In May 2016 the Australian Cross Disability Alliance (ACDA) provided a submission to the Australian Government Department of Communications and the Arts consultation ‘’Communications Accessibility: 2016 and Beyond’’, specifically in regard the future of the National Relay Service (NRS).
In the submission ACDA emphasised that all people with disability have a right to equal access to communication under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) Article 9 (accessibility), Article 21 (freedom of expression) Article 4 (general obligations) and Article 2 (definitions).
The ACDA expressed a number of concerns about proposals for the future of the NRS as outlined in the options consultation paper which would be retrograde steps in achieving substantive equality for people who are Deaf, hard of hearing or who have a hearing or speech impairment.
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