Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have the potential to give the deaf community a chance to communicate with the world on the same basis as the hearing. And while work on improving access to these technologies is not new, proprietary solutions have meant that interoperability is often a problem. 

ITU has pioneered work on standardization that will further open up ICT access for the deaf. As well as working to ensure that ‘legacy’ deaf telecommunications devices interoperate, ITU is encouraging manufacturers to incorporate ITU standards into new products, that will help to level the playing field for the deaf community. 

The workshop ‘Accessibility I: ITU Takes Deaf People's Accessibility Needs Into Account’ highlighted the benefits of standardization for the deaf community as well as for manufacturers and service providers. Speakers included representatives from the manufacturing, service providing and academic communities.

Objectives:

• Inform the deaf community, service and network operators, manufacturers, and users about ITU-T’s involvement in standardizing and making deaf telecommunications an integral part of the telecommunications framework.
• Harmonization of all the legacy deaf communication devices so that deaf people can seamlessly interoperate with other existing and new devices.
• Encourage the implementation of these standards in all technologies applicable so that newer emerging technologies will already take into account the needs of deaf communication.
• Encourage deaf people to support and contribute to the work in ITU-T.

Presentations:

• Dick Brandt
  "International Standards,What do they mean to me as a deaf person?" [Presentation | Written Contribution]
• Paul E. Jones, Cisco Systems
  "Total Conversation through ITU-T Standards, Sign Type and Speak - YOU decide" [Presentation]
• Michael J. Day, British Telecom
  "Okay, but what does it mean to me?" - The evolution of textphone communications from a customer’s perspective [Presentation]
• George Skorkowski, DSPG
  "Integration of the Text Telephone into Modern Technology" [Presentation]

Final Report

• ITU Takes Deaf People’s Accessibility Needs Into Account