Telstra is providing more options for people with disability to access communication services, with three new initiatives launching today including a new portal on Telstra.com that allows customers to identify which mobile device in the Telstra range will best suit their particular needs.

Speaking today at the ACCAN ‘Connecting Today’s Consumer Conference in Sydney, Group Managing Director Telstra Consumer, Karsten Wildberger said the new portal was designed to help everyone, but particularly older Australians and people with disability, to easily find the features that may make it easier for them to connect.

“We want all our customers to have a brilliant experience with us, and helping them find the devices and apps that best meet their needs is fundamental to that,” said Mr Wildberger.

Based on the Mobile Manufactures Forum (MMF) Global Accessibility Reporting Initiative, the new portal lets users search for features that may assist specific disabilities such as speech, vision, cognitive and dexterity impairment. Examples include:

• Adjustable vibrating alerts that can help people who are deaf,
• Gesture navigation that can help people with dexterity impairments navigate around their phone, and
• Voice output of caller ID for vision impaired and blind.

Telstra is the first carrier globally to provide customers with direct access to this important information.

This function will make the purchase decision and access to mobile phones easier for our customers, especially for seniors and the more than four million Australians who have disabilities.

“It is exciting to announce this new initiative at the annual ACCAN conference, as the idea to develop this site was born at the ACCAN-Telstra conference held in August 2013,” Mr Wildberger said.

“In addition to announcing the new portal, we can also confirm we have removed the use of CAPTCHAs from our website and added open captions to 14 popular BigPond® movie titles. We plan to increase the number of titles with open captions over time, until the technical capacity that will enable closed captions to be offered across all platforms is completed.”

Telstra’s purpose to create a brilliant connected future for everyone includes breaking down the barriers that make it a challenge for some members of the community to enjoy the benefits of modern mobile communications.

Telstra has a strong commitment to improving access to communications for customers with disability and has a three-year Disability Action Plan to continue to improve our activities and drive new initiatives in this space. This is our sixth three-year Disability Action Plan.

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