Overview of disability issues
The Department provides policy advice to the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy on telecommunications services for all Australians including people with disability. A key issue is to ensure that people with a disability have access to the Standard Telephone Service as required under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and Service Standards) Act 1999. This includes ways of continually improving the services available.
Legislation:
Disability Discrimination Act 1992
- Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and Service Standards) Act 1999
- Telecommunications (Equipment for the Disabled) Regulations 1998
- Telecommunications Act 1997
Access to the Standard Telephone Service
The Telecommunications (Equipment for the Disabled) Regulations specify the types of equipment that a Universal Service Provider (currently Telstra) is obliged to supply to customers with disability. The types of equipment include teletypewriter (TTY) machines, modems, handsets with hearing aid couplers, hands-free telephones, adaptors for people with cochlear implants and telephones with adjustable ring tones and voice amplifiers. The equipment specified in the regulations is intended to enable people with disability to have access to the Standard Telephone Service.
In broad terms, the Standard Telephone Service is defined as a carriage service for the purpose of voice telephony communications (or an equivalent form of communication for an end user with a disability) between end-users supplied with the same service, whether or not the end users are connected to the same telecommunications network.
The Disability Discrimination Act obliges all telecommunications carriers that provide goods and services to customers to provide them to people with disability on a non-discriminatory basis (including price), except where this would result in unjustifiable hardship on the provider. As the Universal Service Provider, Telstra offers customers special equipment to enable access to the Standard Telephone Service, as do some other carriers such as Optus.
National Relay Service
The National Relay Service (NRS) is a telephone access service available to all Australians to assist communications with people who are deaf, or have a hearing or speech impairment and/or use a teletypewriter (TTY) or a computer with a modem. This service is provided at no additional cost to users and is funded through a quarterly levy placed on eligible telecommunications carriers. For further information visit the National Relay Service (NRS) website.
Teletypewriters (TTYs)
A TTY is a telephone for deaf or hearing impaired persons. It consists of a keyboard and display screen, and is sometimes called a teletypewriter or textphone. Users type letters into a TTY machine, which converts text into electrical signals that can travel over ordinary telephone lines. When the signals reach their destination (in this case, another TTY) they are converted back into letters which, depending on the TTY model, then appear on a display screen, are printed out on paper, or both.
The NRS offers free TTY training to individuals, groups and businesses upon request. For information on TTY training, contact the service on:
Website: www.relayservice.com.au
Voice: 1800 555 660
TTY: 1800 555 630
Fax: 1800 555 690
