• Graeme Innes
• NBN will build a bridge for disabled

Image: Vermin Inc / flickr

15 August 2011The true value lies in creating a network that enables people who are geographically and socially isolated to connect, writes Australia's Disability Discrimination Commissioner Graeme Innes in The Telegraph

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Why do we need the national broadband network? What is the point? I hear this from people all the time.

I know billions of dollars is a lot of money and that the rollout will take years.

I know it will be hard. I know it is political.

But forget about speed length, bandwidth and fibre optic cabling for a minute.

The value of an NBN is not about creating a faster broadband network so we can stream or download the latest hit song.

Its true value lies in the creation of a network that enables people who are geographically and socially isolated to connect.

It is about the possibility of improving the everyday lives of people on the outskirts.

If you are middle class and living in a major city, chances are you are already connected. But if you are a person living in rural or regional Australia, life is markedly different.

If you are a person with disability, particularly in rural Australia, an accessible broadband network will deliver real value.

Take, for example, people who are deaf or hearing impaired. Because the NBN conveys the visual medium very well, it could facilitate online communication in Auslan by improving access to video conferencing and other video tools.

As for a person with a physical disability, a high-speed broadband network could enable them to "get" to work, or an educational institution, or wherever they may want to go, without them having to navigate a physically inaccessible environment. They could just plug in, log on and go.

Imagine, further, that such a person lives in rural Australia and a company that has employed them is in a major capital city. If it is productivity and untapped labour potential we are looking for, here it is.

And it doesn't end there.

Real-time captioning, audio description, talking books and video-calling could all be made widely available by a fast-speed broadband service.

I know I would be very pleased to be able to download a braille or audio version of a novel in seconds rather than have to wait for it to turn up in the snail mail.

For people with a disability fast-speed broadband means a great deal. It means access to information becomes possible. It means participation becomes possible. It means inclusion. The possibilities are endless.