One of the UK's largest charities, the Royal National Institute for the Blind, is to create its own multi-million pound technology company to produce specially-adapted mobile phones and other communications devices.
RNIB digital access team manager Steven Tyler says the charity has been growing increasingly frustrated with the failure of the technology industry to design products which can be used easily by disabled people, including the UK's 1.5m blind and visually impaired.
The institute already produces 600 products on a small scale from white canes to household appliances, but has never attempted anything this ambitious.
The new firm, to be called Distech, will begin by designing, manufacturing and marketing mobile phones with the help of an outside partner, likely to be either Nokia or Ericsson - both firms are due to submit formal bids in the next three to four weeks. The first prototypes should be on the market by January 2000.
The phones will offer features such as large screen type, contrast control, a voice output so blind users can hear what is written on-screen and voice-activated controls. They will also be compatible with the emerging Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), a stripped-down text-version of internet access which will allow mobile phones to carry out interactive tasks such as consulting bank accounts, buying stocks or receiving traffic directions.
Tyler says: "Mobile phone manufacturers seem the most stubborn to make their products accessible, partly because they are in a constant race to get the next product out ahead of the competition.
"Our worry is that WAP-based systems to be launched this autumn, which will allow mobile phones to be able to access cash machines or anything else that is WAP-enabled, will not translate into opportunities for everybody because not enough attention is given to generic access."
Tyler says that £2.5m will be invested in the venture, with the RNIB putting in around £250,000. The rest is to be raised from venture capitalists. The phones will bear the brand of whichever private sector partner is selected and will be priced similarly to other new models.
"The intention is that mainstream mobile phone outlets will carry the new phones alongside existing lines which will make them available not only to blind people but also to people with no sight problems who may prefer their ease of use .
"We are going to prove that accessibility makes good business sense. If it is universally designed, it is good for anyone," Tyler says. People who may the find the new phones easier to use include those who often have to talk while their hands are busy with another task, those using the phone in different light conditions and anyone who prefers voice-activated control.
Distech will follow its mobile phones with a range of accessible digital radios and television sets. Digital radio, or digital audio broadcasting, is a new system which can also offer on-screen information. The first in-car digital radios are appearing this summer, with home products and personal computer adapters due to be launched later this year.
Tyler says this technology is currently entirely inaccessible to blind people, which is ironic as many of them rely on radio as a key source of information and entertainment.
In a separate initiative, the RNIB last week launched a free video, Web Sites That Work, explaining how corporate and government web site designers should build accessibility for the disabled into their sites. It recommends, for example, that sites should use text tags alongside images so blind people using speech or Braille converters can know what is depicted; sites should be easy to navigate; alternatives should be provided to areas which use scripts or browser plug-ins; and audio messages should be captioned for deaf people.
Among sites singled out for criticism in the video were Marks and Spencer, Channel 4 and 10 Downing Street, although the institute said these and other organisations cited had now accepted their sites should change .
Singled out for praise were the Community Justice National Training Organisation; Hants Web, the site of Hampshire County Council; and King's College London at www.kcl.ac.uk.
Tyler says that ultimately, accessibility and universal design is a straightforward business issue: if disabled people cannot access the web, companies are missing out on several million potential customers.
• The RNIB video, Web Sites That Work, can be obtained from Julie Howell, telephone 0171 391 2191
