[governance] Access for Disabled Persons - [Access for All]

Wed Oct 24 19:42:38 EDT 2012

Just my thoughts on this...

Working on the Education field, I would like to use the word
"accommodations" when it comes giving ICT access to people with disability.
I can give you some instances on how we do "accommodations" for people with
disabilities:

[1] Each semester typically in a US university, $1200 is allocated through
state funding for students to avail of one-on-one tutoring. Tutoring
includes assistance in the use of online coursework. Students usually apply
for financial aid to avail of these services. Braille keyboards are
available. Here at Texas Tech University, we have a student laboratory with
braille keyboard. The monitors are a lot bigger, too.

[2] Textbooks are converted to a media file that students can listen to. We
have a couple of student assistants who are special education majors
working with our Student Disability Services who do the media conversion.
Our special education program was ranked 11th best in the nation so that
might speak of the accommodations that we do.

[3] When deaf/mute students need to call (we usually use Lync),  the
deaf/mute interpreter uses a TV attached to the phone to be able to
converse with the student.

[4] There are trained tutors who work with students on specific field of
study - Engineering, Business, English and Science. I work with Science
majors specifically Physics and Chemistry and I usually work in the Lab
with them in accessing their coursework and what they need in the
classroom. I use Quizlet a lot for vocabulary and I help students use the
Internet to make their flashcards.

[5] I have also used VI software and they can be installed in a thumb
drive. You plug in the thumb drive into any computer and it starts
automatically. For several weeks I have worked with VI students who were
struggling a lot with a Business Computing course I was teaching in another
workforce development program with a local college. I had to use
magnification software. My company was compelled to ask assistance from the
Texas DARS (*Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services*) Division
for Blind Services (DBS). *DARS *usually would provide a magnification
screen for computers so VI people can use computers better.

I'd like to think that in terms of "*access to all*" for people requiring
special services, it is indeed a priority. That priority makes "*
accommodations*" come into place. When we actually accommodate them, we
take that extra effort to help them. Usually most services are in place.
I've seen it and I've worked with it.  If we push people to see and
understand that accommodations are necessary, they will be compelled to
look for resources for software, equipment and even personnel training.
Most governments are hard to convince so a lot of funding have been from
private donors. I would really like to see the word '*accommodations*"
being used a lot side by side with "*access*." Maybe that would give a lot
of people insight on what needs to be done.

Charity Gamboa-Embley
Texas Tech University
Student Disability Services

On Fri, Oct 19, 2012 at 2:58 PM, Salanieta T. Tamanikaiwaimaro <
salanieta.tamanikaiwaimaro at gmail.com> wrote:

> Dear All,
>
> 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.
>
> Whilst there is a United Nations Convention on Rights of Persons with
> Disabilities on this area, see:
> http://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?id=150 , 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.
>
> *Accessibility*
>
>  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.
>
> *Website Accessibility*
> *
> *
> 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,  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.
>
> For websites to be able to be completely accessible, there are various
> standards developed to help cater for these. A good resource site is:
> http://www.w3.org/TR/2012/WD-WCAG-EM-20120920/
>
> *Hungary Proposal to the WCIT [8b on Access for Disabled Persons]*
>
> 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.
>
>
> Kind Regards,
>
>
>
> --
> Salanieta Tamanikaiwaimaro aka Sala
> P.O. Box 17862
> Suva
> Fiji
>
> Twitter: @SalanietaT
> Skype:Salanieta.Tamanikaiwaimaro
> Fiji Cell: +679 998 2851
>
>
>
>
>
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