Centre for Internet and Society

Accessible Mobile Handsets in India: An Overview

praskrishna — 2012-12-14T10:29:30Z

Over a thousand mobile handsets are sold in India today and new models are launched almost every few weeks. However, the number of accessible handsets continues to be disproportionately low. The Centre for Internet and Society conducted a research on the mobile market to gauge how many handsets in India are accessible for persons with disabilities. Handsets were judged on the basis of a few common accessibility features and pricing.

The findings reveal that 108 handset models came with screen readers and 100 were magnifier compatible. Thirty one of them were touch phones and only 15 models had QWERTY keypads.

The study found that the price of 60 of the available options was either high or very high (Rs. 10,000 and above) and only 48 handsets are available at a reasonable or low price.

For available handset options for persons with disabilities, click below:

PDF [612 kb]
Open Office [24 kb]
Word [42kb]

Some of the major cross platform and proprietary mobile operating systems were also examined for their accessibility features. These included Windows Mobile, iPhone for Apple, Blackberry, Android, Symbian and Windows Phone 7. All the operating systems offer features such as font customization, menu style, menu icons and voice recognition. However, only two offer built-in screen readers and only one OS offers a built in screen magnifier. Three operating systems support third party screen readers and two also support third party screen magnifiers.

The table [click on the links below] (also compiled by Mukesh Sharma) provides more details on the features offered by various operating systems:

Word [14 kb]
PDF [16 kb]
Open Office [15 kb]

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/accessible-mobile-handsets

Accessible Handsets Table

praskrishna — 2011-04-11T05:56:11Z

word document

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/publications/accessible-handsets-table.docx

Accessible Handsets Phones

praskrishna — 2011-08-22T12:47:21Z

word document

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/publications/accessible-handsets.docx

Accessible Handsets Mobile

praskrishna — 2011-08-22T12:47:53Z

open office document

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/publications/accessible-hand-sets-table.odt

Accessible Handsets

praskrishna — 2011-08-22T12:47:08Z

open office

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/publications/accessible-handsets.odt

Accessibility Policy Making: An International Perspective (Revised Edition 2011)

praskrishna — 2012-12-14T10:27:00Z

A G3ict White Paper researched and edited by the Center for Internet and Society, Bangalore, India. Editor: Nirmita Narasimhan, Revised edition: May 2011

In 2009, G3ict published a comparative review of the web and electronic accessibility policies of 15 countries and the European Union intended to serve as a guide to policy makers on how web accessibility has been implemented in different countries. Since then, there have been several relevant developments in the policy landscape, especially in the United States and the United Kingdom. The White Paper has been updated to keep abreast of these new changes. Some highlights of the revised White Paper include the updated version of Australia's Disability Discrimination Act Advisory Notes, issued by the Australian Human Rights Commission under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 in October 2010; the Equality Act 2010 (replacing the Disability Discrimination Act), The Statutory Code of Practice (2010), BS8878:2010 Web accessibility Code of practice replacing the PAS 78 and the e-Accessibility action plan in the U.K.; and the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010 in the U.S.A.

The published G3ict White Paper is available here
Click here to download the White Paper [Word Document, 232 KB]

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/accessibility-policy-international-perspective

Accessibility Partners

praskrishna — 2013-06-03T07:42:54Z

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/partners

Accessibility of Political Parties Websites in India

praskrishna — 2014-03-24T10:21:06Z

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/accessibility-of-political-parties-websites.docx

Accessibility of Political Parties Websites in India

praskrishna — 2014-03-24T10:21:09Z

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/accessibility-of-political-parties-websites.pdf

Accessibility of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and Electronic Content for Persons with Disabilities

praskrishna — 2013-01-31T07:17:31Z

The Government of Madhya Pradesh is pleased to notify this circular directing all ministries and government agencies to implement ICT accessibility in all public communication and services.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/mp-ict-accessibility-circular-draft.pdf

Accessibility in the New Telecom Policy 2011

praskrishna — 2012-01-02T05:12:12Z

Responding to the call for comments on NTP 2011, 27 organisations sent a joint letter requesting that accessibility for persons with disabilities be included specifically within the goals and objectives of the policy. The submission is available here. It deals exclusively with the issue of accessibility in telecommunications for persons with disabilities, which has been left out of NTP 2011. We outline below in some detail the rationale for including accessibility in the NTP.

Demographic case

The ‘World Report on Disability’, issued in June 2011 by the World Health Organization in cooperation with the World Bank, estimates that over a billion of the world’s population lives with some form of disability.[1]

According to World Bank estimates, 20 per cent of the world's poorest people are disabled and are understood to be the most disadvantaged sections of society.[2] The global literacy rate for persons with disabilities was reported at approximately three per cent in 1998 by UNDP.[3]

Whether due to discrimination or an inability to work, the unemployment rate amongst the disabled is very high, almost 80 per cent in some countries. In India, while there are no accurate statistics on the number of disabled or their access to ICT, education and employment, it is commonly believed that the number of persons with disabilities can be safely estimated to be above 70 million. Added to this is a vast population of elderly and illiterate persons who are unable to access mainstream telecommunications services as are available today.

Legal case

India has signed and ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) and is therefore obliged to ensure the human rights under the UNCRPD, including those of education, employment, to life and access to information and communication technologies and to treat persons with disabilities on an equal basis as others. Even under domestic law, our constitution recognises equality and non discrimination as important guiding principles and under the prevailing as well as new draft disability laws. We are committed to ensuring access to information, ICTs and all other aspects of social life which are essential to enjoy the right to life.

Global best practices:

Countries around the world, both developed as well as developing have recognised the important role that ICTs play in connecting the disabled, and also that special efforts and measures need to be taken to promote accessibility of and access to telecommunications facilities and services for persons with disabilities. For instance, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, France, Japan, Malaysia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sweden, USA, UK and many other countries in the European Union have at least one if not multiple policies and legislations to promote accessible telecommunications and these include both provisions in mainstream as well as exclusive policies. Similarly at least 17 countries around the world have specific provisions for connecting the disabled and providing services through their universal service funds. Many of these countries have included the aim of connecting the disabled as a goal in their national policies and then gone on to achieve this through specific policy initiatives. It is important to identify this as a national commitment within the policy to ensure adequate follow up.

Challenges to disability access to telecommunications in India:

Given below are a few key challenges impeding disability access to telecommunication and ICT services in India today:

Unaffordability of telecommunications products and services for persons with disabilities living below the poverty line and in rural areas.

Unavailability of compatible assistive technologies in local languages and at affordable rates.

Absence of special enabling measures such as provision of hearing aid compatible phones, priority assistance in repairs, low tariff on basic telephony services, accessible services and customer care,

Absence of a national relay service and emergency service system.

Unavailability of low cost handsets in the market which are compatible with assistive technology.

Failure of mainstream programmes and initiatives to reach out to persons with disabilities, for instance the Common Service Centres need to be made accessible to all.

Inaccessibility of broadcast services: includes inaccessibility of hardware like set top boxes which can at present not be navigated by blind persons, as well as inaccessibility of TV programmes because of lack of captioning and descriptions.

Recommendation

Given that there is a lot which needs to be done to connect persons with disabilities to the information society, we strongly urge the DoT to clearly identify this as a national goal under the policy. Without this, it will be difficult to ensure that adequate programmes and policies are created to make telecommunications accessible and universally available and persons with disabilities will be unable to enjoy even the basic rights of life such as the right to health care, to information, education, employment, recreation and many more. Finally we would also like to stress that mention of accessibility in NPIT and other policies alone will not suffice to ensure accessibility of telecom services. While those do govern accessibility of web sites, standards and content, the NTP will take care of accessibility of telecom services like broadband and fixed and mobile telephony, as well as of products. Given that today a large and ever increasing number of persons are relying solely on mobile phones to communicate and transact, creating an accessible
telecommunications environment becomes an inevitable priority goal.

Annexure – List of Signatories

Accessability (Delhi)
Alternative Law Forum (Bangalore)
Andhjan Kalyan Trust (Gujrat)
Arushi (Bhopal)
Blind Persons’ Association(Ahmedabad)
Blind Relief Association (Delhi)
Centre for Internet and Society(Bangalore)
Daisy Forum of India(Delhi)
Deafway(Delhi)
Deaf Mutes Society (Ahmedabad)
Dr. Amrik Singh Cheema Foundation Trusts(Chandigarh)
Fourthway Foundation (Bangalore)
Indian Association for the Blind(Madurai)
Indian Institute for Assistive Technology(Mumbai)
Maraa (Bangalore)
Mitra Jyothi (Bangalore)
National Association for the Blind(Mumbai)
National Association for the Deaf(Delhi)
Saksham(Delhi)
Samrita Trust(Secundrabad)
Score Foundation (Delhi)
Sightsavers International (Mumbai office)
Society for Visually Handicapped (West Bengal)
Sruti Disability Rights Centre (Kolkata)
Technical Training Institute(Pune)
Third Eye Charitable Trust(Chennai and Kolkata)
Xavier’s Resource Centre for the Visually Challenged (Mumbai)

[1]http://www.who.int/disabilities/world_report/2011/en/index.html
[2]http://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?id=18
[3]Ibid.

Click to download the file [PDF, 182 kb]

The submission was made to the Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Government of India on 9 December 2011.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/accessibility-new-telecom-policy-2011

Accessibility in Telecommunications

praskrishna — 2011-11-08T08:08:49Z

CIS seeks to gather information about the accessibility of telecommunications products and services for persons with disabilities and elderly persons in India.

Given below are the links to two questionnaires:

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/accessibility-telecommunications

Accessibility Audit for Websites

praskrishna — 2012-07-13T04:33:02Z

CIS did an accessibility check for 7800 government websites. This is the report.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/accessibility-audit.xls

Accessibility at CIS – Looking back at 2010

praskrishna — 2011-08-17T08:53:08Z

From its inception, CIS has been working towards reform of copyright law both at the national and international levels and towards formulation of an electronic accessibility policy for India. The year 2010 has been quite eventful for developments in the area of accessibility for persons with disabilities at the national and international levels. In this blog post, Nirmita Narasimhan looks at some of the work done by CIS and other organisations to promote digital accessibility and inclusion for persons with disabilities during the calendar year 2010.

As the year 2010 comes to an end, it seems like a good time to pause and reflect on the various activities and movements which are vibrant in India and the world over for promoting digital access for persons with disabilities and the work which CIS has done in this area.

At CIS, we began the accessibility programme with a vision — a vision of a truly accessible Internet, where every person with a disability could have access to websites and digital content without technology, design or legal barriers. The Internet and ICT technologies should be promoted as desirable tools to empower persons with disabilities to enjoy their basic rights, of education, employment and enjoyment of life.

The first initiative which we were involved in was to formulate a national electronic accessibility policy with the Department of Information Technology to ensure that all government and public websites should conform to WCAG 2.0. Over the past year, the DIT has come out with a draft policy which is now being circulated amongst state governments and ministries for feedback.

The year 2010 has also witnessed several interesting public and private initiatives for digital accessibility in India. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) began its Indian chapter under the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology. It has been extremely proactive in bringing together experts from around the country and chalking out a systematic work plan for engaging with the public and private sectors to promote awareness and raise skill on web accessibility. An interesting development in the private sector is the accessibility initiative of the NASSCOM Foundation, which is engaging with the IT industry to promote accessibility and employment of persons with disabilities.

The Copyright Challenge

The year 2010 has ended on a more positive note for copyright amendment for the benefit of persons with disabilities. After carrying on a focused six-month long national campaign for “The Right to Read”, disability organisations around the country came together to form the National Access Alliance to jointly lobby for copyright amendments with the Government of India. Several members of the Alliance deposed personally before the standing committee constituted by the Parliament of India to look into the matter and several others sent in written representations. A large part of the month of March was spent in trying to meet and brief the Members of Parliament to gather support for the amendment and to explain the dire necessity for the change. After a nail biting three-month period, the committee came out with its report, which recommended very strongly the pleas of the print disability community with regard to fair dealing for creating accessible versions of books. We are now awaiting the amended draft which should hopefully be presented to the Parliament by the HRD Ministry next year.

On the international scene also, there were positive developments with respect to agreement on the need for a legally binding instrument for exceptions for the print disabled. Early 2010 seemed to be very slow moving with the negotiations seeming to take a down turn when the June SCCR meeting ended without any concrete conclusions and no agreement amongst member states on the matter for the Treaty for the Blind. Several different proposals from USA, EU and Africa have been made in addition to the original BEPM proposal for solving the problem of cross-border sharing of accessible copyrighted materials. While two of these proposals, pertaining to EU and USA, were for non-binding instruments, the fact that they had made specific proposals on this issue showed that there was common consensus about the existence of a serious obstacle to accessing knowledge for print impaired persons, and that it needed an international solution. India was extremely supportive of the Treaty and did her best to help with mobilising developing countries support for the Treaty. The November SCCR ended on a good note with member states agreeing on a time based work plan for tackling three issues — exceptions for the print disabled, libraries and archives and for education, to be carried over 2011–2012.

Apart from WIPO, there have been good developments in other quarters as well. The United Nations Department of Social and Economic affairs started working towards accessibility within the UN system to make all documentation and communications, websites, buildings and human resources of UN and other international agencies accessible. For the first time, Disability was included in the MDG progress report and specifically mentioned in the Outcome Document of the High-Level Summit of the Millennium Development Goals. In addition, the General Assembly at its sixty-fifth session adopted the resolution on realization of MDGs for persons with disabilities for 2015 and beyond. Apart from efforts at the UN level, the year 2010 has also witnessed a lot of conferences and discussions taking place in countries around the world and a lot of organisations like G3ict, ITU and others have been extremely proactive in raising awareness in different countries and governments. February of this year saw the launch of the joint on line publication of G3ict-ITU “e-Accessibility Toolkit for Policy Makers”, a phenomenal work with contributions from over 65 experts around the world on implementation of the digital aspects of the Convention. Subsequently, a print version of this book was edited in-house at CIS and launched during an international conference at New Delhi in October. The book is gaining wide publicity and is being sent to regulators and ministries of IT around the world to assist them in their policy making.

At CIS, we have worked with a wide variety of persons and organisations from varying backgrounds on different issues, ranging from policy formulation to organising events, such as the Edict conference on enabling education through ICT for persons with disabilities. We had a lot of national and international partners, resource persons and participants at Edict 2010 and found the entire event a huge learning experience. We also came in touch with the officials at the Universal Service Obligation Fund in India and are exploring ways in which the fund can be used to benefit persons with disabilities.

This is also a year when the Persons with Disabilities Act is being amended. This process has been a turbulent one, with quite a bit of discord between the drafting committee, the disability sector and the government on the content and form of the new Act and the issues it needs to address. We have been actively involved in this process, giving feedback to the various drafts of the legislations which are circulated, attending consultations and so on. We see this activity taking up a lot of our time over the next year as well.

This year has been quite eventful for the accessibility team. We would like to acknowledge the support of all organisations, institutions and individuals who have supported our work and look forward to strengthening collaborations in the years to come.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/accessibility-cis-2010

Access to Rare Books Made Easy

praskrishna — 2014-12-27T01:56:57Z

Rare Odia books that are out of print and not easily accessible on the internet, will now be available at the click of the mouse. In a bid to make them available online, the Odia Wikipedia community last week launched WikiSource, an Odia e-library and a sister project of Odia Wikipedia that has been trying to popularise use of Odia language on the Internet since 2002.

The article by Diana Sahu was published in the New Indian Express on December 5, 2014

The online library has 69 books by authors Jagannath Mohanty, Upendra Bhanja, Fakir Mohan Senapati, Gopabandhu Das, Baladeva Rath and Ram Das. Besides, the complete volume of Bhagwad Gita in Odia language is available on WikiSource.

The project has been implemented by Bangalore-based Centre for Internet and Society’s Access to knowledge programme. Odia Wikipedian Subhashish Panigrahi, also a programme officer of the Centre for Internet and Society, said work on digitisation of the books was started in April this year by a team of 12 Wikipedians, comprising mostly students and working professionals.

Apart from them, 50 tribal students and nine faculty members of Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) helped them with the digitisation job. As most of the books were typed in Akruti font - a proprietary Indian Script Code for Information Interchange (ISCII) compliant font - the font was converted to Unicode text type to make the books searchable and accessible universally in all mobile and web platforms.

In the first phase, 11 books focusing on children’s literature, travelogue and biographies of noted people from Odisha by eminent Odia author Jagannath Mohanty were digitised. Subsequently, works of other authors were added to the e-library and made available on the internet with open access through free licence.

Subhashish said the WikiSource project was started in 2013 as an incubator project. It went through a tough process of being accessed by the Wikimedia Language Committee and Wikimedia Foundation’s board before being released last week. “There are several precious books that are out of print and not easily accessible on the internet. So we thought of digitising them and taking them to the masses. Apart from the 69 books, 81 of seven Odia authors that were already scanned and digitised by Bhubaneswar-based voluntary organisation, Srujanika, have been re-licensed and added to the library,” he said. Srujanika has digitised 740 old Odia magazines and books so far.

Generally a technique called Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is used for digitising scanned books, which currently is in testing phase in Odia. “Faculty member of ITER in Bhubaneswar Ajit Nayak along with his students have rectified the bugs and made character recognition more accurate.

But because of problems with OCR, the books had to be re-typed by the students of KISS on Odia Wikisource, Subashish added. Old books apart, books by contemporary authors like Debiprasanna Pattanayak, Ramakrushna Nanda, Subrat Prusty, Bharat Majhi and Nirmala Kumari Mohapata, and many other authors have been taken up for digitisation by Odia WikiSource team. Odia WikiSource is now live at or.wikisource.org.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/news/new-indian-express-december-5-2014-diana-sahu-access-to-rare-books-made-easy