Scientific and technological reports
Bridging the Gap?
Access to telecommunciations for all people
CONCLUSION
Patrick Roe
6.1 Are More Products Reaching the Market?
The overview given in sub-chapter 2.1 clearly showed that there is a growing number of products for older people and people with limited ability reaching the market, albeit a frustratingly slow pace. There is also nearly always a delay in availability of equipment compared to equivalent mainstream products. This is one of the reasons, along with cost-saving considerations for promoting the much-mentioned "Design for all" concept.
Clearly the market is still not very mature and there is certainly not a product for all the ranges of ability and all the various contexts of use. There are still many market gaps or market opportunities. It is quite possible that some products will never be produced if market forces alone are to be relied on. This is highlighted in the review of relay centres in sub-chapter 2.2. In the countries that already had relays service centres in 1989, the services have become more sophisticated running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Two countries have recently introduced fledgling services but there are still 6 countries in the EU with no professionally run relay service. Will market forces be enough in this case, and how long should the customers be made to wait, before other solutions are put in place?
Another potential brake for service providers in implementing a particular
service is the apprehension that once a service has been introduced
it can never be stopped. A greater flexibility in service provision
is required to follow technological development and user needs. An example
for the future could be the move from text and video relay services
to integrated multimedia services.
There are also new opportunities with the arrival of multimedia. However
if redundancy is not used multimediality will create serious problems
for people with disabilities (see chapter 4). It is important that the
needs of the broadest possible end-user population are taken into account
in the early design phase of new products and services.
6.2 Are the Gaps Being Bridged?
A broad correlation between public EU-funded research into services and equipment for disabled and older people was mentioned in sub-chapters 3.1.2 to 3.1.4 in the areas of personal communication, support of daily living and access to information. Some notable exceptions were also mentioned such as E-mail, SMS and the vibrating alarm. It was also notable that the market success was often related to "Inclusive design" products useful to the general population. The point was also made that the impact in of R&D on the European market has been considerable because of the rising awareness of stakeholders, even if the number of devices available in the market as a direct result of EU-funded projects was not relevant.
It can be said therefore that research and development is playing its role in bridging the gap between ideas to market products. However it is essential that the EU should continue to support a broad and integrated range of measures addressing the target group. Research with a holistic approach on accessibility needs to be promoted and it is also essential that resources are allocated for follow-through on research results. There should be a strong European Union social policy framework available allowing the take-up of results. Knowledge regarding the "Design for all" concept should be increased through promotion of related research and development.
Potentially the largest gap that still needs to be bridged, in Europe at least, is that of successful Industrial awareness and transfer. There is still a lack of forums between industry, consumers and consumer organisations. The term "Design for All" needs to be carefully explained and is not always helpful as it can give industry the impression of having to have all the solutions for everyone. Design for all should be promoted on a 3-level activity: inclusive design, adaptable interfaces and specific solutions, it should not be seen as the aim itself but as one of the means of achieving the aim. It is also clear that the introduction of legislation in the US has had a major effect and there can be no doubt that similar introduction in Europe would speed this process up and help make the business case for "Design for all".
Education is another essential driving force in helping bridge the gap and it is already playing its role but there is still also along way to go here. Usability and accessibility issues are still missing from many technical curricula in ICT engineering, and the "Design for all" concept is still missing from many education curricula.
However the single biggest identified barrier to the take-up of new technology and the main cause of abandonment of services, is the lack of specialised human resources and user support at a regional level. This highlights the importance of the role of education in training professionals and carers whilst also informing the users. The key word here is empowerment: carers, users and user organisations need to know what to ask for and what is realistically feasible. There is therefore a need to disseminate this information to the users, carers and all the people involved in the delivery of services. If the recent experience of the introduction of legislation in the US is to be replicated within a European context, culture and legal system, there could also be a serious need for training industry in "Design for all" issues.
Finally, there is the issue of legislation, regulation and standardisation. Despite the considerable effort that has been put into the writing of standards taking older people and disabled people into account, standardisation in this area has not come very far over the last fifteen years (see sub-chapter 3.5.7). Moreover, standards are not mandatory without corresponding legislation. However the work already carried out will prove useful as a basis to be referred to for any legislation that may be introduced in the future.
The response to the questionnaires sent out to national regulators (sub-chapter 3.5.6) highlighted the fact that the European Commission's concepts of Universal Service are not being extended fully or in any consistent manner across Europe. This is obviously disappointing and more work is required to look at the details of the reasons why this is and how the situation can be improved.
The Universal Service Mode put forward in (sub-chapter 3.5.3) is presented as being the quickest, simplest and arguably the most effective means of making accessible and affordable communications terminals available to people with disabilities. This service model could serve as a basis for implementation across Europe. Another important point made in this sub-chapter is that national considerations of accessibility and affordability in relation to terminals equipment can only be applied in the context of service provision, for there is no leeway for similar national intervention in the supply of goods.
As regards legislation in Europe some progress has been made as noted in sub-chapter 3.5.2. However, the examples of Australia and the United States of America show that much more can be done if there is a political will or sufficient activism form consumers. The survey of relay service centres (sub-chapter 2.2) also showed the effect that legislation has had on this particular service in countries where legislation has been recently introduced (in Switzerland for example).
There are clearly still many gaps in the area of legislation, regulation and standardisation which are definitely slowing the overall process of making more products and services for people with limited ability available on the market. Public procurement should be recognised as a tool to achieve accessibility and serious consideration should be given to introducing legislation to ensure, for example, access to the information society.
6.3 The Overall Situation
The overall picture is therefore a mixed one. Some progress has undeniably been made but much still needs to be done. Many gaps have been bridged on a technological level, although in emerging technologies such as the Information society, further research is required (see chapter 4). Many educational and legislative gaps remain in Europe and in many cases the gap is a political one.
The issues and examples discussed in this book have shown the case for introducing legislation is growing. At the very least the situation should continue to be monitored and a time-frame set out if no improvement is observed. Some services may arguably never become truly accessible to all people in the EU if no legislation is eventually introduced. The cost to industry, as discussed in sub-chapter 3.5.6, p 177, need not be overly high (an estimated 0.65 of turnover of telecom services) and would be manageable within the operating costs of telecom companies.
This would certainly give a major push to this whole area. Recent events have shown that where there is a political will a way can be found.
Last updated: 19.02.2008 © Copyright reserved
