High IT prices costing people with disability

The Australian Government recently launched an inquiry into the cost of IT products in this country, the results of which will be closely watched by everyone but particularly Australians with disabilities. Erin Turner says technology is particularly important to the disabled community.

This won’t come as a surprise to people who shop online – in Australia we pay more for information technology than shoppers in other countries. We pay more to download songs, we pay more for online games and we pay more for basic hardware.

This price difference cannot be wholly explained by the increased cost of doing business in Australia. Yes, it can cost more to hire staff in Australia and rental costs for retail space adds to the price. But these factors only make up a percentage of the increased price we pay.

Largely, we pay more because international companies choose to charge more for products sold in Australia. This practice is called international price discrimination and, while it is legal, it isn’t fair or in the interests of consumers. Price differences can range from an extra few dollars to thousands of dollars for products sold in Australia.

Hardware and software has become essential to participation in a modern society. A computer and additional software is often needed to search for a job, manage welfare payments, apply for university or make a Medicare claim. Australians who cannot afford high prices for IT products will be restricted in the way they participate in our increasingly digital economy.

No group is more aware of the importance of IT products than the disability community. Every person with disability has different IT needs. From smartphones with cameras that let the Deaf community make a “phone call” in Auslan to screenreading software that unlocks the online world for people with a visual impairment, it is technology that allows people with disability to perform tasks that would otherwise be extremely difficult or impossible.

But technology created specifically for people with disability can cost significantly more in Australia than other markets. This is a problem because people with disability have higher costs of living yet are significantly more likely to be living below the poverty line compared to the general population – they have greater need, higher costs and less ability to pay for technology.

In our investigations we found IT for people with disability can be extremely costly. A Braillenote used by people who are blind can cost up to $8750, nearly half the amount someone receiving the Disability Support Pension earns in a year. The same product costs $2000 less in the USA and a similar price would be very welcome by Australians with disability.

Realising the impact of high IT prices, the Australian Government has launched an inquiry. The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) has gone to Parliament House to tell politicians that high IT prices affect all Australians but has a particular impact on people with disability.

We’re suggesting that the government take immediate action to lessen the impact of high IT prices on people with disability by adopting a whole-of-government accessible IT procurement policy. This policy would require the government to ensure that all IT purchases it makes includes accessible features, using its significant purchasing power to make it economical for suppliers to make more accessible products available at affordable prices to the wider Australian market. Similar policies implemented in the USA have encouraged innovation, leading to lower prices and new products. In the long term such a policy would assist in removing barriers to employment, information and services for people with disability.

Until the government takes action, people with disability will be left paying thousands of dollars for essential technology. They are locked out from cheaper prices we are seeing for the same technology in other parts of the world.

(Learn more about what an accessible public procurement policy could mean for you at: www.accan.org.au/itpricing)

Erin Turner is a Policy and Campaigns Officer at the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN).