Emergency Access Layer – Inclusive AI-powered Emergency Communication for Telecom
In emergency situations, accessibility is not optional, it is critical. Emergency Access Layer is an AI-powered, multimodal communication layer designed to make emergency telecom services accessible to everyone, regardless of sensory, cognitive, motor, or contextual limitations. The solution integrates into existing telecom infrastructures, enabling faster, clearer, and more inclusive emergency communication when it matters most.
Emergency Access Layer is built on a simple but often overlooked reality: in emergency scenarios, lack of accessibility can become a matter of life and death.
Today, many people face critical barriers when trying to contact emergency services due to sensory, cognitive, motor disabilities, language limitations, high stress, or degraded network conditions. Existing emergency communication systems are typically optimized for a single interaction mode and assume ideal conditions—an assumption that frequently fails in real-world emergencies.
Emergency Access Layer is not a standalone application or a new isolated channel. It is an infrastructural layer designed to integrate directly into existing telecom emergency communication systems. The layer enables adaptive, multimodal communication by combining text, voice, symbols, visual cues, and tactile feedback, allowing each user to communicate in the most effective way for their specific situation and abilities.
The project is powered by AccessiWay, leveraging its deep expertise in digital accessibility, inclusive design, and compliance with European accessibility standards (WCAG and EN 301 549). AccessiWay’s experience in accessibility remediation, user testing with people with disabilities, and inclusive service design ensures that the solution is not only technologically advanced, but grounded in real-world usability and regulatory alignment.
Artificial Intelligence plays a central but responsible role. The AI interprets non-standard and fragmented inputs, reduces ambiguity, extracts essential information, and supports emergency operators by structuring incoming data into clear, actionable insights. This support improves response speed, reduces misunderstandings, and helps operators maintain situational awareness even under extreme pressure.
The solution is designed to function reliably even in unstable network conditions and high-stress environments, prioritizing clarity, redundancy, and resilience. By supporting both users and operators, Emergency Access Layer transforms accessibility from a compliance requirement into a core safety infrastructure.
This project directly aligns with the objectives of the European Accessibility Act by ensuring that emergency communication services are not only technically accessible, but genuinely usable and understandable by everyone. It demonstrates how AI, when applied responsibly and supported by strong accessibility expertise, can protect fundamental rights and significantly improve public safety within the telecom ecosystem.