Improving the quality of life of persons with disability through telecommunications and teleinformatics

Camilleri, Joseph (1995): 'Improving the quality of life of persons with disability through telecommunications and teleinformatics'. A paper presented at COST219 Conference. Thursday, 1st February, 1996. Malta.

INTRODUCTION

In the past the seas and oceans were the main channels of communication for the Maltese people. Today, we depend just as heavily on the optic fibre cable and the silicon chip to access 'digital ... global communications [networks of] unfathomable capacity and speed' (Telemalta: 1995).

However, in order for us to continue making headway, these uncharted tracts need to be mapped and navigated just as the seas and oceans were in the past. There are exciting benefits for many people hitherto isolated from the mainstream by virtue of their disabilities. On the other hand, diverse trends in the development of telecommunication technology create potential threats to equal opportunities.

With regard to telecommunications and teleinformatics, the main issues which concern persons with disability in Malta are very similar to those articulated by disabled persons in other countries. These can be summarised as issues of: access; universal design approach; consultation and co-ordination; the human face of technology; technological and service compatibility and partnerships between stakeholders.

In seeking to map their own future, Maltese disabled persons have demanded that representative organisations develop services and guidelines geared to meet the challenges set by these technologies. Acting upon this pressure, the Kummissjoni Nazzjonali Persuni b'Dizabilità (National Commission Persons with Disability) has concentrated its main efforts in the following ways:
· to collect and analyse reliable data;
· to provide financial assistance for the purchase of specialised equipment;
· to develop programmes and services intended for specific target groups;
· to encourage and foster the growth of an information technology culture;
· to carry out on-going consultations between major stakeholders.

COLLECTING AND ANALYSING RELIABLE DATA

A National Survey

During 1992-1993 NCPD carried out a national survey of persons with disability. This was done in order to gather reliable statistics which could help decision-makers to:
(a) analyse the social and functional needs of disabled persons and their families;
(b) devise appropriate strategies and programmes which could address these needs and
(c) substantiate the cost and benefits derived from every initiative that is proposed, or implemented.

In view of current local legislation it was not possible to oblige individuals to fill in the questionnaires and the Commission had to rely on public co-operation in this regard. To date approximately 4,200 individuals have been entered into the database. However, given the voluntary nature of the survey and given the cultural and religious taboos still associated with disability, the number of persons with disability in Malta is substantially greater than this figure suggests. An analysis of initial findings was published in 1995.


FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FOR THE PURCHASE OF SPECIALISED EQUIPMENT

Servizz Ghajnuniet Specjali (Special Apparatus Service)

The Servizz Ghajnuniet Specjali (Special Apparatus Service) is intended to provide financial assistance to enable disabled persons and their carers to purchase assistive apparata intended to improve the quality of life of the disabled person.

Demands upon the service indicate that persons with disability and their carers are showing a growing awareness of the potential of telecommunications and teleinformatics technology as a vehicle, primarily, for education and employment. This interest is partly reflected in the steady number of requests for subsidies from the service to enable the acquisition of specialised hardware, software and peripherals.


PROGRAMMES AND SERVICES FOR SPECIFIC TARGET GROUPS

Text Telephone Relay Service

One programme for a specific target group is the Text Telephone Relay Service initiated early this year. Still in its pilot stage, the service is being implemented in different stages. Later on the service will be open, mornings only, to all text-telephone users, until finally the number of hours when the service will be functioning will be increased to the desirable level of 24 hours daily.

At its outset, the Relay Service Committee made contact with similar relay services abroad in order to assure that the local service maintain the highest possible standards. The setting up of the Relay Service was only possible with the help of the Telemalta Corporation which sponsored the purchase of the necessary equipment.


FOSTERING THE GROWTH OF AN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CULTURE

Centre for Information Technology Accommodation, Malta (CITAM)

The setting up of a Centre for Information Technology Accommodation in Malta (CITAM) has been carried through close collaboration between the Commission and the Management Systems Unit --- a major stakeholder in information technology in Malta. The main impetus for the creation of this centre has been recognition of an ever-growing involvement with IT by individuals with disability, a major decision by the Maltese Government to introduce I.T. into all levels of the educational system and an awareness of the potential of I.T. in the employment of persons with disability.

The main objectives of CITAM are:
· to create a national initiative for the application of computing technology to improve the quality of life for persons with disability;
· to set up a resource library of specialised and adapted equipment and software as a show case of products available;
· to provide a consultancy service regarding computer technology for disabled persons to various non-government organisations (NGOs), individuals and government departments;
· to set up and maintain a database of suppliers and manufacturers of the said software and hardware;
· to liaise with different organisations and individuals to provide I.T.-based support for initiatives which will benefit persons with disabilities.

It is hoped that in the very near future this initiative will enable persons with disability to exploit still further the potential of teleinformatics in the fields of education, employment, data retrieval and especially networking.


CONSULTATION AND CO-ORDINATION BETWEEN MAJOR STAKEHOLDERS

NCPD-Telemalta Joint Consultative Committee

We believe that it is essential for service providers, suppliers, and clients to create a forum where positive, on-going discussions can take place.

To this end, a Joint Consultative Committee was set up between Telemalta Corporation's Telecommunication Apparatus for Disabled Applicants section, more popularly known as the TAFDA and the Kummissjoni Nazzjonali Persuni b'Dizabilità (KNPD).
The setting up of this committee may be summed up simply as putting a 'human face' of technology and it owes its existence to the recognition of four basic concepts:
· the timeliness and importance of a balanced, visionary, stakeholder approach service development;
· the tendency for a large number of suppliers to "push boxes", rather than offer solutions;
· the understanding that suppliers and service providers need to be challenged to consider multiple perspectives;
· the importance of charting a course of action based on foresight and with the potential for greater benefits to all stakeholders, including suppliers and service providers.

At present this committee has made its recommendations to Telemalta regarding a rebate scheme on text-telephone calls, since such calls are substantially longer and therefore more costly than a conventional telephone call. Other matters under discussion include enhancing accessibility:
· for blind users to (a) Telemalta's Infotel Service. (Infotel consists of a telephone directory on CD-ROM) and (b) to Telecards;
· to persons with a mobility impairment, by providing 'hands free' telephones;
· to public telephone kiosks.
In order to ensure that the major stakeholders have a strong representation, the committee is made up of senior staff from both the Commission and Telemalta, together with a high percentage of persons with disability.

Discussions with the Telemalta Corporation and other organisations have helped us to focus on a perennial number of potential constraints which arise from these new technologies. Included among these are the problems of: access, compatibility and universal design.

ACCESS & COMPATIBILITY

Access is a problem which must be tackled at different levels. For example, on the level of technology choices access mode is the key to overcoming barriers previously experienced by many people. It is vital to incorporate full access requirements into future telecommunications services of governments.

Service costs remain a major hurdle for many disabled persons. In this respect, the full variety of services available on national communications services may remain inaccessible to the majority of disabled persons on a low income. We fully agree that increased deregulation encourages increased competition, which in turn, can lead manufacturers and service providers to concentrate on 'more lucrative parts of the market' and to put aside the principal of 'universal service provision'. (Roe, P.R.W: 1995, p.3) thereby increasing, rather than diminishing, the marginalisation of persons with disability.

Nevertheless, the aim of all new technology must remain to integrate disabled persons in society and not to split them into a number of closed user groups (the number depending upon the number of incompatible systems in use. (COST 220: 1991, pa. 4).

PARTNERSHIPS

The majority of service providers are now willing to work to provide access for all, but they need answers to questions such as, what are the barriers to access, and what can be done to overcome them. Now is the time for developing a strong working partnership between customers with disability and telecommunication developers and investors to solve access problems and thereby improve overall information access and application usability for the general population.

RECOMMENDATIONS

In order to address a number of these issues at a national level, KNPD puts forward the following recommendations:

1. Telecommunication development and procurements activities nationwide must be conducted in a manner that broadens distribution benefits to include people who require a variety of methods of access; and

2. New customer services made possible by telecommunications advances nationwide must be developed and conducted in a manner that broadens distribution benefits to include people who require accessibility choice.

Such recommendations intended to enhance and increase accessibility choice should be outlined in a national policy document. The recommendations in such a document should be recognised and adopted as strategic initiatives to the full implementation of a country's equal opportunities legislation.

CONCLUSION

Any discussion of the future of telecommunication technology cannot afford to ignore the danger of widening gaps between technological and social development. In many developing countries this exciting new technology will only benefit an élite minority. It is unacceptable, at least on moral grounds, that technological advances continue at a rate which is often seriously out of step with the daily lives of ordinary people.

This is once reason why disabled persons in Malta will continue to look seriously at what matters to people, with and without disabilities, and not concentrate on just "buying boxes". We recognise and we need performance benchmarks that matter to users, not just ornamentation and incompatible differences that serve only the supplier. We will not allow technology to reduce our humanness - a balanced approach can accelerate both individual courage and prosperity.

We support technology that accommodates differences in people that would otherwise be constrained in their communications and commerce, technology that serves to liberate expressiveness and amplify dignity in all relationships: family, friends, business.

Finally, we seek to bring back into balance in all European countries recognition that there are multiple forms of richness and rich living. Financial gain is a good starting place, but it should never be the be all and end all.

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REFERENCES

Bezzina, F. (ed): National Survey, Kummissjoni Nazzjonali Persuni b'Dizabilità, 1994.

Brummel, S: Unpublished notes, Clearinghouse on Computer Accommodation, 1993.

COST 220: Information technologies and sciences, Commission of the European Communities, 1991.

Roe, P.R.W: Telecommunications for all: Cost 219, Commission of the European Communities, 1995, p.3.

Telemalta Corporation: The Speed of Change: Annual Report, Telemalta Corporation, 1994-95.

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