Mobile Accessibility

[Janina Sajka]

Cingular actually has a very capable blind woman as one of their
accessibility officers. It's someone I know and respect.

But, they're still not meeting Sec. 255. I don't think you'll find they
have a phone, at least not wireless, that gives you caller ID, battery
status, etc. Because they're moving to GSM, and already have significant
GSM rollout in some areas, they certainly could adopt Mobile
Accessibility but won't because it's a crash prone application.

Well, I can't blame them for that. But, I do blame all the service
providers for not requiring manufacturers to deliver phones with fully
functional TTS. Worse still, I blame them for designing operating
systems that support downloadable applications, without providing all
the necessary support to provide functional TTS. 

Let me know if I can help. If you're considering your options, and would
file a complaint if you feel you're not getting what youshould get, I
will help.

Whitley CTR Cecil H writes:
> From: Whitley CTR Cecil H <WhitleyCH.ctr at cherrypoint.usmc.mil>
> 
>    Hi Janina,
>    cingular has a disability page.  The url is:
>    http://www.cingular.com/about/disability_resources
>    They've also got a support center with both voice and tty access numbers. 
>    The above url will lead to the info.  I don't know who at AFB is
>    responsible for the section 255 page, could you see they get this info? 
>    I'll be talking with them later, in particular I want caller id, so we'll
>    see what they have to offer.  Voice dialing (*8) is a nice feature though,
>    and goes to show that accessability for some can be extra features for
>    all.
> 
>    I'm currently having fun with Motorola trying to get the manual in
>    something other than pdf.  They claim braille/large print/audio for all
>    and ascii for some phones. 
> 
>    Thanks,
>    Cecil

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-- 
	
Janina Sajka
Email: janina at rednote.net		
Phone: (202) 408-8175

Director, Technology Research and Development
American Foundation for the Blind (AFB)
http://www.afb.org

Chair, Accessibility Work Group
Free Standards Group
http://accessibility.freestandards.org