REGIONAL MEP SAYS TECHNOLOGY MUST NOT EXCLUDE DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING PEOPLE

12.00.00am GMT Thu 26th Feb 2004

Liz Lynne, MEP for West Midlands, who wrote the report for the European Parliament calling on the UN to set up a legally binding instrument on the International rights of disabled people, today calls for technology to be made accessible to all.

She says that while many of us move with each new wave of opportunity Information Technology (IT) brings, the very people who could benefit from it the most are often left behind in its wake.

"Over 833,000 deaf and hard of hearing people in the West Midlands are finding themselves unnecessarily isolated. This is simply because technology frequently fails to take their needs into account as it launches into new developments," says the MEP. "In addition, technology which already exists to improve this situation is not being made available. This includes interactive texting on mobile networks which allows deaf, hard of hearing and speech-impaired people to hold telephone conversations in text, and also subtitling to enable access to film and TV viewing."

The Liberal Democrat MEP backs the objectives of an EU conference on Access to the Information Society for deaf, hard of hearing and speech-impaired people organised by RNID, the largest charity representing the nine million deaf and hard of hearing people in the UK. The resulting manifesto is calling on all stakeholders throughout Europe to work together to make technology inclusive for all and to harness solutions that are already attainable.

Liz Lynne pledges to continue to raise awareness in the European Parliament of the needs of deaf and hard of hearing people. In addition, she will take steps to ensure that developments in the West Midlands are in line with the global European strategy as reflected in the Conference Manifesto.

Guido Gybels, Director of New Technologies at RNID says, "It is difficult to imagine a day without using the phone or watching TV. Yet millions of people in the UK struggle to use these basic services that most of us take for granted. They face barriers in employment, education, health and social life as a result. Inclusive technology is of benefit to everybody. These days, everyone needs to use text to communicate and subtitles are used by many hearing people too."

Further information on new RNID developments to make IT more accessible to deaf and hard of hearing people is available at the website http://www.rnid.org.uk/newtechnologies.

-ends-

Notes to editors

· Liz Lynne was rapporteur on the European Year of People with disabilities and is President of the Liberal Democrat Disability Association

· RNID is the largest charity representing the 9 million deaf and hard of hearing people in the UK. As a membership charity, we aim to achieve a radically better quality of life for deaf and hard of hearing people. We do this in the following ways:

· Campaigning and lobbying to change laws and government policies.

· Challenging negative perceptions around deafness and hearing loss.

· Providing information and raising awareness of deafness, hearing loss and tinnitus.

· Training courses and consultancy on deafness and disability.

· Communication services including sign language interpreters.

· Training of interpreters, lipspeakers and speech-to-text operators.

· Seeking lasting change in education for deaf children and young people.

· Employment programmes to help deaf people into work.

· Care services for deaf and hard of hearing people with additional needs.

· Typetalk, the national telephone relay service for deaf and hard of hearing people.

· Equipment and products for deaf and hard of hearing people.

· Social, medical and technical research.

· RNID Information Line: Telephone: 0808 808 0123, Textphone: 0808 808 9000, Email: informationline@rnid.org.uk

For further information please contact: Sherylin Thompson, Senior Media Relations Officer 020 7296 8138 or sherylin.thompson@rnid.org.uk