<div>Dear All,</div><div><br></div><div>People take using the Internet for granted and we have persons in our community who despite extraordinary challenges go to great lengths to access the internet. One of the things that saddens me is how it continues to remain an area least prioritised as far as Freedom of Expression goes. Even when the UN Special Rapporteur Frank La Rue wrote about his , Report on Freedom of Expression in relation to the Internet, Access for Disabled Persons was relegated to the last paragraph in what I thought was a "By the way...off handed comment", at least in my reading of the same.</div>
<div><br></div><div><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">Whilst there is a United Nations Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities on this area, see: </span><a href="http://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?id=150" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(17,85,204);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">http://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?id=150</a><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"> , there are 154 countries that have signed up and only 125 have ratified, you can check to see which countries have ratified by going to the link.</span></div>
<div><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><br></span></div><div><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><i><b>Accessibility</b></i></span></div>
<div><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><br></span></div><div> I know that the Australian Government have through various initiatives made ICT accessible for disabled persons as has been reported to the community from Gunela Astbrink, there is still a lot of room for improvement. This includes things like handsets that can be easily used by those who are visually challenged. I will never forget sitting in a CommunicAsia meeting in Singapore and hearing Skype CEO back then talk about how Skype had revolutionised communication.</div>
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<div><b><i>Website Accessibility</i></b></div><div><b><i><br></i></b></div><div>Last year at the PACINET in American Samoa in a session organised by Gunela Astbrink from ISOC Australia,in an extraordinary advocate who has been pushing access for disabled persons for many years in Australia, within the region and internationally, <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-size:13px;font-family:arial,sans-serif">Faaolo Utumapu from Samoa demonstrated how her screen reading software with speech synthesis works and how she can navigate through accessible websites. She also demonstrated how barriers are placed in front of her when websites are not accessible. </span></div>
<div><br></div><div><font color="#222222" face="arial, sans-serif">For websites to be able to be completely accessible, there are various standards developed to help cater for these. A good resource site is: </font><a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2012/WD-WCAG-EM-20120920/" target="_blank">http://www.w3.org/TR/2012/WD-WCAG-EM-20120920/</a></div>
<div><br></div><div><b><i>Hungary Proposal to the WCIT [8b on Access for Disabled Persons]</i></b></div><div><br></div><div>Whilst there are Resolutions in place from the Plenipotentiaries which resulted in the creation of a Fund, it was reported to the Caribbean WCIT Preparation that only Cyprus had contributed to the same. There is a proposal by Hungary to add 8(b) and it includes excellent Access provisions for disabled persons and countries should support Hungary's Proposal. </div>
<div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Kind Regards,</div><div><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-size:13px;font-family:arial,sans-serif"><br></span></div><div><br></div>
<div><br></div>-- <br><div>Salanieta Tamanikaiwaimaro aka Sala</div><div>P.O. Box 17862</div><div>Suva</div><div>Fiji</div><div><br></div><div>Twitter: @SalanietaT</div><div>Skype:Salanieta.Tamanikaiwaimaro</div><div>Fiji Cell: <a href="tel:%2B679%20998%202851" value="+6799982851" target="_blank">+679 998 2851</a></div>
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