Consumer Affairs and Inclusion Team  Mission Statement

At BT we have been helping people overcome barriers to communication for over eighty years. In 1915 we adapted switchboard technology to help servicemen blinded in the First World War and in 1951 the Post Office Research Department developed the first National Health Service hearing aid. Today, whether it is a telephone with voice prompts and memory buttons or the development of BT TextDirect for textphone users, we have made it a priority to increase disabled peoples' opportunities to communicate with the world around them.

In 1984 when BT became a private company we established BT Action in the interest of the disabled to make sure that the needs of disabled customers were not forgotten. That work continues today within the Consumer Affairs and Inclusion Team who are proud to work passionately in the interests of our older and disabled customers.

Our mission is "To drive consideration of disability issues deep into the operations of BT so that we enable equality of access to BT's portfolio and to communicate that effectively to our target audiences, so as to improve the quality of life of disabled people, and enhance shareholder value".

We aim to reach our goals by

• Providing practical, day-to-day assistance for disabled people

• Improving BT's product and service portfolio

• Research and development

• Consultation with disabled people and their representatives 

• Understanding and influencing legislation and regulation

• Raising awareness of disability issues

• Enhancing BT's reputation in the disability arena