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daily12011-08-20T18:53:10ZAccessibility of Government Websites in India: A Report
https://cis-india.org/accessibility/accessibility-of-government-websites-in-india
<b>The Centre for Internet & Society is pleased to announce the publication of a report on the accessibility of government websites in India. The report is published in cooperation with the Hans Foundation. Nirmita Narasimhan, Mukesh Sharma and Dinesh Kaushal are the authors. </b>
<h2>Executive Summary</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Website inaccessibility is the largest and most common barrier to implementing effective e-governance. In a country like India, where a very large percentage of the population is disabled, elderly, illiterate, rural, having limited bandwidth, speaks only a vernacular language or uses alternative platforms like mobile phones, having accessible websites becomes all the more important to ensure that government information and services which are available online are accessible and usable by these groups.<br /><br />This report summarises the key findings of a test conducted to measure the accessibility of 7800 websites of the Government of India and its affiliated agencies against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0, which is the universally accepted standard for web accessibility. It uses a combination of automated and manual testing to derive key findings. While the automated tool identified errors such as images without textual descriptions and HTML and CSS errors, manual testing was used wherever human decision was required, for instance, to judge whether a description of a link or image was indeed accurate, or to check for accessibility of forms.</p>
<hr />
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Table of Contents</h3>
<p><b>Executive Summary</b></p>
<ul>
<li>Highlights</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Introduction<br /></b></p>
<ul>
<li>What is Accessibility?</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Methodology</b></p>
<p><b>Findings and Interpretation</b></p>
<ul>
<li>Known, Likely and Potential Problems</li>
<li>HTML and CSS Validation</li>
<li>Alternate Text for Non-text Objects</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Recommendations</b></p>
<ul>
<li>Appendix 1: Examples of Errors</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li> Appendix 2: About the National Policy on Universal Electronic Accessibility</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li> Appendix 3: List of Testers and Authors</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<p>Given below is the link to download the full report: <a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/accessibility-of-govt-websites.pdf" class="internal-link"></a></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/accessibility-of-govt-websites.pdf" class="internal-link">Accessibility of Government Websites in India: A Report</a> (PDF)</li>
</ul>
<ol> </ol>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/accessibility/accessibility-of-government-websites-in-india'>https://cis-india.org/accessibility/accessibility-of-government-websites-in-india</a>
</p>
No publisherNirmita Narasimhan, Mukesh Sharma and Dinesh KaushalAccessibilityPublications2012-09-26T08:16:55ZBlog EntryUniversal Service for Persons with Disabilities: A Global Survey of Policy Interventions and Good Practices
https://cis-india.org/universal-service-for-persons-with-disabilities
<b>The Global Initiative for Inclusive Information and Communication Technologies and the Centre for Internet and Societies in cooperation with the Hans Foundation have published the Universal Service for Persons with Disabilities: A Global Survey of Policy Interventions and Good Practices. The book consists of a Foreword by Axel Leblois, an Introduction and four chapters. Deepti Bharthur, Axel Leblois and Nirmita Narasimhan have contributed to the chapters.</b>
<h3>Foreword</h3>
<p>Universal Service definitions have been developed by 125 countries and are the foundation for policies and programs ensuring that telecommunications are available to all categories of population. Universal service funds are the main vehicle used to fund those programs, primarily addressing imbalances such as lack of availability of services in rural areas. While geographic coverage has vastly improved over the past decade with wireless infrastructure, the scope of Universal Service has expanded to include other categories of underserved populations.</p>
<p>Among those, persons with disabilities and senior citizens, who represent 15% of the world population<a href="#fn1" name="fr1">[1]</a> are an increasing concern for legislators and regulators. Basic accessibility features for public telephone booths, fixed line or wireless handsets, customer services in alternate formats such as Braille, or assistive services such as relay services for hard of hearing or deaf persons are in fact not implemented in a majority countries.<a href="#fn2" name="fr2">[2]</a></p>
<p>To address those issues, several countries have expanded the scope of their national definition of Universal Service Obligation to include persons with disabilities allowing programs promoting the accessibility of information and communication technologies to be covered by Universal Service Funds.</p>
<p>The adoption of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities by over 150 countries since March 31st, 2007 will likely accelerate this trend: States Parties have an obligation to ensure that Information and Communication Technologies and Services are made accessible to persons with disabilities. This can be done by aligning the definition of Universal Service Obligation with article 9 of the Convention and expanding the charter of Universal Service Funds to cover programs promoting accessibility for persons with disabilities. This report is the first attempt to document how Universal Service definitions and related policies and programs have been implemented by various countries to ensure that persons with disabilities have full access, on an equal basis with others,to telecommunication services.G3ict would like to express its sincere appreciation to the Center for Internet and Society for its support of this project, to Nirmita Narasimhan for researching and editing this report;to the International Telecommunication Union for providing references and helping identify countries to be surveyed, and to the Hans Foundation for funding the print version of the report. Promoting universal service for persons with disabilities can affect positively the lives of millions of users around the world. We hope that this report may serve as a useful reference for policy makers, operators, organizations of persons with disabilities, and as a framework for good practice sharing among countries currently implementing the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.</p>
<p>Axel Leblois<br />Executive Director<br />G3ict – Global Initiative for Inclusive ICTs</p>
<hr />
<h3>Introduction</h3>
<p>The advent of the Internet and accessible information and communication technologies (ICT) has opened up exciting possibilities and opportunities for persons with disabilities.The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (the ‘UNCRPD’)3 has explicitly recognized the right of persons with disabilities to seek, receive and impart information on an equal basis with others4 and has placed specific obligations on member states to ensure that all ICT based facilities and services (which include telecommunications services) must be made available and accessible to all. To this end, member states are required to formulate and implement appropriate laws and policies at national, regional and global levels. In an age where almost all spheres of life are inextricably woven with and dependent on ICT, Article 9 of the UNCRPD on Accessibility is possibly one of the most powerful and critical tools in the hands of policy makers to ensure that persons with disabilities are assured of basic human rights such as education, health, employment and access to information and participation.While the lack of awareness amongst governments is undeniably a serious impediment to implementing accessible ICT in any country, an equally serious and perhaps more realistic problem is the lack of resources which is plaguing many countries, especially developing nations. The fact that governments are already struggling to ensure basic human rights for all citizens by judiciously dividing their limited resources for the whole gamut of needs makes it difficult for them to outlay separate and substantial budgets which may be required for implementing ICT accessibility. In such a scenario it becomes very important to look around and identify sources of funding, new or existing, which can be leveraged by governments to fulfill their obligation towards making all ICT based applications and services accessible and promoting assistive technologies for persons with disabilities.</p>
<p>This report aims to highlight the extreme suitability of leveraging the Universal Service Fund (USF) to implement accessibility and assistive technologies in telecommunications. It examines the evolution of the concept of USF, its minimum mandate and scope, funding sources, as well as project implementation mechanisms and showcases countries which are using the USF to fund accessibility projects through policies and programmes.</p>
<hr />
<p>[<a href="#fr1" name="fn1">1</a>].WHO Global Report on Disability, June 2011 - <a class="external-link" href="http://www.who.int/disabilities/world_report/2011/en/index.html">http://www.who.int/disabilities/world_report/2011/en/index.html </a></p>
<p>[<a href="#fr2" name="fn2">2</a>].CRPD Progress Report on ICT Accessibility – 2010 by G3ict - <a class="external-link" href="http://g3ict.org/resource_center/publications_and_reports">http://g3ict.org/resource_center/publications_and_reports</a></p>
<hr />
<ol>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/universal-service-braille/view" class="external-link">Click here</a> for the Braille format</li>
<li>Download the Daisy version <a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/universal-service-daisy" class="internal-link" title="Universal Service for Persons with Disabilities - Daisy File">here</a></li>
<li>Download the book <a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/universal-service-disabilities.pdf" class="internal-link" title="Universal Service for Persons with Disabilities">here </a>PDF [302 KB] </li>
</ol>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/universal-service-for-persons-with-disabilities'>https://cis-india.org/universal-service-for-persons-with-disabilities</a>
</p>
No publishernirmitaFeaturedAccessibilityPublications2012-10-08T05:43:46ZBlog Entrye-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities (Russian Version)
https://cis-india.org/accessibility/e-accessibility-kit-in-russian
<b>The e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities is based upon the online ITU-G3ict e-Accessibility Policy Toolkit for Persons with Disabilities (www.e-accessibilitytoolkit.org) which was released in February 2010. This is the Russian translation of the same.</b>
<p>The <a class="external-link" href="http://g3ict.org/resource_center/e-Accessibility%20Policy%20Handbook">Toolkit</a> and its companion handbook have contributions from more than 60 experts around the world on ICT accessibility and is a most valuable addition to policy makers and regulators, advocacy and research organisations and persons with disabilities on the implementation of the ICT dispositions of the CRPD.</p>
<p>The handbook is a joint publication of ITU, G3ict and the Centre for Internet and Society, in cooperation with The Hans Foundation. The book is compiled and edited by Nirmita Narasimhan. Preface by Dr. Hamadoun I. Toure, Secretary-General, International Telecommunication Union. Introduction by Dr. Sami Al-Basheer, Director, ITU-D. Foreword by Axel Leblois, Executive Director, G3ict.</p>
<p>UNIC Moscow (United Nations Information Centre - Moscow) has translated the English version of the kit to Russian. For more information on the translation initiative by UNIC Moscow,<a class="external-link" href="http://www.unic.ru/news_inf/viewer.php?uid=164"> click here</a>.</p>
<hr />
<p> </p>
<p>Download the Russian version <a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/e-accessibility-russian-handbook.pdf" class="internal-link" title="e-Accessibility Policy Handbook (Russian Version)">here</a> (PDF, 1045 kb)</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/accessibility/e-accessibility-kit-in-russian'>https://cis-india.org/accessibility/e-accessibility-kit-in-russian</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaFeaturedBooksAccessibilityPublications2012-04-26T10:04:08ZBlog Entrye-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities
https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/e-accessibility-handbook
<b>The Centre for Internet and Society is proud to announce the launch of its first publication, the “e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities" in collaboration with the G3ict (Global Initiative for Inclusive Information Communication Technologies) and ITU (International Telecommunications Union), and sponsored by the Hans Foundation. The handbook is compiled and edited by Nirmita Narasimhan. Dr. Hamadoun I. Toure, Secretary-General, International Telecommunication Union has written the preface, Dr. Sami Al-Basheer, Director, ITU-D has written the introduction and Axel Leblois, Executive Director, G3ict has written the foreword.
</b>
<p>The book is based on the online e-accessibility toolkit for policy makers (<a class="external-link" href="http://www.e-accessibilitytoolkit.org/">www.e-accessibilitytoolkit.org</a>) which was released by G3ict and ITU in February 2010. The book has contributions from over 60 experts around the world on ICT accessibility and is a most valuable addition to policy makers and regulators, advocacy and research organisations and persons with disabilities on the implementation of the ICT dispositions of the UNCRPD. We wish to express our sincere appreciation to all the contributors, G3ict and the ITU for making this possible.</p>
<p>The handbook was released by Smt.Vibha Puri Das, Secretary, Dept of Higher Education, Ministry of HRD at the International Conference on Enabling Access to Education through ICT held from 27 to 30 October 2010 in New Delhi. The printed book comes with a CD containing its daisy version. It is divided into four chapters:</p>
<ol>
<li>The Accessibility Imperative</li>
<li>Policies and Programs</li>
<li>Solutions that Work</li>
<li>Accessibility Policy Making: An International Perspective</li>
<li>Appendix A: Accessibility Policy Comparison Grid </li>
</ol>
<p>Also there are two appendices:</p>
<ol>
<li>Appendix A: Accessibility Policy Comparison Grid</li>
<li>Appendix B: Online Toolkit Site Map</li>
</ol>
<p>The topics mainly focus on:</p>
<ul>
<li>What is ICT accessibility?</li>
<li>What the CRPD says about ICT accessibility</li>
<li>How to best assess disability demographics and the impact of ICT barriers</li>
<li>Identifying ICT accessibility legislative, regulatory, policy and programs gaps versus CRPD guidelines and mandates</li>
<li>Engaging Disabled Persons Organizations and other key stakeholders in policy making </li>
<li>Policy development by area</li>
<li>Setting standards</li>
<li>Public procurement</li>
<li>Promoting assistive technologies</li>
<li>Promoting accessible product development & Universal Design</li>
<li>International cooperation</li>
<li>Wireless phones</li>
<li>Radios</li>
<li>Television</li>
<li>Remote consoles</li>
<li>Landline phones</li>
<li>Websites</li>
<li>Personal computers</li>
<li>Software</li>
<li>Electronic kiosks</li>
<li>Broadband services</li>
<li>Country analysis:</li>
<li>United States of America</li>
<li>United Kingdom</li>
<li>Australia</li>
<li>Germany</li>
<li>Portugal</li>
<li>New Zealand</li>
<li>Canada</li>
<li>Ireland</li>
<li>Italy</li>
<li>Sweden</li>
<li>European Union</li>
<li>Japan</li>
<li>Korea</li>
<li>Developing countries</li>
<li>Summary </li>
</ul>
<p>The publication of this book would not have been possible without the generous support of The Hans Foundation, to whom we would like to express our sincere thanks. We trust that readers will find this book most useful in their accessibility work.</p>
<p>The complete version of the book is available in pdf and daisy formats. These can be downloaded by clicking on the links below:</p>
<ul>
<li>e-Accessibility Policy Handbook: <a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/publications/e-accessibility" class="internal-link" title="e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities">PDF</a></li>
<li>e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities: <a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/publications/daisy-format" class="internal-link" title="e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities - Daisy">Daisy Format </a></li>
</ul>
<p><b> Note</b>: Daisy users can read the book in <a class="external-link" href="http://www.daisy.org/projects/amis/downloads/Setup-amis31-U.S.English.exe">Amis</a> or <a class="external-link" href="http://emerson-reader.googlecode.com/files/emerson-win32-x86-0.6.3.msi">Emerson</a></p>
<p> </p>
<ul>
<li>e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities: <a href="https://cis-india.org/advocacy/e-accessibility-braille" class="internal-link" title="e-Accessibility Policy Handbook (Braille)">Braille File</a></li>
</ul>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/e-accessibility-handbook'>https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/e-accessibility-handbook</a>
</p>
No publishernirmitaAccessibilityPublications2013-07-30T08:29:06ZBlog EntryWeb Accessibility Policy Making: An International Perspective – A G3ict White Paper
https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/g3ict-white-paper
<b>G3ict Publishes International Survey of Web Accessibility Policies White Paper by the Centre for Internet & Society, Bangalore, India</b>
<p>With 143 countries having signed the Convention, and 74 ratified it as
of today, web accessibility policy making is fast becoming a leading area of
concern for governments, disabled persons organizations and organizations
operating web sites for the public.</p>
<p>In this timely <a title="G3ict-White Paper" class="internal-link" href="http://www.cis-india.org/accessibility/publications/Web%20Accessibility%20Policy%20Making-%20G3ict%20White%20Paper-%20CIS%20Bangalore-%20India%202009.pdf/at_download/file">White
Paper</a>, Nirmita Narasimhan, Program Manager at the <a href="https://cis-india.org/../" title="Centre for Internet & Society (CIS)">Centre for Internet & Society
(CIS)</a> in Bangalore, India, provides a very valuable overview of the
early policies and programs adopted by a selection of 15 ratifying
countries. Packed with references and useful links, the contents of this
White Paper will also be made available in the upcoming ITU-G3ict Toolkit for
Policy Makers.</p>
<p><a href="http://g3ict.com/press/press_releases/press_release/p/id_48">Link to the Press Release</a></p>
<p><a title="G3ict-White Paper" class="internal-link" href="http://www.cis-india.org/accessibility/publications/Web%20Accessibility%20Policy%20Making-%20G3ict%20White%20Paper-%20CIS%20Bangalore-%20India%202009.pdf/at_download/file">Click
here to download the White Paper</a></p>
<p><img src="file:///C:/Users/Sanchia/AppData/Local/Temp/moz-screenshot.jpg" alt="" />We would like to thank the following people who have helped preparing this
White paper:</p>
<p>Prashanth Ramdas, Asma Tajuddin, G. Aravind ,Katie Reisner, Sucharita
Narasimhan, Bama Balakrishnan, Nirmita Narasimhan</p>
<p>Expert Reviewers:<br />
Axel Leblois, Donal Rice, Immaculada Placienca Porrero, Kevin Carey, Licia
Sbarella, Sunil Abraham</p>
<p> </p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/g3ict-white-paper'>https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/g3ict-white-paper</a>
</p>
No publisherradhaAccessibilityPublications2011-10-19T10:37:07ZBlog Entry