Vision impaired community calling out companies for lack of accessible billing
As cost of living pressures keep mounting Australia's vision impaired community is calling out companies for failing to provide accessible bills. They say it amounts to a breach of the disability discrimination act but no one seems to be holding the businesses to account.
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00:00 When Ria Adriani, who is blind, started trying to monitor her energy use, her screen reader
00:07 could not make sense of her PDF bill.
00:10 I feel like I should be able to sign up with any company, just like any other Australian,
00:17 and get my bill in a format that I can read.
00:21 Her solar tariffs were impossible to decipher.
00:25 Without knowing the details in the bills itself, it's really hard to lower the bill.
00:32 Consumer advocate Dr Wayne Hawkins says it puts people with vision impairment at a disadvantage.
00:37 If you're not providing your information in an accessible format, either through an accessible
00:42 PDF or other digital format, then it would be in breach of the Disability Discrimination Act.
00:49 And there is no requirement on the private sector to communicate digital bills in a
00:54 consumer's preferred format.
00:56 File type PDF, invoice.pdf
00:59 Centre for Accessibility CEO Scott Hollier says Australia's digital accessibility guidelines
01:05 are out of date, as is the Disability Discrimination Act.
01:09 There's really little enforcement of the Act, so if you don't do the right thing, there's
01:13 very little chance of any legal enforcement.
01:17 The Human Rights Commission says the Disability Discrimination Act needs reform in order to
01:22 respond to technological advancements.
01:25 The Commission says it currently has no powers to regulate or enforce digital accessibility.
01:31 Leaving people like Ria with one choice.
01:34 If you're not able to provide what I need, then I will spend my money elsewhere.
01:41 A consumer guarantee to billing companies.
01:44 [BLANK_AUDIO]