Telstra / Diversity at work forum
Disability Rights
Telstra / Diversity at work forum
| Dr Sev Ozdowski OAM, Acting Disability Discrimination Commissioner Melbourne |
 |
Introduction
Ladies and gentlemen
Allow me to commence by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land
on which we meet.
I want to thank Telstra and Diversity @ Work for the opportunity to speak
today.
Communications and diversity
I am sure I am not the first person to say it, but it seems to me that
there are particularly important reasons for a telecommunications company
such as Telstra to be interested in diversity.
If we were not all different we would not have so much to communicate
to each other. And we would not need telecommunications to do it. We could
just communicate by smell, like ants.
Many of you may already also know that we might not have telecommunications
at all without one particular dimension of human diversity - the fact
that some of us have disabilities.
Alexander Graham Bell was an obscure teacher of Deaf people and his wife
was also deaf. It seems clear that his experience in deaf communications
including attempts to produce "visible speech" informed his
invention of the telephone.
There are also important examples, within the more recent development
of telecommunications and related technologies, of how addressing issues
about how some of us need to communicate because of disability can have
wider benefits related to the ways in which all of us sometimes want or
need to communicate because of circumstances or convenience.
For example, some of us lack the use of our hands for the phone only
when we are driving, and some of us all the time, but all alike benefit
from hands free operation, including voice control technologies which
originated in the disability field.
Progress in recognizing diversity
I think there is more recognition than there used to be that cultural
diversity is an economic and social asset for our country, as well as
being one of the facts of how the world is.
Recognition that disability is also an inherent part of human diversity
has been slower coming. But there are increasing examples of disability
being included in facilities serving the Australian community.
Some of this - it is hard to say how much - has been in response to laws
which seek to promote equal participation and citizenship for people with
disabilities, in particular the Disability Discrimination Act.
March this year was the tenth anniversary of this legislation entering
into force. I released a small publication which seeks to recognizes some
of the achievements linked with the Disability Discrimination Act. This
publication is available on our website and in print and other formats
on request.
Progress in telecommunications
Closest to home for people in this audience, there has been substantial
progress in recent years on telecommunications access for people with
disabilities. Communications for people with disabilities including deaf
and hearing impaired people are now defined by the Telecommunications
Act as part of the standard telephone service.
The Disability Discrimination Act has also contributed to progress, both
through the complaint process and through the development of voluntary
action plans.
Telstra has prepared three editions of a Disability Action Plan under
the Disability Discrimination Act in the interests of improving access
to its services. It has gone further than any other organization in submitting
the implementation of those plans to independent scrutiny.
Telecommunications is obviously an area of immense and increasing significance
for economic and social participation in our society.
As we know, many people with disabilities have particular needs in accessing
telecommunications equipment and services.
These include issues about the formats available for input and output
for people with sensory disabilities, disabilities affecting speech, or
disabilities affecting ability to use controls. There are also issues
about the interaction between telecommunications and hearing aids or other
equipment.
There are also issues of effective access to information about services
and costs for people whose disability affects communication.
I am particularly pleased to see the focus in Telstra's latest action
plan on improving access for people who have intellectual disabilities.
Rapid developments in telecommunications technology are creating new
possibilities for inclusion and equal access. At the same time, new technologies
and new services can present new challenges and new risks for people with
disabilities to be left behind.
Within the next month the Commission will be publishing a discussion
paper on telecommunications access issues. The Commission's involvement
in this area is not intended to disparage the work that Telstra has already
done and is doing through its action plans or to displace the role of
telecommunications industry regulators and self-regulation. But we want
to contribute to discussion of
- access issues with current services and equipment and possibilities
for addressing them; - emerging issues and possibilities with new technologies and services;
and - potential roles for government and industry in achieving more accessible
telecommunications services and equipment.
Achievements in other areas
Of course, to have equal access and participation for people with disabilities
in society you do - sometimes - need access to more than a telephone.
The 10th anniversary publication we released also marks achievements in
other areas.
Here in Melbourne accessible low floor trams are becoming more numerous,
in direct response to the Disability Discrimination Act. Public transport
providers across Australia are now recognizing people with disabilities
as part of the public they serve, instead of being someone else's problem
or no-ones responsibility.
Buildings and major social systems including education are steadily becoming
more inclusive of people with disabilities.
These are all reasons for celebration, because what they signify is the
removal of barriers preventing Australians with disabilities from participating
independently in their daily lives, and in the daily lives of their families,
their friends and the community.
Employment issues
However, it is ironic and disturbing that there is less evidence of success
in achieving equality of opportunity in employment for people with disabilities
than in areas like transport and telecommunications. Rates of unemployment
and underemployment among people with disabilities remain much higher
than for people without a disability.
It is ironic, because a major part of the initial purpose for introduction
of national disability discrimination legislation was to improve employment
opportunities for people with disabilities. Lack of broad success in this
area is particularly disturbing because of the importance of employment
as a key to economic and social participation.
More complaints are received on employment issues than any other area
under the DDA, and we have been able to resolve a high proportion of these
complaints by conciliation. Some of these outcomes are summarized in our
tenth anniversary publication.
But very obviously we cannot hope to achieve equal opportunity for millions
of Australians with disabilities one complaint at a time. Broader means
for change are clearly needed.
Some progress in future employment outcomes may be expected from progress
in other related areas, such as accessible premises and public transport.
More accessible information and communications technology may also have
a crucial role to play in removing employment barriers particularly for
people with physical or sensory disabilities.
But technology is unlikely to provide the whole answer. We need frank
discussion of barriers, difficulties and needs as well as areas of success
and best practice in employment policy and practice.
At the moment the Productivity Commission is holding hearings around
Australia to examine how the Disability Discrimination Act is working
and how it might be made more effective. We will be putting an initial
submission in to that inquiry shortly, and I encourage anyone interested
to look at the material already available on the Productivity Commission
website. Some of the issues worth discussing in relation to employment
may be :
- Is Federal policy on income support moving the right way to support
participation in employment? - Is there a need for increased support to employers or employees to
meet costs of achieving equal participation? - Are there problem areas that need to be addressed in the relationship
of other laws to equal opportunity law? - Should there be reporting requirements on at least for larger employers
comparable to those for affirmative action for women? - Do employers have sufficient access to practical information on how
to deal with disability accommodation issues? What roles should government
and industry have in ensuring access to this sort of information?
Conclusion
I am not here to push particular approaches as solutions to how to achieve
equal opportunity in employment for people with disabilities.
But lack of equal employment opportunity for people with disabilities
is simply too unjust and damaging for individuals, and too much of a waste
of the productive diversity of our people, to allow it to persist in Australia.
I look forward to talking further with you on how to move forward in this
area.