The people with hearing disabilities are deprived the benefit of the new telephone based fire warning system called emergency alert. Under the new system being introduced, text and voice messages are sent to the mobile phones and land phones in case there is any danger of a bushfire. Many people have hearing disabilities and as such when the telephone rings for an emergency voice call those depending on text telephone services (TTY) or other forms of communication and aids are unable to use the new system because it does not support the features at present.

“As it stands the system has put people with disabilities lives at risk,” said Dean Barton-Smith, a spokesman of the Australian Federation of Disability Organizations.

It was not technically feasible to include TTY in the present emergency alert system. Another problem is that when text messages are sent through mobile phones, elders who have difficulty in reading text messages also face an equal situation when an emergency warning is made. A spokesman of the Deafness Forum Australia commented that every Australian has the right to b warned of these types of emergencies, it should be a warning system for everyone.

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