The EESC notes that more attention should be paid to the recognition of sign language and other forms of communication for deaf persons, as well as speech-to-text formats for people with hearing impairments.

Welcomes the Commission’s new smartphone application, which provides information on passenger rights in several languages and in a format accessible to passengers with disabilities; calls on the Member States and carriers to press ahead with the development and use of similar modern technologies (including SMS and the use of social networks, video-based sign language services, and text-based services to ensure the inclusion of deaf, hard-of-hearing and speech-disabled users); calls on public authorities, consumer protection bodies and organisations representing the interests of all passengers to launch similar initiatives; invites the ...[+++] Commission, furthermore, to take account at all moments of the circumstances of elderly people, who are not always equipped with modern technology when travelling; takes the view, moreover, that consideration should be given to making the internet available free of charge at airports, stations and other major departure points, so as to enable fuller use of these services;

Member States should take specific measures to ensure that emergency services, including ‘112’, are equally accessible to disabled end-users, in particular deaf, hearing-impaired, speech-impaired and deaf-blind users.

(34) Member States should take specific measures to ensure that emergency services, including "112", are equally accessible to disabled persons, in particular deaf, hearing-impaired, speech-impaired and deaf-blind users.

E.g. text relay services, essential for deaf and speech-impaired people, are only available in half of the Member States; emergency services are directly accessible by text telephone in only seven Member States; broadcasting with audio description, subtitled TV programming and TV sign-language programming remains very poor; only 8% of ATMs installed by the two main European retail banks provide 'talking' output[6].

- lack of European-wide standards, e.g. the seven different, incompatible text phone systems for deaf and hard-of-hearing persons;