Gunnar Hellström, Omnitor.

1. ITU-T Workshop"The impact of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on the work of the ITU-T"Geneva, 2 November 2009 Total Conversation – Meeting UN Convention and European Commission requirements for everyday communications and emergency services in the REACH112 project Gunnar Hellström, Omnitor.

2. UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities • From Article 9, Accessibility: • 1. To enable persons with disabilities to live independently and participate fully in all aspects of life, States Parties shall take appropriate measures to ensure to persons with disabilities access, on an equal basis with others,... to information and communications... shall apply to, inter alia: • ... • (b) Information, communications and other services, including electronic services and emergency services.

3. TotalConversation, the practical response to the UN requirement Enables consistent voice, text and video communication at the same time and in realtime. Media: Audio for speech. Video for sign language, lip reading, and general showing Real-time text for good text contact for part or whole conversation An open standardised concept, originally from ITU, now also in IETF, ETSI and 3GPP standards. Defined in ITU-T F.703 The base for conversational services for all. Appreciated in implementations with thousands of users. A small but important extension of the videophone concept by adding real-time text. Now supported to grow through the EU deployment project REACH112. Real-time text: Text is sent at the same flow as it is typed. Near character-by-character. Gives good contact and efficient dialogue in intensive calls.

4. Call with media: Real-time text, video, voice.-desirable for all-essential for people with disabilities-desirable for everyday calls-essential for emergency calls Example: A deaf-blind woman in a Total Conversation call, producing sign-language and receiving text. Total Conversation example (click to play)

5. Latest News! Latest News! • The Council of the European Union has on October 26, 2009 adopted Total Conversation as a Universal Service that all Member States shall make sure is available. • An action in full harmony with the intentions of the UN Convention Article 9.

6. Total Conversation enables integration in the communication society. The way you call everyday must also be the way you call in emergency When all have interoperable Total Conversation. many calls can go direct The user in the center of inclusive communication Text, Sign & Caption Relay Services Same terminal for all contacts Users with Total Conversation or Real-time text Devices user with communication disability Voice user communication direct or via relay services Relay services for mode conversion when users have no common way of communication Voice telephone users Emergency services 112, 911,...

7. Old PSTN network Total Conversation Interoperability 112 Other Networks ( closed systems, other standards) PSTN Mobile phone GATEWAY PSTN Phones Other Protocols PSTN To IP Gateway GATEWAY Traditional Textphones SIP with RFC4103 for Real-time Text video and audio Computer, PDA, other Text device with Textphone capability(directly or indirectly) Personal Computers (text, voice and video) IP text device IP network VoIP Phones (voice only) VoIP Mobile phone with RTT Text, video and Voice VoIP Phone Focus on SIP, allow variations through gateways

8. Deployment support through REACH112 • European Commission funding for project ”Total Conversation and Emergency Services for all”. • In the Policy Support Program for deployment support. • Fostered by the eInclusion unit in the EC • Start July 2009. Run 3 Years. • Pilot service provision in five countries with 22 partners. • Different providers, different manufacturers, same protocols • A practical response on many years’ strong policy statements with goals to show sustainability and good use of Total Conversation: • for communication for all in everyday calls • for 112 emergency calls. • Including use of relay services when needed

9. REACH112 Network with interoperable Total Conversation services Multiple providers Multiple manufacturers Interoperability by using same interchange protocol SIP with T.140/RFC 4103 real-time text, video and audio. No isolated islands

10. Good recent progress in standards • Total Conversation in the IP Multimedia Subsystem IMS. • 3GPP TS 22.173 MMTEL • 3GPP TS 26.114 MMTEL media aspects • Relay Service standard defines use of Total Conversation for sign relay services. • ETSI ES 202 975 Harmonised Relay Services • ETSI TR 102 974 Relay Service Report • Emergency service standard • IETF RFC 5012 Includes requirements for Total Conversation support to emergency services

11. Further standardisation needs • New conversational service environments need to include Total Conversation from the beginning. • Call by destination number through relay services. • Described in Sweden 2006 • Implemented in USA 2009 • Implemented in REACH112 2009 • Need for agreed standard to simplify terminal manufacturing and interoperability. • Accessible emergency service calls • Total Conversation through • Automatic inclusion of relay services when needed • Location information from user – not relay. • Enable call back

12. Conclusion • REACH112 is an important step to deployment of Total Conversation. • In line with UN Convention • In line with new EU directives • Benefit for all • Join the efforts to provide functional equivalence to telephony for all by providing interoperable Total Conversation!

13. REACH112 www.reach112.eu --- Gunnar Hellström gunnar.hellstrom@omnitor.se www.omnitor.se Acknowledgement: Some pictures and video clips were provided from the Telecommunication Access Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center of the University of Wisconsin, funded by NIDRR.