Dutch government upgrades phone access for disabled people

From Radio Netherlands:

The Dutch government wants to make it easier for people with physical disabilities to use the telephone. Deputy Economic Affairs Minister Frank Heemskerk has announced that proposed changes to the Telecom Act will go into effect within the next six months.

Hundreds of thousands of Dutch people have difficulty using phones. Deaf people and the hard-of-hearing, for example, have trouble calling government services, hospitals and taxis.

Mr Heemskerk suggests these people should be entitled to a Video Relay service with a sign language interpreter to mediate between the hearing-impaired and hearing persons. They will be able to use the service not only for calls to official agencies, but also for private calls.

An alternative Text Relay service will also be offered. This is another mediated system which involves a special textphone and text-to-voice and voice-to-text translation.

The government also wants to make it easier for the blind and visually impaired to get hold of telephone numbers.

It's not yet clear how the improved services will be financed.