An engineer's speech endures
Dale Hatfield used to be the Chief of the FCC's Office of Engineering and Technology. His 1999 remarks bear on the discussion surrounding the interconnection and deployment of videophone networks today:
"…you don't have to be poor or live in an insular or high cost area to be isolated, cutoff or segregated from enjoying the full benefits of the telecommunications revolution.
…fundamental shifts … are taking place in our telecommunications networks. These shifts include the migration from circuit switching to packet switching and true bandwidth on demand, the movement toward increasingly intelligent, programmable wireline and wireless networks, the development of increasingly intelligent and powerful end user equipment, the increased ability to deliver broadband services, and the increasing importance of wireless as a means of accessing these networks. …[These shifts bode] a revolution that promises to allow us to communicate anytime, anyplace, and in any mode or combination of modes -- voice, data, image, and video.
[They] add up to major changes in the way we communicate, the way we entertain ourselves, the way we do business, the way we learn, and the way we are employed…
Unlike buildings made of steel and concrete…this technology has programming at its core …[so] when engineers think in broad terms about the range of human characteristics that may interact with the networks and devices they are designing, they can program in the capabilities to have alternative, flexible interfaces for input and output.
…one of the major challenges …[to leveraging] this increased functionality and flexibility to bring the benefits of the telecommunications revolution to … those who have traditionally faced accessibility barriers to telecommunications … is the sheer speed at which these developments are occurring.
In the days of electromechanical switching and electromechanical end user devices, the pace of development was relatively slow. In the case of the telephone network, there were steady improvements in the interior of the network, but the basic characteristics of the service remained remarkably stable over the 100 years or so it took to proliferate.
[Today] access must be planned and implemented on the same schedule as general products…new platforms must be designed, developed and fabricated at the outset to be accessible to -- and usable by -- individuals with disabilities. To do otherwise means that people with disabilities will become more isolated rather than empowered…
…improving accessibility for persons with disabilities benefits us all…
…good access engineering is simply good engineering that can lead to better products and services for us all.
…even marketers love the notion of products being designed to be accessible to the widest possible range of people by taking all of their limitations and disabilities into account.
[With respect to Section 255] …some complaints about accessibility are inevitable. Indeed, complaints are a just and appropriate part of resolving problems and achieving the purposes of the law. They are necessary not only to protect consumers with disabilities, [but] to protect ethical, law-abiding organizations from unfair competition from providers who do not fully embrace the principles set forth in Sections 255 and 251(a)(2) of the Act."
http://www.fcc.gov/Speeches/misc/spdnh901.html