Telecommunications access and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Bruce Maguire
Signposts Telecommunications and Disability Forum
February 16 2009

Good morning everyone. I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we are meeting today.

Some of you ma have had an opportunity to attend one of the concerts by Leonard Cohen while he was on tour here recently. I've spoken with a number of people who attended one of his concerts, and without exception they say that they were some of the best concerts ever.

Leonard Cohen has been composing and singing songs and writing poetry for five decades now, dealing with subjects such as religion, isolation, and the complexities of interpersonal relationships. He often expresses a rather idiosyncratic, some would say bleak, perspective on contemporary society and culture. He says that "the landmarks are down, the lights are out, and the catastrophe has taken place". One of his songs, Closing Time, sums up his view of the spirit of the age in the line, "looks like freedom but it feels like death".

Now, I don't share Leonard Cohen's sense of catastrophe, although I suppose I share the view that Murphy was an optimist. I think we can still discern the genius and generosity of the human spirit. And it's there most clearly in what I can only described as a landmark. I'm referring, of course, to the UN Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

We can say all manner of things about the Convention: we can say that it has reshaped the discourse around disability; that it is a clarion call to a more inclusive society; that it is unlocking the richness of human diversity and potential. And all that would be true. But I think, above all, the Convention is a landmark; it has demolished all the previous landmarks, and replaced them with an age-enduring landmark of equality, rights, and dignity.

But the Convention is also no mere legal instrument, and as we focus today on telecommunications, I'd like to offer a few thoughts on how it's relevant to our discussion.

Article 4 of the Convention says that "States parties shall ensure that the free market sorts it all out, because the market knows best". Well, no, it doesn't say that; what it actually says begins as follows:,

1. States Parties undertake to ensure and promote the full realization of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all persons with disabilities without discrimination of any kind on the basis of disability. To this end, States Parties undertake:

a. To adopt all appropriate legislative, administrative and other measures for the implementation of the rights recognized in the present Convention;

b. To take all appropriate measures, including legislation, to modify or abolish existing laws, regulations, customs and practices that constitute discrimination against persons with disabilities; …

The latest figures I've read suggest that it won't be long before one in four adults over 50 will have a hearing impairment, and the number of people with an age-related vision loss could double in the next two decades. But at the same time, I see little evidence that the market is responding by introducing telecommunications equipment that is universally accessible. We do, in Australia, have an open and competitive telecommunications environment, but the Convention requires us to use all means at our disposal (including legislation, regulation, standardisation, and administration) to ensure that, for example, people who are blind have equal and independent access to mobile phone functionality, or that Deaf people have the technology to use Auslan in real-time telecommunications.

Experience in countries such as the US , Canada and Japan attests to the pivotal role that governments can ply through policies based on accessible public procurement. Governments are key purchasers of goods and services, and if those goods and services are required to be accessible to people with disabilities, then that sends a powerful signal to the market. Accessi9ble products then become available and affordable.

The Convention requires a whole-of-society commitment, and a paradigm shift to a culture of rights-focus if we are to articulate its vision fully. It's therefore very encouraging to note that around Australia governments, organisations and the disability sector are working to implement strategies and achieve real outcomes. There is a wealth of opportunity for us to apply the Convention to the crucial area of information and communications technology to knock down the roadblocks that have beset us in the past, and which still, in quite a few cases, beset us in the present.

So, the landmark is up, the light of equality, independence and dignity is burning bright; and if it looks like freedom, and feels like freedom, that's because it really is.