Accessibility Makes Good Business Sense at Cingular Wireless

At first glance, accessibility for people with disabilities might seem like no big deal at Cingular Wireless, the nation's second largest wireless company with 35,000 employees nationwide and revenues of $12.6 billion in 2000. For example, there's no single individual or department where information on assistive technology is maintained.

Accessibility Integrated into Company's Diversity Program

But accessibility for employees with disabilities is a very big deal at Cingular Wireless—a company priority. In fact, it is fully integrated into the company's workforce diversity program.

The only reason there's no single assistive technology department or expert at Cingular, according to Gloria Johnson, vice president for diversity at Cingular, is that accommodating people with disabilities is everyone's business at the company. "We make sure that our workforce is reflective of the communities in which we do business—that we're looking for talent wherever it exists," says Johnson. "And we extend the concept of diversity beyond our workforce to embrace our suppliers, our communities, and our multicultural marketing. We do everything possible to make every person with whom we interact—employee, customer, supplier, community member—as comfortable as possible."

One initiative that helps integrate accessibility solutions into the company's products and services is the Wireless Access Task Force which encourages Cingular employees and vendors to develop products that are accessible. In addition, the company has made sure its Web site meets the Web Access Initiative guidelines of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the company meets regularly with advocacy groups for guidance, and every employee is trained in diversity issues.

Living up to its accessibility commitment "requires a team approach that extends from product development to customer care, and everything in between," says Susan K. Palmer, director of Federal Regulatory Affairs for Cingular. But Cingular doesn't make this major effort solely out of philanthropic sentiments.

Accessibility Benefits the Company

"It's safe to say that accessibility for people with disabilities makes good business sense," says Palmer, "whether you're developing accessible products and services for customers or making the tools of the job accessible to employees—it benefits the company."

"While it is not legal to discriminate against people with disabilities, in hiring, the disabled population has a 70 percent unemployment rate, so it is almost certain that some companies may not consider such a person for employment. However, in addition to having the skill sets needed for a job, people with disabilities are often highly motivated and highly skilled problem solvers and we can benefit greatly from their contributions, says Palmer."

Palmer's experience with accessibility, and her interest in it, is both personal and professional. In addition to her role as director of Federal Regulatory Affairs—in which capacity she works on issues related to consumer and disability interests—Palmer has used assistive technology for 16 years to accommodate a visual impairment. Although she can see light and large contrasts, she has limited vision. To compensate, she uses the JAWS screen reader, a scanner, and a Braille embosser for printed output.

"There's been real improvement in assistive technology over the time I've been using it," says Palmer. "And my supervisors have been excellent examples of how to accommodate people with disabilities in the workplace. Cingular likes to think outside the box. That's worked out well for me, for our employees and customers with disabilities, and for our company."

Accessibility Solutions Often Subtle

Providing accessible products and services can involve very subtle modifications, such as extending the timeout in voice dialing services to support customers who require a little extra time to respond, for example. It involves providing bills, on request, in large print and in Braille for customers with visual disabilities. And it involves training every customer—care representative to better serve customers with disabilities, setting up a specialized center able to provide direct TTY access, and training every product development specialist to keep in mind the needs of people with disabilities.

Cingular Commitment Goes Beyond the Basic Requirements

Federal and state regulations require basic accessibility, but Cingular's commitment goes far beyond the requirements. Cingular's determination to make diversity and accessibility a corporate strength comes from top leadership—who regularly communicate this commitment as one more way to serve all customers. "Cingular understands that assistive technology is another productivity tool," according to Palmer. "You can require people to act in certain ways, but to act with passion, more is necessary. You need direction from the top, and you need the best employees in the world. We have both."


Solution Overview

Assistive Technology:
JAWS® for Windows® screen reader From Freedom Scientific.

At a Glance:
JAWS® for Windows® screen readers work with your Windows-based PCs to provide access to today's software applications and the Internet. The internal software speech synthesizer and the computer's sound card enable information from the screen to be read aloud so that persons with visual impairments can get smooth and effective access to computers.

JAWS® for Windows® 4.02 is compatible with:

  • Microsoft® Windows XP Professional
  • Microsoft® Windows XP Home
  • Microsoft® Office XP
  • Microsoft® Internet Explorer 6

Benefit:
Full computer access for users who need alternative input and output options to work effectively.



"It's safe to say that accessibility for people with disabilities makes good business sense—whether you're developing accessible products and services for customers or making the tools of the job accessible to employees—it benefits the company."

Susan K. Palmer
Director of Federal and Regulatory Affairs
Cingular Wireless



About Cingular Wireless
Cingular Wireless is the second largest wireless company in the U.S. Cingular Wireless is a joint venture between the domestic wireless divisions of SBC (NYSE:SBC) and BellSouth (NYSE: BLS). SBC owns 60 percent of the company and BellSouth owns 40 percent, based on the value of the assets both contributed to the venture. The company employees 35,000 nationwide and had 2000 revenues of $12.5 billion.



About JAWS for Windows
JAWS® for Windows® screen reader works with your PC to provide access to today's software applications and the Internet. With its internal software speech synthesizer and the computer's sound card, information from the screen is read aloud, providing technology to access a wide variety of information, education and job-related applications. JAWS also outputs to refreshable Braille displays.