisation has a unique mix of
technological expertise and community
passion which inspires us to advance
communication solutions in Australia
Source: Senator Stephen Conroy address to Huawei Digital Inclusion Summit
Geneva, 25 November 2011
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Relay services available in Australia
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History of Australian relay services
The National Relay Service (NRS) was
introduced in 1995
Access to the NRS is legislated under
the Telecommunications (Consumer
Protection and Services Standards) Act
1999
Funding is through a levy on carriers
with a gross revenue of $10 million+
Services are evolving, though not nearly
as rapidly as telecommunications for the
wider community
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The National Relay Service (NRS)
is under review
Today, NRS users can access:
TTY services including emergency
access
Speech impaired services
Internet relay services (one way)
The Australian Government is in the
midst of a major NRS review with a
view to maximising the benefits from
newer technologies and applications.
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Opportunities from a National
Broadband Network
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Australia will soon have a reliable and
ubiquitous high speed broadband
The Australian Government has
committed ~$27.5 Billion to deliver a
National Broadband Network (NBN)
The NBN is an internationally acclaimed
enabling infrastructure
The vision is that Australia will be a
leading digital economy by 2020 and
will be among the top five OECD
countries by the percentage of
households connected to broadband
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There are recognised challenges to
bridging the digital divide
The Australian Government has
recognised the challenge in bridging the
digital divide
In 2008-09, 26 percent of Australians
over the age of 15 did not use the
internet. The figure is much higher for
older, disabled and indigenous
Australians
37 percent of people aged 55-64 and 69
percent of people over 65 did not use the
internet
Source: Senator Stephen Conroy address to Huawei Digital Inclusion Summit
Geneva, 25 November 2011
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Equally, there are opportunities to
increase digital literacy
Households have affordable access
Health and aged care services can be
delivered remotely
Education opportunities will be more
accessible
Telework opportunities will emerge
Government services can be more
accessible
Regional Australians will be connected
to the digital economy
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Our Vision for the future is
Access to Communication for Everyone
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Our Vision echoes a GPII
Ultimately we wish to see:
Accessible technology become ubiquitous
Interoperability between disability and
standard devices increase
Access become affordable
Innovation derived from lower market
entry costs
Consumer choice expanding; and
Regardless of the disability, the user has
their accessibility features on any device,
any time, anywhere
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Challenges and opportunities have
emerged through our work
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Captioned telephony enables
functionally equivalent access
The trial service has been incredible,
empowering service and is the best
available solution to offer functionally
equivalent telephone calls
ACE’s trial participants have reported
growing independence, confidence and
workplace productivity
The community has requested web and
handset captioned telephony for the
next generation services
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However, the presence of a third
party creates some concerns
CapTel® has removed the feeling that a
third party Relay Officer is involved
Benefits:
Conversations are fast
and natural for the user
The user has less call
refusals from businesses
and call centres
There is an enhanced
feeling of privacy and
personalisation for calls
between families and
friends
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Concerns:
The presence of a third
party is not apparent to
the hearing person
Caption records could be
misused
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The different services options are also
viewed differently by the legislation
Web version X
Currently in
breach of the TIA
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Handset version
Permissible in the
TIA
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Our next accessibility investments also
face legislative challenges
ACE is leveraging widely available smart
phone devices to shift disability access
design in Australia and internationally
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This is the world’s first smart phone
emergency access channel
The ACE Board fast-tracked this
application because it meets a critical
need for our communities to have a
mobile emergency access channel
The Australian Government will trial this
application in 2011/2012
It has been deemed the world’s first
Government sanctioned emergency app
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The opportunities to enhance this
application are cost effective
ACE and the Australian Government
have started discussing the next
developments
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Moving forward we need to view
relay services and disability access
in a different light
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There are different philosophies which
underpin relay service provision
In our view, there are three different
philosophies applied in different
nations
Relay services are funded with the
intention of providing either:
1.
2.
3.
Telecommunications access
Social welfare
Functional equivalence
Australia has traditionally worked on
the grounds of the first philosophy 22
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We promote a functional equivalence
philosophy
There are important reasons to
promote this change
Functional equivalence recognises that
social inclusion is more than a right, it
makes economic sense
Through functionally equivalent services
disabled citizens can access all facets of
a prosperous fulfilling life – education,
careers, family life, health, culture etc.
Functional equivalence promotes the
need to keep pace with technology
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Questions
Sandy Gilliland
www.aceinfo.net.au
E: sandy.gilliland@aceinfo.net.au
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