Members of the Deaf, hard of hearing, and deaf-blind community in Canada are calling on the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to consider their accessibility needs during major network outages. This comes after a telecommunications outage in July 2022 left millions of users without wireless service, severely impacting those dependent on accessibility apps. The community is urging the CRTC to improve transparency and reporting requirements to prevent similar situations in the future.
As Canada’s telecommunications regulator seeks to improve transparency and reporting requirements surrounding major network outages, members of the Deaf, hard of hearing and deaf-blind community are urging the CRTC to take their needs into account.When a major telecommunications outage left more than 12 million users without wireless service in July, 2022, the disruption was far more dire for the many Canadians dependent on accessibility apps.
“On the other hand, there are certain services specifically designed to facilitate communication between Deaf and hearing consumers, such as Video Relay Service, Message Relay Service and text with 911.” “Immediate access to 911 on someone else’s mobile phone would not be possible during an outage,” she said.
Her organization’s submission to CRTC’s consultation stressed that in any outage, “Deaf, Hard of Hearing, and Deaf-Blind are most vulnerable when they are unable to communicate with anyone. This can be compounded by a state of emergency where life is at risk.” Wood said this would allow Deaf consumers to be aware of the type, nature and expected duration of an outage so they can make alternative arrangements to place and receive phone calls, including reaching 911 in an emergency.
While hearing consumers may have been able to connect to send a quick text, Deaf consumers’ use of specialized services and popular video conferencing apps require lots of bandwidth – something Wood said was adversely affected by a crowd of people also using the same hot spot.
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