OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC has announced plans to make telecommunications and broadcasting services more accessible to disabled Canadians.
On the telecom side, the CRTC has pledged to:
– require that telephone companies offer a new service that will allow an operator to convert text messages sent over the Internet into voice calls, and vice versa. Known as Internet Protocol relay, this service is used by persons who are deaf or hard of hearing to communicate;
– require that telecom companies, including cable and satellite companies, improve the accessibility of their customer service;
– request that wireless companies offer at least one type of cell phone to serve the needs of people who are blind and/or have moderate-to-severe mobility or cognitive disabilities; and
– investigate possible improvements to 911 services for Canadians with hearing or speech disabilities.
During its next licence-renewal process, the CRTC said that it will require that broadcasters:
– improve and monitor the quality of closed captioning, and develop standards for its delivery in digital and high-definition signals;
– make available high-quality audio descriptions of programming, especially for news broadcasts. Audio descriptions provide Canadians with visual impairments with voice-overs of the text or graphics that appear on-screen, such as weather updates, sports scores or financial data; and
– provide at least four hours per week of described-video programming. Described video is added during pauses in dialogue to provide information on the settings, the actors’ costumes or body language, or other purely visual information.
For the first time, the CRTC’s requirements for described video will apply to French-language broadcasters, as well as to the CBC’s English and French language networks.
The recommendations follow the public hearing on the issue held last November.
