Braille Telephone Bills

phone bills give blind more independence: Needing others to read statements reduces privacy, woman says BYLINE Lisa Gregoire, Journal Staff Writer About 600 words and just as many numbers. Fine print, graphics, charts, dates and explanations. That's your monthly phone bill. But say your eyesight was failing. How would you read it? Two months ago, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) forced phone companies and their subsidiaries to provide bills in braille, large print or electronic format for the visually impaired. The CRTC ruled on a case launched by a middle-aged blind man from Ottawa more than five years ago. With so many companies offering competitive long distance and cellular packages, the regulatory body deemed it unjust discrimination to deny blind customers the necessary tools to make informed consumer choices. And not a moment too soon, said CRTC spokesperson Campbell Laidlaw. Canada's aging population will increasingly need help to read all that small print. "Its implications were and remain quite profound," said Laidlaw, director of consumer policy. "It and subsequent rulings are indicative of the awareness of people who are disabled that not only do they have rights they can exercise, but technology abounds to meet their requirements." Edmonton physiotherapist Janet Brandly has been blind since birth and recalled, as a university student, having to hire someone with sight to read through her mail once a week. A confessed control freak, Brandly resented someone else going through her bills and she couldn't always be sure every word was read. "It comes down to the privacy issue. As blind people, we have to give up a lot of privacy that sighted people don't. Even something as simple as the mail," said Brandly, whose sighted husband reads through the bills. "I think the principle of billing in alternative format is long overdue. We just have to make sure it's handled properly." * That means privacy again. If companies contract out braille services, third parties have access to people's private information. "There must be a clause, a safety net built in there to protect information," she said. Telus spokesperson Nick Culo said Telus has been providing alternative billing for the visually impaired for about four years. The latest CRTC ruling requires major carriers such as Telus and Bell to ensure its long distance resellers, such as Sears or Zellers, provide the same billing options on demand. Right now, about 1,200 Alberta and British Columbia customers get * their bills in large type, 50 get braille bills and 20 receive electronic diskettes which run off expensive software to vocalize text for users. Telus electronically transfers billing information to the Canadian National Institute for the Blind which then transforms them into the preferred braille or electronic format and mails them to customers. All Telus privacy rules and regulations apply to CNIB staff, Culo said, and customers sign a waiver permitting their bills be handled by a third party. It costs Telus $20 for each braille or electronic bill. Large print bills are produced in-house. Chris Stark and his wife, Marie, launched a series of complaints against Bell Canada in 1997 which led to a host of new CRTC rules favouring the blind. "It ain't charity and it ain't perks and it ain't something special. It's the cost of doing business as the population greys," said 54-year-old Stark from his home near Ottawa. "It's a mark of our independence to read a bill and see a rate change and a service charge and understand it. You can't make a choice on what's best for you if you can't read the information." CNIB has about 9,000 clients in Alberta, two thirds of whom are 65 years old or older. Nearly half of all clients have macular degeneration -- blurry central vision which affects mostly the elderly. Only about five per cent of blind people are proficient in * braille. ---------- Lisa Gregoire the Edmonton Journal