Presentation on Performance Reliability Standards

Presentation on Performance Reliability Standards

To Allow Customers with Disabilities

To Remain Connected During Emergencies

by

Disability Rights Advocates

·  Disability Rights Advocates (DisabRA) is a non-profit law firm dedicated to protecting and advancing the civil rights of people with disabilities.

·  DisabRA advocates for disability rights through high-impact litigation, as well as through raising the concerns of the disability community at proceedings before the California Public Utilities Commission.

Importance of Continued Connectivity

During Emergencies

To People with Disabilities

·  People with disabilities are more likely than the average Californian to need assistance in evacuating their homes, and they must be able to contact family, friends, and/or emergency services to ask for such assistance.

·  Many people with disabilities need electricity to operate essential assistive equipment such as power wheelchairs or respirators. During a power failure, these people may find themselves in acute distress and may need to summon help in order to evacuate quickly. This increased risk means that isolation is not an option.

·  Individuals who have certain medical conditions such as multiple sclerosis must keep the air temperature in their environment within a narrow range. Power failures or other emergency situations may make this impossible, causing health complications. Again, these people must not be isolated in emergency situations.

Assistive Telecommunications Equipment

Used by Disabled Individuals

·  Examples of the adaptive equipment that allows people who are deaf or hard of hearing to effectively use the telephone or functionally equivalent forms of telecommunication include:

o  Teletypewriters (TTYs, also known as TDDs)

o  Videophones or video relay services

o  Telephone amplifiers

o  CapTel phones (for people who can speak but are unable to hear)

o  Loud ring signalers or visual ring signalers using flashing lights

·  Examples of adaptive equipment used by people with other disabilities to effectively use the telephone include:

o  Cordless phones (to allow people with limited mobility to carry a phone with them and avoid having to get to a certain location quickly)

o  Voice-activated phone dialers (for people with cognitive disabilities or those with mobility impairments that make dialing a phone difficult)

o  Large keypad phones

o  Hands-free headsets or hands-free speaker phones

o  Talking caller ID machines (for people who are blind or visually impaired)

Increasing Use of Computers as Telecommunications Devices

·  Just as new forms of communication are replacing traditional wireline telephones for many people without disabilities, computer- and Internet-based forms of communication are growing more popular in the disabled community.

·  For many people with disabilities computer-based forms of communication are more than just a convenience. They provide increased independence and more effective communication than was ever possible under traditional forms of telecommunications.

·  For example, people who are deaf or hard of hearing can communicate directly with another person, whether hearing or deaf, using e-mail and instant messaging without having to rely on an intermediary to relay the message. With TTY and other relay services, an operator must translate spoken messages to text and text messages to speech, thus making this mode of communication less efficient and less private than purely text-based methods.

·  In addition, many people who are born deaf are more comfortable using sign language than communicating in written English or other written languages. For this population communicating through a video relay over the Internet enables them to sign to the other person with an interpreter translating the message, thus allowing them to communicate in their native language.

Importance of Adaptive Telecommunications Devices To Maintaining Connectivity During an Emergency

·  Section 776 of the Public Utilities Code, which was added to the Code by Assembly Bill 2393, provides that “the Commission shall establish . . . reliability standards for all backup power systems installed on customer premises by a telephone corporation” and that these reliability standards must “establish minimum periods of time during which a telephone system with a charged backup power system will provide the customer with sufficient electricity for emergency usage.”

·  The purpose of Assembly Bill 2393 was to protect public safety by requiring that as telecommunications infrastructure migrates from copper wiring to increased use of coaxial cable and fiber, customers will retain the ability to make and receive emergency phone calls during a power outage that has been built into the copper-based wireline telecommunications system since the 1920s.

·  By stating that the Commission “shall” establish these reliability standards for backup power at the customer premises, the legislature tasked the Commission with creating regulations to ensure that all telecommunications customers, regardless of which type of wiring carries their signals, will be able to remain connected to the network during a power outage and make and receive a limited number of emergency phone calls.

·  However, many people with disabilities cannot make or receive phone calls at all without the adaptive equipment described in the earlier slide. For these individuals, providing backup power for their telephones is of absolutely no use if they cannot use their adaptive telecommunications equipment because of a power outage. In other words, the telephone alone without the equipment that makes it operable for the disabled person is not a communications device but merely a paperweight.

·  If the backup power capabilities of adaptive telecommunications equipment are not included in the reliability standards established through this rulemaking, then the legislature’s purpose in enacting AB2393—providing for continued connectivity during emergencies for customers of all telecommunications providers—will be thwarted for a large segment of the population with disabilities.

Commission’s Ability to Make Recommendations to the Legislature

on Issues Outside Its Jurisdiction

·  In its Order Initiating Rulemaking filed in this proceeding on April 12, 2007, the Commission explained that where it conducted the analysis mandated by AB2393 and “identified the need for standards in an area that is not within the Commission’s jurisdiction,” it could “recommend state or federal legislation or the adoption of an appropriate standard by the state or federal agency with the necessary jurisdiction.”

·  While the Commission does not have jurisdiction to set performance reliability standards for adaptive telecommunications equipment, it should nonetheless investigate minimum standards for such devices, in line with appropriate standards for telecommunications equipment, and recommend that the state legislature take action to ensure such standards are developed.

·  Making such recommendations is essential to meeting the policy objectives behind AB2393 of ensuring that all customers have the capability to remain connected during an emergency.

·  Establishing standards for backup power for adaptive telecommunications equipment (even if these standards are not enforceable by the Commission itself) may also be necessary to comply with federal and state antidiscrimination laws which provide that people with disabilities may not be excluded from or denied the benefits of programs or services conducted by public entities or that receive state or federal funding.

·  If the Commission does not address the need for standards for backup power to adaptive telecommunications equipment, then people with disabilities who rely on such equipment and who are not able to use their telephones during a power outage despite the existence of backup power will be denied the benefits of the Commission’s evaluation of performance reliability standards more generally.

Battery Level Indicators and People with Sensory Disabilities

·  The Commission’s performance reliability standards for backup power at the customer premises must also include requirements that the low-battery indicators for these backup power supplies be accessible to customers with sensory disabilities.

·  Low-battery indicators should be standardized across all equipment types provided by all carriers to give off both an audible tone and a visual signal such as an LED, so that both visually impaired and hearing impaired customers will be able to know when their batteries are low and can conserve their telephone use accordingly.

·  Customers with disabilities may also need options for other forms of low battery warnings, such as text messages, emails, or alerts sent via a vibrating pager, so that information regarding backup power is available in a usable format for all customers.

·  Customers with mobility limitations may need assistance in changing batteries. Providers should have a battery maintenance option, which should be available without charge if it is offered as an accommodation for disabled customers. Additionally, consumers should affirmatively be told of this option, rather than having providers offer assistance only if a disabled customer takes the initiative of asking for help.

Considerations Regarding Backup Batteries

And People with Mobility Disabilities

·  People with disabilities affecting their mobility may not be able to install backup batteries for their telecommunications devices independently.

·  If telecommunications devices or the backup batteries for those devices were provided by carriers or by the Commission through a program such as DDTP, the carriers or the Commission should be responsible for identifying those customers who cannot change their batteries independently and ensuring that procedures are in place to provide routine battery changes and maintenance.

·  In the absence of a formalized system of providing battery changing assistance to mobility-impaired individuals, carrier representatives should be trained that during home visits to install equipment and/or to discuss service arrangements with customers, if they notice that the customer has a mobility impairment, they should raise the issue of how to install and change the backup battery so that the customer is aware of the need to make arrangements for obtaining assistance if he or she cannot perform this task independently.

·  Carrier representatives performing home service visits should also inform customers of the potential need to reset or reconfigure their VOIP or other telecommunications systems after a power outage and should ensure that customers with disabilities understand how to perform these resets and determine whether they are capable of doing so independently.

Producing Outreach Materials and Spoken Presentations in Accessible Formats

·  All printed materials made available to customers regarding emergency backup power must be offered in alternative, accessible formats, including:

o  Large print

o  Braille

o  Audio (cassette or digital audio file)

o  Electronic text readable by a screen reading program

·  The standard printed versions of these materials (such as bill inserts) should contain key information, such as who to contact for more information or to receive materials in alternative formats, in large print.

·  All customer outreach materials should include TTY numbers with the same prominence as other customer service phone numbers.

·  TTY numbers must also receive the same response, with the same degree of training, as voice customer service numbers.

·  Any spoken presentations offered by carriers, either at time of sale or at another time, must include accessibility features for people who are deaf, such as sign language interpreters (including video interpreters over the Internet) or equivalent written and/or Internet-based materials.

·  Both the Commission’s informational website, www.calphoneinfo.com, and any Internet-based information provided by carriers must be formatted in a way that is accessible to screen reading technology used by blind people and those with other print disabilities.

Conclusion

·  The same public policy that led the legislature to require the Commission to conduct the current review of standards for backup power in telecommunications systems mandates an equivalent review of the need for backup power for adaptive telecommunication devices. The Commission is authorized to reach this conclusion and transmit it to the Legislature with a recommendation for further action toward developing such standards.

·  For telecommunications equipment under direct review in this proceeding, performance reliability standards must also address accessibility needs, including requirements that low-battery indicators give both visual and auditory warnings and that alternative options such as text-based or vibrating alerts be provided so that people with various disabilities can monitor the status of their backup batteries. Providers must also be available to provide assistance with battery changes for those consumers who cannot change them independently due to a disability.

·  The Commission should also require that carriers provide any information about backup battery capabilities to customers in alternative, accessible formats when requested, that key information in standard print materials be placed in large print, that spoken presentations be offered with sign language interpretation or in a text-based form, and that all informational websites be accessible to screen reader technology.

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