Telecommunications reform in Australia, and in particular the introduction of competition, is often claimed to have delivered benefits to consumers. From the perspective of people with disability, this competition so far can been seen as crippling rather than enabling. There have been some gains for telecommunications for people with disabilities over the past decade in particular —delivered by slowly changing corporate attitudes buttressed by the explicit reference to the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 in the Telecommunications Act 1997. This article examines telecommunications and disability in Australia since 1975, and concludes that it is high time for a telecommunications and new media industry where measures of outcomes would include utilising the experiences and meeting the needs, expectations and aspirations of those who live with disability.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AdamsonL.GeorgeG.1994, Information Superhighway? Or User-Friendly By-Way?: The Telephone and Older Women, Older Women's Network, Sydney.
2.
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)1982, Handicapped Persons Australia, 1981, ABS, Canberra.
3.
Australian Communications Industry Forum (ACIF) and Standards Australia1999, AS/ACIF S040:1999 Requirements for General Use Customer Equipment for Use with the Standard Telephone Service — Features for Special Needs of Persons with Disabilities, http://www.acif.org.au/acif/index.cfm
4.
Australian Telecommunications Authority (AUSTEL) Privacy Advisory Committee1995, Calling Number Display, AUSTEL, Melbourne.
5.
Australian Telecommunications Commission (ATC), NTP Branch, Planning Directorate1975, Telecom 2000, Australian Telecommunications Commission, Melbourne.
6.
BenvenutiJ.WalkerD.1995, Switched Off: Case Studies of Consumers' Experiences with Energy and Water Utilities, Consumer Advocacy and Financial Counselling Association of Victoria, Melbourne.
7.
BorsayA.1986, ‘Personal Trouble or Public Issue? Toward a Model of Policy for People with Physical and Mental Disabilities’, Disability, Handicap and Society, vol. 1, pp. 179–95.
8.
BourkM.J.1998, Universal Service and People with Disabilities: An Analysis of Telecommunications Policy Making from 1975–1997, unpublished Masters thesis, School of Communication, University of Canberra.
9.
BourkM.J.2000, ‘Scott versus Telstra: A Watershed Development in Telecommunications Policy’, Media International Australia incorporating Culture and Policy, no. 96, August.
10.
Brotherhood of St Lawrence1994, Equity Implications of the Reform of Government Business Enterprises, Brotherhood of St Lawrence in conjunction with the Prices Surveillance Authority, Melbourne.
11.
Bureau of Transport and Communications Economics (BTCE)1989, The Cost of Telecom's Community Service Obligations, Report no. 64, BTCE, Canberra.
12.
CorkerM.FrenchS., (eds) 1999, Disability Discourse, Open University Press, Buckingham.
13.
CoxE.LeonardH.1993, Weaving Community Links: The Cost Benefits of Telephones in Maintaining the Social Fabric through the Unpaid Work of Women, Distaff, Sydney.
14.
DavisL.J., (ed.) 1997, The Disability Studies Reader, Routledge, New York and London.
15.
DavisL.J., (ed.) 1995, Enforcing Normalcy: Disability, Deafness and the Body, Verso, London.
16.
ErnstJ.1994, Whose Utility? The Social Impact of Public Utility Privatization and Regulation in Britain, Open University Press, Buckingham.
17.
EvansG.1988, ‘Australian Telecommunications Services: A New Framework' (‘Evans Statement’), Statement by the Minister for Transport and Communications, AGPS, Canberra.
18.
GogginG.1998, ‘Voice Telephony and Beyond’, in LangtryB. (ed.), All Connected? Universal Service in Telecommunications, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, pp. 78–105.
19.
GogginG.2000, ‘Consumers on the Line; The Consumer Interest in Australian Telecommunications 1945–2000’, in SmithS. (ed.), In the Consumer Interest: A Selected History of Consumer Affairs in Australia 1945–2000, Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals, Melbourne, forthcoming.
20.
GogginG.NewellC.1994, ‘Reflections from the Roadside: Residential Consumers and the Information Superhighway’, Media Information Australia, no. 74, pp. 34–41.
21.
GogginG.NewellC.1997, ‘Residential Consumers and “Rejected Knowledge”: Exploring and Acknowledging the Margins in Broadband Services in Australia’, Telecommunications Policy, no. 21, pp. 317–28.
22.
GogginG.NewellC.2000, ‘An End to Disabling Policies?: Towards Enlightened Universal Service’, in The Information Society, forthcoming.
23.
HuntR.1990, ‘Disabled Peoples International (Australia) — Response’, in ShanerS.DeakinE. (eds), Consumers and Telecommunications in the 1990s, Consumers' Telecommunications Network, Sydney, pp. 85–88.
24.
KnuckeyJ.SlegersC.1999, ‘Use of Communications Services by Deaf Australians’, Proceedings of the 1999 Communications Research Forum, vol. 2, pp. 193–216.
25.
MeekoshaH.1997, ‘Body Battles: Bodies, Gender and Disability,’ in BartonL.OliverM. (eds), Disability Studies: Past. Present and Future, The Disability Press, Leeds, pp. 163–79.
26.
MeekoshaH.DowseL.1997, ‘Distorting Images, Invisible Images: Gender, Disability and the Media,’Media International Australia, no. 84, May, pp. 91–101.
27.
MitchellD.T.SnyderS.L., (eds) 1997, The Body and Physical Difference: Discourses of Disability, University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor.
28.
MoyalA.1992, ‘The Gendered Use of the Telephone; An Australian Case Study’, Media, Culture and Society, no. 14, pp. 51–72.
29.
NewellC.1988, Australian Telecommunications and Disabled People, unpublished MA (Hons) Thesis, Department of Science and Technology Studies, University of Wollongong.
30.
NewellC.1994, ‘People with Disabilities and the Information Society’, in AdamsonL. (eds), Planning for an Information Society: Population Group Papers and Policy Issue Papers, Telecom Australia, Melbourne, pp. 69–80.
31.
NewellC.1998a, ‘Disability, Disadvantage and Telecommunications’, in LangtryB. (ed.), All Connected?, University of Melbourne Press, Melbourne, pp. 151–68.
32.
NewellC.1998b, ‘Disabling Consultation? A Report Card from the Disability Sector’, Communications Update, no. 145, pp, 13–14.
33.
NoonanT.1999, Accessible E-Commerce in Australia: A Discussion Paper about the Effects of Electronic Commerce Developments on People with Disabilities, Blind Citizens Australia, http://www.bca.org.au/ecrep.htm, April 2000.
34.
OwensJ.LambG.SmithK.1998, Telecommunication Needs of People with Communication/Speech Difficulties, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria.
35.
Productivity Commission1999, International Benchmarking of Telecommunications Services, Productivity Commission, Melbourne.
36.
Standard Telephone Service Review Group1996, Review of the Standard Telephone Service, Commonwealth Department of Communications and the Arts, Canberra.
37.
Standards Australia and Standards New Zealand1995, Text Telecommunications — User Interface Requirements — For Deaf People and People with Hearing and Speech Disabilities, Standards Australia and Standards New Zealand, Homebush.
38.
SteinbergM.1983, Special Consultations with Disabled Women and Girls, National Women's Advisory Council, Fyshwick.
39.
TuckerB.P.1993, ‘Overview of the DDA and the Comparison with the ADA’, Australian Disability Review, vol. 3, pp. 23–37.
40.
WhiteP.B.1990, ‘Community Service Obligations’, in ArmstrongM. (ed.), Telecommunications Law: Australian Perspectives. Media Arm and CIRCIT, Sydney, pp. 348–69.
41.
WilsonD.B.KeatingC.G.1981a, Disabled People and Telecommunications, Telecom Australia, Melbourne.
42.
WilsonD.B.KeatingC.G.1981b, ‘Disabled People and Telecommunications’, Telecommunication Journal of Australia, no. 31, pp. 36–43.
43.
WilsonI.1994, Telecommunications for Deaf People: Meeting the Telecommunications Needs of the Australian Deaf Community, Australian Association of the Deaf, Sydney.
44.
WilsonI.R.GogginG.1993, Reforming Universal Service: The Future of Consumer Access and Equity in Australian Telecommunications, Consumers' Telecommunications Network, Sydney.
45.
WolstenholmeR.StanzelJ.1997, Communications Technology: Information and Access Issues for People with Disabilities, The Rural Development Centre, Armidale.
46.
Women with Disabilities Australia (WWDA)1999, Telecommunications and Women with Disabilities, Women with Disabilities, Canberra.
