Centre for Internet and Society

Making Public Libraries Accessible to People with Disabilities

Rahul Cherian — 2013-01-24T11:10:18Z

The Centre for Internet & Society was one of the 20 disability rights groups that wrote to the Ministry of Culture on January 23, 2013 seeking remedial action on the barriers faced by persons with disabilities in accessing public libraries in India.

To,
Hon’ble Ministers of Culture, HRD, Social Welfare
Secretaries of the above Ministries/Departments
January 23, 2013

Dear Sir/Madam

Sub: Making Public Libraries Accessible for Persons with Disabilities

We, the organizations representing persons with disabilities listed at the end of this document would like to bring to your attention for your urgent remedial action on the barriers faced by persons with disabilities in accessing public libraries in the country.

As you are aware, India has approximately 150 million persons with disabilities[1]who have the inalienable fundamental right to life as enshrined in the Constitution including the right to seek knowledge and education. Public libraries play a critical role in creating an enabling environment for citizens to gain knowledge, information and education. This is particularly true in the case of persons with disabilities who have limited access to purchase books through mainstream shops due to various barriers including lack of physical access to shops, lack of availability of books in accessible formats like Braille, etc. India has signed and ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and therefore India is required to "to take all appropriate measures, including legislation, to modify or abolish existing laws, regulations, customs and practices that constitute discrimination against persons with disabilities[2], "to develop, promulgate and monitor the implementation of minimum standards and guidelines for the accessibility of facilities and services open or provided to the public[3]” and take all appropriate measures to ensure that persons with disabilities enjoy access to libraries[4]

The recent copyright amendments enabling libraries to convert their collections into accessible formats free of cost for the benefit of persons with disabilities coupled with technological developments in the form of cost effective screen reading software have created an unprecedented opportunity to make libraries accessible to persons with visual impairment and dyslexia. Additionally increased clarity on standards for physical access also now enables libraries to be made physically accessible without expensive modifications to enable wheelchair users and those with limited mobility access the libraries.

We understand that the Ministry of Culture has constituted a high powered committee as part of the National Mission on Libraries to look into revamping the library system in the country. We urge that the issue relating to making public libraries accessible to persons with disabilities is taken up by the government on a fast track basis, a separate budget is allocated for this exercise and libraries are made accessible on a priority basis. Please find attached a brief note on the steps to be taken to make libraries accessible to persons with disabilities.

We recommend that regional consultations are conducted through which additional data can be gathered on regional/language/types of communication/availability of power and related issues. We also urge you take steps to extend library services to rural areas across the country. We are happy to assist the government in this initiative. Do let us know how we can contribute to this effort.

Thank you and best regards,

Inclusive Planet Centre for Disability Law and Policy (www.inclusiveplanet.org.in)
Rahul Cherian
+91 98403 57991
rahul.cherian@inclusiveplanet.org.in
AccessAbility (www.accessability.co.in)
Shivani Gupta+91 93102 45743
shewany@gmail.com
Xavier’s Resource Centre for the Visually Challenged (www.xrcvc.org)
Sam Taraporevala
+91 99670 28769
sam@xrcvc.org
Saksham Charitable Trust (www.saksham.org)
Dipendra Manocha
+91 98180 94781
dipendra.manocha@gmail.com
National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled
Murali Alathur
+91 98687 68543
nprd.in@gmail.com
National Institute of Speech and Hearing (www.nish.ac.in)
Samuel Mathew
+91 99615 68443
snm@nish.ac.in
Centre for Internet and Society (www.cis-india.org)
Nirmita Narasimhan
+91 98458 68078
nirmita@cis-india.org
Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy (www.iicpindia.org)
Jeeja Ghosh
+91 94330 45340
jeeja.ankur@gmail.com
National Centre for Autism (www.autism-india.org)
Merry Barua
+91 98102 25923
merry.barua@gmail.com
Ability Foundation (www.abilityfoundation.org)
Janaki Pillai
ability@abilityfoundation.org
Nilesh Singit, Disability Rights Activist
+9199205 58867
contact@nileshsingit.org
Andhjan Kalyan Trust (www.aktrust.org)
Praful Vyas
+9194282 61878
aktrust.drj@gmail.com
AccessIndia
Harish Kotian
hpkotian@rbi.org.in
Blind Graduates Forum of India
Harish Kotian
hpkotian@rbi.org.in
Tamilnadu Handicapped Federation Charitable Trust
T.M.N Deepak
+91 98406 46953
deepaknathan@gmail.com
Human Rights Law Network AP Unit
M.A. Shakeel
mashakeel2000@gmail.com
Global Ability in Disability
Sai Padma
+91 9052627070
saipadma@gmail.com
Mitra Jyothi
Madhu Singhal
mj.tblibrary@gmail.com
Vaishnavi Jayakumar, Human Rights Activist
jayakumar.vaishnavi@gmail.com
Swadhikaar
Pavan Muntha
pavanmuntha@gmail.com
Samarthyam (www.samarthyam.org)
Anjlee Agarwal
+91 98105 58321
samarthyaindia@yahoo.com

With inputs from:

Stephen M. Shore, Ed.D.
Assistant Professor of Special Education, Adelphi University
International consultant, presenter, and author
Person on the autism spectrum
USA
Tania Meinyczuk
Director, Autistic Strategies Network
Autistic Consultant
South Africa
Shellique Carby
Self-Advocate
South Africa
Fazli Azeem
South Asian Self-Advocate for the Autism Spectrum
Fulbright Scholar @ MassArt Boston, USA
www.fazliazeem.com
Pakistan
Michael Vestergaard Drejer
IT Consultant
Denmark

Making Public Libraries Inclusive For Persons With Disabilities – An Overview

Problem Statement

It is estimated that India has approximately 150 million persons with disabilities[5] (“PWDs”). Depending on their disability, PWDs have varying degrees of problems in accessing libraries and the material available at libraries. PWDs cannot access the premises of libraries since the buildings themselves are not accessible. People who are blind or have low vision cannot access reading material in libraries since the reading materials are not in formats that are accessible. It is estimated that less than 0.5% of books are available in formats that are accessible by people who are blind or have low vision. It is therefore critical that libraries in India are made inclusive so as to become accessible by PWDs.

Suggestions For Improvement

Given below are suggestions to make the public library system inclusive to PWDs based on internationally recognized best practices:

Accessibility
Structural modifications must be made to the library to ensure that PWDs can use the library building easily and safely, without any barriers or obstructions. Some of the modifications required include accessible parking, clear paths of travel to and throughout the facility, entrances with adequate, clear openings or automatic doors, handrails, ramps and elevators, accessible tables and public service desks, and accessible public conveniences such as toilets, and drinking fountains. Other reasonable modifications may include visible alarms in toilets and general usage areas and signs that have Braille and easily visible character size, font, contrast and finish.
For further information see Annexure 1 and http://socialjustice.nic.in/glinecpwd.php
Accessible Formats and Library as a Distribution Centre
People, who are blind, have low vision, dyslexia and other print disabilities cannot access reading materials in printed formats. They require reading material in “accessible formats” such as Braille, large print, audio recordings and electronic formats including digital talking books. In addition, people with some disabilities may find it difficult to come to the library. Under the recently amended Copyright Act libraries can convert books into the accessible formats specified above free of cost and without requiring permission from publishers and can distribute them in physical form and in electronic form including over the Internet to persons with disabilities.

Libraries now have the unprecedented opportunity to create an extensive collection of reading material in the accessible formats mentioned above in English and all Indian languages and make them available at the library in the form of physical copies, on CDs and other media, as well as over the Internet. The catalog of the collection must be in accessible formats. For digitization of books State Level Focal Points to be created for this purpose possibly at State level libraries. For further information on the standards to be adhered to when the library undertakes digitization see Annexure 2. State Level Focal Points will get production done through outsourcing or with some inhouse facilities for production of digital content. A National Level Focal point with full time staff will be required for standardization and networking between the State Level Focal Points and maintaining the central server as mentioned below. The central server will have a database containing digital copies of works in accessible formats created by the State Focal Points and other organizations that undertake the conversion of material into accessible formats such as the National Federation of the Blind[6], All India Confederation of the Blind[7], Daisy Forum of India[8] and the Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy.[9] Requests for books in accessible formats can be sent to these organizations as well. The central server will also be connected to the Braille presses. Each public library at the district level will act as a distribution point for accessible formats and will be connected to the central server so that requests for books at each of the libraries can be sourced from the database on the central server. This is advantageous as the list of books available at each library will be constantly updated once they are added to the database. In addition, persons with disabilities must be able to download books in accessible formats from the database without coming to the library.

The website of each library must contain the catalog of material available in accessible formats and the services provided for persons with disabilities. The website of the libraries and the centralized database must adhere to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 as outlined by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) so that persons with print disabilities can access the websites and the database. Each library must take orders for accessible books from library users over the internet and over the telephone and source the books from other libraries. Libraries must work together to enable interlibrary exchange of books in accessible formats including hard copy Braille books.

All existing books published in India must be digitized over a period 7 years and all new books must be digitized within 60 days of their first publication in India. Special efforts must be made to provide accessible formats in Indian languages as these are extremely limited. An advisory committee consisting of specialist representatives from disability organizations, among others, may be constituted to oversee the implementation of this project. The expert committee will be associated with both the National Level Focal Points and the State Level Focal Points.
Assistive Aids and Equipment
PWDs require certain assistive aids and equipment to be able to fully utilize the services of the library and the information available therein. Some forms of accessible formats specified above can only be accessed using assistive aids. Libraries must provide the assistive aids/equipment specified in Annexure 3.
Training and sensitization
Adequate training and sensitization must be given to library staff to ensure that they are able to interact with PWDs. This training can be in the nature of a short refresher course and the training and sensitization programs must be evolved in consultation with the disability sector and must be conducted with the assistance of experts in the disability space.
Specialized personnel and services
The library should have a dedicated person to interact with persons with disabilities. This person should have a background in disability, highly motivated, familiar with sign language and also be responsible for providing specific assistance required by persons with disabilities such as guiding them to print out books in Braille, procuring books from the online database etc. The library should offer specialized services to PWDs including a telephonic help line and home delivery of books ordered online or over the phone and reading service at designated times at the library. It is pertinent to note that literature for the blind has no postal fees. Each library must have a specific section on disability related reading material. It is also essential to cooperate with other libraries around the world to share learning.

Annexure 1[10]

Accessibility

a. Outside the library

The main gate of the entrance of the library must be made accessible in accordance with applicable accessibility standards. If the main entrance cannot be made accessible, a secondary accessible entrance should be provided.
At least covered three parking spaces marked with the international symbol of Accessibility (wheelchair symbol) close to the library entrance must be provided.
Clear and easy to read signposting must be provided.
Unobstructed and well lit access paths from the main gate to the entrance of the library must be provided. All steps must be replaced/complimented with ramps having less than 5% gradient, with railings on both sides.
Smooth and non-slip surface must be used throughout.

b. Getting into the library

A person using any kinds of support such as wheelchair, crutches or walker, cane, or guide dog, should be able to enter through the door and pass through security check points, if any, without encountering obstacles.
All mobility aids and assistive devices including wheelchairs, walkers, communicators among others must be able to pass through security checkpoints, if any.
Applicable accessibility standards must be adhered to.
Sufficient space must be provided in front of the door to allow a wheelchair to turn around.
Entrance door should be wide enough to allow a wheelchair to enter.
Non-automatic doors should be operable using one hand.
Glass doors, if any, must be highlighted with contrast colour band at eye level to prevent persons with low vision banging into these.
Stairs and steps edges must be marked with a contrasting color band.
Pictogram signs must be provided for services and amenities such as toilets, elevators, stairways.
Elevators, if any, must be well lit with buttons and signs in Braille and synthetic speech.
Elevator buttons reachable from a wheelchair.
At least 5 wheelchairs (preferably motorized) or mobility scooters must be made available for use by persons with physical disabilities

c. Inside the library

All parts of the library should be accessible.
The catalogs must be available in accessible formats.
Clear and easy-to-read signs with pictograms must be provided.
Service desks should be located close to the entrance.
A certain number of tables and computer workstations should be adapted for persons in wheelchairs.
Shelves must ideally be reachable from a wheelchair
Chairs with sturdy armrests must be provided
Unobstructed aisles between bookcases must be provided and wide enough to accommodate wheelchairs and one person not on a wheelchair.
Visible and audible fire alarms must be provided.
Non-fluorescent lighting. In case fluorescent lighting is used there must be an area free of visual clutter and sharp light contrasts, with plain walls and cubicles.
Printers must be kept in areas away from reading areas to reduce sound in the reading areas.
Suitable sound insulation to be used to minimize sound in the reading areas.
Stack area should have clear aisle space for wheelchair and bi-lateral crutch users (3ft. min.). Where book stacking is in shelves and areas beyond reach of persons with disabilities using mobility aids, human assistance should be available to access books.
Plants inside the space can help with air filtering, which can make a huge difference to the level of comfort.

d. Toilets

The library should have at least one toilet for PWDs, equipped with the following:

Clear signs with pictogram indicating the location of the toilets
Door wide enough for a wheelchair to enter and sufficient space for a wheelchair to turn around
Room enough for a wheelchair to pull up next to the toilet seat
Toilet with handles and flushing lever reachable for persons in wheelchairs
Alarm button reachable for persons in a wheelchairs
Washbasin, mirror at the appropriate height

e. Information Desk and Circulation desk

The desks must be of adjustable height to enable persons in wheelchair to be able access the desk
Chairs must be provided at the desk
Induction loop system for hearing impaired persons

Annexure 2

Standards for material converted into digital formats by libraries

Master Digital Documents of converted material must be maintained in DAISY XML format.
All Master Digital Documents in Indic Languages must be encoded in Unicode [UTF8/16] and formatted using a royalty-free Open Type Font.
All Master Digital Documents must be tagged according to DAISY standards to capture semantic information for parts, units, chapter headings, subsections, pagination, ordered and un-ordered list, tables, images along with their alternative text, math equations, title, author, footnote, end-note, text box, abbreviation, acronym, etc.
Metadata information about the publication as prescribed in the DAISY Standards must be added to all Master Digital Documents.
Distribution of digital copies of the Master Digital Documents through web sites or otherwise must be done in epub format.
If other standards are used for different target populations those standards must be compliant with the National Open Standards Policy and the Interoperability Framework for E-Governance in India.
DAISY audio format for Indic languages.

Annexure 3

Assistance Aids/Equipment

For assisting persons with Visual Impairment or blindness or autism spectrum disorders:

Persons with vision impairments or blindness or autism spectrum disorders would benefit from software and hardware for enlarging displays on the monitor or reading material through a speech synthesizer.

Some of the most common assistive aids/equipment are:

For magnification

Screen-magnification software. This program allows people with low vision to access computer information by enlarging the screen display or tailoring the display to accommodate their disability.

Large magnification devices such as closed-circuit television magnifiers (CCTV). This system employs a video camera lens to enlarge text from three to thirty times normal text size

Handheld magnifiers

For Screen reading

Screen reader software programs enables individuals who are blind or visually impaired to access the information on a computer screen through voice output. Some examples are NVDA (an open source software) or Dolphin or Jaws (proprietary software). Screen reading software with Indian language support must be provided. Scanning and reading software helps those with low or no vision. Scans printed text and verbalizes the text via synthetic speech using optical character recognition technology.

At least one computer must face outward and not against the wall since people with autism spectrum disorders find it disturbing to have people walking behind them.

For Braille support -

Braille Translating Software - To produce correctly formatted and coded Braille one needs a Braille Translation Software. A document prepared by a word processing program is loaded into the translation software. The final document may be printed in Braille by a Braille embosser.
Braille Embosser - Braille embossers print Braille output from a computer by punching dots onto paper and enable users to make hard copies of documents.
Refreshable Braille displays and DAISY players.

All multimedia content to have audio descriptions

For Assisting people with Hearing Impairment or Deafness

Users with deafness or have hearing impairments do not have problems using the computer except problems will arise from programs and websites that have audio cues.

Sound Sentry This option directs the operating system to display a visual signal when a sound is generated by a Windows application. Sound sentry in built into Windows and Apple operating systems.
All multimedia content to have captions

For Assisting people with Learning Disabilities

Specialized software programs and hardware for people who have learning differences will display print as well as provide auditory reading of the text simultaneously.

For Assisting people with Physical Disabilities

Persons with physical disabilities may need assistance in using the computer apart from having physical accessibility. The following items increase computer usability and safety:

Special input devices such as trackballs, joysticks, switches, touch pads, and augmented keyboards (micro keyboards or oversize keyboards with enlarged keys)
A computer camera/tracker allows users to manipulate the cursor through head movement.
Software utilities that replaces the functionality of a standard keyboard with a full-featured, onscreen keyboard.
Speech to text software such as Dragon Naturally Speaking
Motorized wheelchairs to be used by physically impaired users especially motorized chairs whose seat can raise so that users can reach books on higher shelves on the rack.
Availability of reachers to access books that may be placed too low or too high on the book rack.
Page turners

Useful Links

American Library Association: http://www.ala.org/ascla/asclaissues/libraryservices
International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions: http://archive.ifla.org/VII/s9/nd1/iflapr-89e.pdf
World Wide Web Consortium: http://www.w3.org/WAI/

[1]. The World Health Organization estimates that 15% of the population is disabled. http://www.who.int/disabilities/world_report/2011/factsheet.pdf
[2]. Article 4.1 (b) of the UNCRPD
[3]. Article 9.2 (a) of the UNCRPD
[4]. Article 30. 1 (c) of the UNCRPD
[5]. The World Health Organization estimates that 15% of every population is disabled. http://www.who.int/disabilities/world_report/2011/factsheet.pdf
[6]. For more information see www.nabindia.org
[7]. For more information see www.aicb.org.in
[8]. For more information see www.daisyindia.org
[9]. For more information see www.iicpindia.org
[10]. Based on checklist prepared by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions available at http://archive.ifla.org/VII/s9/nd1/iflapr-89e.pdf. These should be over above the guidelines prescribed here http://socialjustice.nic.in/glinecpwd.php

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/making-public-libraries-accessible-to-people-with-disabilities

Linking Commercial Availability and Exceptions in the Treaty for Visually Impaired/Persons with Disabilities

Rahul Cherian — 2013-01-23T08:30:29Z

After the landmark WIPO General Assembly meeting in December 2012 that decided to convene a diplomatic conference in June 2013 on the Treaty for Visually Impaired Persons/Persons with Print Disabilities, the Special Session of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights starting on February 18, 2013 is critical, says Rahul Cherian.

It is probably the last chance to sort out the major outstanding issues in the text of the document before the diplomatic conference and if some of these issues are not resolved soon, the diplomatic conference could end without a fruitful conclusion.

One of the most critical issues that remain outstanding is the desire that some government negotiators have to link the use of the treaty provisions or copyright exceptions to commercial unavailability of the work in accessible formats.

The publishing lobby, and consequently the European Union most notably, insist that the exceptions should kick in only when the works in accessible formats are not commercially available at reasonable prices. The definition of "reasonable price for developing countries" as it stands now "means that the accessible format copy of the work is available at prices that are affordable in that market, taking into account the needs and income disparities of persons who have limited vision and those with print disabilities". The definition of "reasonable price for developed countries" as it stands now "means that the accessible format copy of the work is available at a similar or lower price than the price of the work available to persons without print disabilities in that market." It is be noted that there are a few suggestions for changes of wording of the definition but in effect what this wording means is that exceptions should apply only when the accessible format copies are not available at a reasonable price.

At first glance this seems a perfectly sound proposition. I mean, if sighted people have to buy a book, then why shouldn’t beneficiaries under the Treaty also buy a book in an accessible format if it is available at a reasonable price?

The problems with this crop up if you look deeper. The linkage between commercial availability and the exceptions appear at two places in the Treaty. In Article C which deals with national exceptions the following is proposed: "A Member State/Contracting Party may confine limitations or exceptions under this Article to published works which, in the particular accessible format, cannot be obtained commercially under reasonable terms for beneficiary persons in that market".

In Article D which deals with exceptions for export of accessible format copies the following two alternatives are proposed:

Alternative A: [The Member State/Contracting Party may limit said distribution or making available of published works which, in the applicable accessible format, cannot be otherwise obtained within a reasonable time and at a reasonable price, in the country of importation].

Alternative B: [A Member State/Contracting Party should/shall(/may) prohibit said distribution or making available to published works where the exporting authorized entity, prior to making available or distribution, knew or should have known that a copy in the particular accessible format could have been obtained through the distribution channels customary to the beneficiary persons, (under reasonable terms, including) at prices that take account of the needs and incomes of beneficiary persons in the country of importation, (as well as the cost of producing and distributing the work)].

Concerns with linking commercial availability and exceptions

Impossibility of verifying commercial availability with any degree of certainty
Imagine that the recently introduced Indian copyright exceptions for persons with disabilities stated that the exceptions are not available to published works which, in the particular accessible format, can be obtained commercially under reasonable terms (luckily this is not the case currently). What would this mean practically? It would mean that every person with disability who benefits from the exception and every NGO working for the person with disability would firstly have to conduct an in-depth due diligence to see whether the book can be purchased firstly anywhere in the country in an accessible format.

Secondly, if the due diligence reveals that a book in the relevant accessible format can be purchased the question will be whether the price of the accessible format copy is "affordable in India, taking into account the needs and income disparities of persons who have limited vision and those with print disabilities". As you can see these are impossible mountains to climb for persons with disabilities and largely underfunded NGOs who provide services to persons with disabilities.

The situation gets much more complicated when it comes to exceptions relating to cross border exchange. Imagine that the United Kingdom introduces a provision in their copyright law allowing the Royal National Institute of Blind People to export accessible format copies to people with visual impairment in Chennai but only after verifying that the accessible format copy cannot be otherwise obtained within a reasonable time and at a reasonable price. Remember that "reasonable price" in India means that the accessible format copy of the work is available at prices that are affordable in that market, taking into account the needs and income disparities of persons who have limited vision and those with print disabilities. How can the RNIB based in the UK even begin to undertake this exercise, which would require it to:

Check whether the accessible format copy is available in India; then
Understand the needs and income disparities of those with limited vision and print disabilities; and then
Check the cost of the accessible format copy and determine whether the cost of the accessible format copy is reasonable based on the above point.

It will be impossible for RNIB to do this.

In addition to the above there is the added concern that linking commercial availability and exceptions as mentioned in Article C (national exceptions) will lead to countries such as India being put under pressure from the European Union and the United States to amend our Copyright Act and linking our exceptions to commercial availability. The same applies to countries that want to introduce copyright exceptions after the Treaty.

As you can see, the linking of commercial available and exceptions while in theory is sound, in practice it will be impossible to comply with thereby killing all effectiveness of the Treaty.

Watch this space for more updates on the Treaty as they happen.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/linking-commercial-availability-and-exceptions-in-tvi

Accessible Broadcasting in India

srividya — 2013-01-28T05:28:38Z

The abridged version of International Telecommunication Union's "Making Television Accessible" Report which we published last year has been broadened in scope and is now called "Accessible Broadcasting in India" report.

This is an updated version of the draft that was first put up for comments on October 8, 2012. Read the full report published by ITU.

Executive Summary

Television and Radio are mediums to inform, educate and entertain. Sitting down at the end of the day and turning on the TV or radio is a rather involuntary task for many. They have become part of the fabric of almost every Indian’s life. However, there are a significant number of people in India who are unable to enjoy TV or Radio.

Television and Radio technologies have advanced at a rapid pace but accessibility of TV and Radio in India has been a persistent problem. Being mediums that are consumed through sight and sound, those with impairments in these two areas have found TV viewing and radio listening difficult or impossible. Not much progress has been made in the area of Accessible Broadcasting since the introduction of the TV “Weekly News Bulletin for the hearing impaired” in 1987.

The purpose of this report is to provide information to Indian policymakers about various TV and Radio Accessibility options available, best practices followed internationally and suggest recommendations for a brighter future in the area of Accessible Broadcasting.

This report is based on ITU’s “Making Television Accessible Report” (November 2011) by Peter Olaf Looms, Chairman ITU-T Focus Group on Audiovisual Media Accessibility. It has been adapted especially to cater to the needs and interests of India. We’d like to thank ITU for the use of this report and Peter Olaf Looms for his inputs to this abridged version.

This abridged report specifically covers:

TV Accessibility Options
Costs Involved & Bandwidth Requirements
Best Practices followed internationally
Radio Accessibility Options
Recommendations.

Download the abridged report

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/accessible-broadcasting-in-india

National Resource Kit: The Andhra Chapter (Revised)

anandi — 2014-02-12T05:21:41Z

The National Resource Kit team is pleased to bring you its research on the state of laws, policies and programmes for persons with disabilities in the state of Andhra Pradesh.

This chapter was revised based on the comments and feedback received from our readers.

The Department for Women, Children, Disabled and Senior Citizens is responsible for the welfare of persons with disabilities in Andhra Pradesh. The state has an estimated population of 13,64,981[1] persons with disabilities of the total population of 84,655,533[2] people. The state has issued three notifications under General Entitlements, one notification under Women & Children with Disabilities, four notifications under Education, ten notifications under Skill Development and Employment, ten notifications under Social Security, Health &Rehabilitation and Recreation, three notifications under Accessibility and has identified and notified medical boards for disability certification.

1. General Entitlements

1.1 Persons with disabilities with 40% or more disability may apply for the benefits under the schemes implemented by government / NGOs.
1.2 Dwarf persons are included in the category of locomotor disabled.
1.3 AP Tax on Professions, Trades, Callings and Employments Act 1987 exempts persons with disabilities from payment of professional tax.

Sr. No.	Issuing Authority	Notification No.	Details
1	Department for Women, Children, Disabled and Senior Citizens	G.O.MS.No. 27, dated: 09.08.2000	People with at least 40% disability may apply for Govt / NGOs schemes
2	Revenue Department	G.O.MS.No. 1063 Dated: 02.08.2007	Exemption from professional tax

2. Women & Children with Disabilities

2.1 Girls with 80% or more disability are eligible for benefits under GCPS.[3]

Sr. No.	Issuing Authority	Notification No.	Details
1	Department for Women, Children, Disabled and Senior Citizens	Memo No. 7861/JJ/A1/2004, Dated 11.06.2008	Girls with 80% or more disability eligible for GCPS Annual family income not more than Rs. 1,00,000 Single child / both children girls conditions are not applicable Girls with one / two brothers also eligible

3. Education

3.1 Post matric scholarship / fee reimbursements provided to disabled students in govt / university colleges / institutions and Category A convenor quota students in private colleges.

3.2 Exemption from 2nd and 3rd languages to students with hearing impairment at SSC level.

3.3 Concessions in evaluation, scribe, language exemption and extra time provided to students appearing for Class 7 and Class 10 public examination.

3.4 Disabled students whose annual family income does not exceed Rs. 1,00,000 are eligible to apply for scholarships / fee reimbursements.

S.No.	Issuing Authority	Notification No.	Details
1	Department for Women, Children, Disabled and Senior Citizens	G.O.MS.No. 21 Dated: 3.07.2008	Post matric Scholarship & fee reimbursement for govt / university colleges / institutions All eligible applicants entitled for reimbursement Fees directly reimbursed to institutions No fees to be collected during admission
2	Education (Exams) Department	G.O.Rt.No.1161 Edn. Dated:24.06.1992	Exemption from 2nd & 3rd language for hearing impaired students at SSC level Divisions awarded based on performance in other papers
3	Education (Exams) Department	G.O.Ms.No. 33 Dated: 19.03.2001	Concessions to students appearing for Class 7 and Class 10 exams Minimum marks required for passing is 20 Jumbling system for evaluation abolished and only trained teachers engaged Scribe provided to visually impaired students is of Class 10 Exemption from 2nd and 3rd languages and fees is applicable to all disabled students Half hour extra time during exams provided to all disabled students from classes 7th to 10th
4	Department for Women, Children, Disabled and Senior Citizens	G.O.MS.No. 9 Dated: 10.4.2008	Scholarship for students with annual family income not exceeding Rs. 1,00,000 Books / instruments – ITI / Polytechnic students Musical instruments – Professional music students Scholarships – Students with mental disabilities & research scholars Typewriting / Short hand / Examination coaching – Professional examinations

4. Skill Development & Employment

4.1 Reservation of 3% in all state government positions for persons with disabilities. Preference given for those with higher degree of disability.

4.2 Reservation for identified posts will be carried forward for three consecutive years for recruitment of suitable candidate. If candidate with right disability for the reserved post is not identified, the post will be filled by interchanging among the three categories. Disabled women given 33% reservation within the 3%reservation on a rotational basis between the three categories.

4.3 3% reservation for promotion of persons with disabilities applicable to all the services of the state government with cadre strength more than five. Candidates must be fully qualified and eligible under existing rules and guidelines.

4.4 Persons with disabilities are allowed age relaxation of ten years on upper age limit for recruitment to government employment and exempted from the application fee for applying to the Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission.

4.5 The rural development scheme with standard schedule rates for persons with disabilities employed for wages in rural development provides that wage rates for persons with disabilities would be operated at 30 per cent extra over the rural standard schedule rates on items of labour component only.

4.6 Persons with disabilities are given three per cent reservation in the allotment of fair price shops.

4.7 Three per cent of the shops and stalls constructed by the municipality will be leased to persons with disabilities for a payment of Rs. 2.50 per square feet or 50 per cent of the rent being paid by the neighbouring shop considering whichever is lower without the regular channel of public auction.

4.8 Persons with visual impairment who completed SSC / higher education directly without qualifying Class 7 are eligible for posts of attender / Group 4 posts in the Andhra Pradesh Last Grade Services.

4.9 Persons with disabilities who completed graduation / post graduation directly without completing Intermediate are eligible to apply for Group 4 posts in AP Ministerial Services / other services except at the office of the Head of Department where Intermediate is prescribed as minimum qualification.

4.10 Persons with disabilities given three per cent reservation in all coaching / training facilities and programmes of welfare departments for attempting competitive examinations.

S.No.	Issuing Authority	Notification Number	Details
1	Department for Women, Children, Disabled and Senior Citizens	G.O.MS. NO. 56 Dated: 02.12.2003	3% reservation in employment, preference for those with greater disability
2	Department for Women, Children, Disabled and Senior Citizens	G.O.Ms.No. 23 Dated: 26.05.2011	Carrying forward of reservation, interchanging among categories and reservation for women with disabilities
3	Department for Women, Children, Disabled and Senior Citizens	G.O.MS.No. 42 Dated: 19.10.2011	3% reservation for promotion in government employment
4	Department for Women, Children, Disabled and Senior Citizens	G.O.MS. No. 22 Dated: 25.05.2011	10 years relaxation in age limit and exemption from application fees for applying for government jobs
5	Panchayati Raj and Rural Development Department	G.O.MS.No. 146 Dated: 24.4.2007	Wages for persons with disabilities employed in rural development Applicable only if all persons in the group are disabled.
6	Food, Civil Supplies and consumer Affairs Department	G.O.Ms.No.99 Dated: - 22-10-1998	3% reservation in allotment of fair price shops
7	Municipal Administration and Urban Development Department	G.O.Ms.No. 63 M.A Dated: 14.02.1996	3% reservation in allotment of municipal shops and stalls
8	General Administration Department	G.O.Ms.No. 34 Dated:17-05-2003	Eligibility of VI persons without Class 7 qualification to apply for Group 4 posts In case of non availability of visually impaired candidates with the basic educational qualification prescribed for the posts in Service Rules.
9	General Administration Department	G.O Ms.NO.33 Dated:03-02-2003	Eligibility to apply for Group 4 posts for disabled persons without the qualification of intermediate Posts such as junior assistants/ junior typists / junior stenographers / junior accountant
10	Department for Women, Children, Disabled and Senior Citizens	G.O.Ms.No. 32 Dated: 13.07.2011	3% reservation in coaching and training facilities in welfare departments for competitive exams

5. Social Security, Health & Rehabilitation, and Recreation

5.1 Persons with disabilities are awarded a pension of Rs. 500 per month. In case of minor children, the pension will be given to the parents of the child.

5.2 Three percent of housing sites are reserved for persons with disabilities with annual income not exceeding Rs. 11,000 and will be allotted free of cost.

Adult, unmarried persons with disabilities also are eligible for allotment of houses / flats under the Housing Department as separate units / families. The ground floor of all the houses under the Indira MMS scheme are reserved for persons with disabilities and the flats / houses are designed to be disability friendly. In case of persons with mental disabilities, the house / flat is allotted to the guardian in the name of the person with the disability.

5.3 Persons with disabilities are eligible to receive at least three per cent reservation in physical or financial coverage in the poverty alleviation schemes of the state departments and local authorities.

5.4 Marriage grant of Rs. 10,000 is provided to couples for marriage between person with disabilities and person without disabilities.

5.5 Persons with disabilities may enjoy benefits under multiple schemes irrespective of the nature of the benefit to them provided that each benefit / scheme gives a different type of support or rehabilitative support to them.

5.6 Students with 80% or more disabilities pursuing higher education / professional education are given direct loans from the government for procuring improved prosthetic aids or motorised vehicles from the funds given to the Managing Director, Andhra Pradesh Vikalangula Co-operative Corporation.

5.7 State government employees with disabilities are eligible for conveyance allowance at 10% of their basic pay to a maximum of Rs. 650 per month. Vehicle maintenance allowance is provided to persons with disabilities at the rates mentioned in the table below.

Sr. No.	Issuing Authority	Notification No.	Details
1	Panchayati Raj and Rural Development Department	G.O.MS.No. 454 Dated: 14.11.2008	Rs. 500 disability pension per month
2	Panchayati Raj and Rural Development Department	G.O.MS.No. 117 Dated: 29.03.2007	Disability pension provided to all. In case of disabled children, parents given the pension
3	Social Welfare Department	G.O.Ms.No.133 Dated: 17.09.1997	3% housing sites allotted free of cost to persons with disabilities with annual income less than 11,000
4	Housing Department	G.O.RT.No. 106 Dated: 27.3.2008	Persons with disabilities allotted houses / flats under Housing Board Ground floor of apartments reserved for persons with disabilities Guardians of mentally disabled are allotted houses / flats in the name of the beneficiary
5	Department for Women, Children, Disabled and Senior Citizens	G.O.MS.No. 1 Dated: 9.01.2002	3% reservation in Coverage in poverty alleviation schemes
6	Department for Women, Children, Disabled and Senior Citizens	G.O.MS.No. 18 Dated: 19.6.2008	Marriage grant of Rs. 10,000 for marriage between disabled and non-disabled persons
7	Department for Women, Children, Disabled and Senior Citizens	G.O.MS.No. 19, Dated: 25.6.2008	Granting enjoyment of multiple schemes like scholarship / pension / economic support at the same time as long as each scheme provides a different support
8	Department for Women, Children, Disabled and Senior Citizens	G.O.RT.No. 194 Dated: 30.06.2008	Government loans for procuring prosthetic aids and motorised vehicles Rs. 5000 given as incentive / subsidy Remaining amount not exceeding Rs. 60,000 – loan to be recovered in three years
9	Finance Department	G.O.Ms.No. 197 Dated:06-07-2006	Conveyance allowance to state government employees at 10% of basic pay not exceeding Rs. 650 p.m.
10	Finance Department	G.O.MS.No. 276 Dated: 15.10.2005	Vehicle maintenance allowance to persons with disabilities Cycles – Rs. 125 per month Motorised vehicles – Rs. 700 per month.

6. Accessibility

6.1 All departments / local authorities / agencies are required to provide barrier free environment in all new buildings and public utilities for easy access of persons with disabilities.

6.2 Teachers and lecturers with visual impairment are given readers allowance for engaging readers to access printed material.

6.3 Committee constituted to prescribe JAWS software knowledge and practical ability instead of or along with typewriting for visually impaired candidates for the posts of typists, stenographers and data entry operators.

Sr. No.	Issuing Authority	Notification No.	Details
1	Department for Women, Children, Disabled and Senior Citizens	G.O.MS.No. 30 Dated: 17.6.2002	Barrier free access to all new buildings and public utilities
2	Department for Women, Children, Disabled and Senior Citizens	G.O.MS.No. 34 Dated: 16.07.2010	Reader’s allowance for visually impaired teachers and lecturers Secondary grade teachers (including craft instructors) – Rs. 400 per month School assistants – Rs. 500 per month Junior lecturers and above – Rs. 600 per month
3	Department for Women, Children, Disabled and Senior Citizens	G.O. MS. No. 36 Dated: 03.08.2011	Committee for prescribing use of JAWS software for visually impaired typists / stenographers / data entry operators

7. Certification

7.1 All hospitals / government teaching hospitals in district head quarters are notified as district medical boards authorised to give certificates for persons with disabilities.

In case of loss of certificate, the person may apply to the board with FIR and the non-traceable certification from the police and a new certificate will be issued within 20 days of application.

Sr. No.	Issuing Authority	Notification No.	Details
1	Department for Women, Children, Disabled and Senior Citizens	G.O.MS.No. 31 Dated: 1.12.2009	All govt hospitals / govt teaching hospitals in district headquarters can issue disability certificates If original certificate is lost, application for duplicate should be made with FIR and police non traceable report Duplicate is issued within 20 days of application Disability-wise Appellate Boards: Orthopedically DISABLED / locomotor disability / dwarfs / hunchback / muscular dystrophy / leprosy-cured Osmania General Hospital, Hyderabad & Gandhi Hospital, Hyderabad Blindness / Low vision – Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital, Hyderabad Mental Retardation – Institute for Mental Health, HYDERABAD & National Institute for Mentally Handicapped Mental Illness – State Institute for Mental Health, Hyderabad Hearing Impairment – Government ENT Hospital, Koti, Hyderabad

8. Schemes & Grants for Organisations & Individuals for Disabilities

8.1 There are no specific grants or schemes for organisations or individuals operating in the field of disabilities.

9. Disability Authorities

Andhra Pradesh has two authorities responsible for the welfare of persons with disabilities:

Department for Women, Children, Disabled and Senior Citizens
Commissioner for Disabilities.

[1].http://socialjustice.nic.in/statewisedisabled.php

[2].http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andhra_Pradesh

[3]. Girl Child Protection Scheme

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/national-resource-kit-andhra-pradesh-revised

National Resource Kit : The Kerala Chapter (Call for Comments)

anandi — 2013-11-07T06:20:04Z

The National Resource Kit team is pleased to bring you its research on the state of laws, policies and programmes for persons with disabilities in the state of Kerala.

Note: The chapter is an early draft and will undergo subsequent modifications. We welcome comments and feedback from our readers.

Statistics

Capital: Tiruvananthapuram
HDI Rank: 1^st

Literacy: 1^st in India with a literacy of 93.91 per cent

Population:33,387,677
Population of Persons with Disability: 2.7 per cent. The district of Malappuram has the highest number of persons with disabilities, followed by Thiruvananthapuram and Ernakulam.[1]

Ministries and Departments

Department of Social Welfare – responsible for protection of rights of persons with disabilities.
Directorate of Social Welfare (under Department of Social Welfare) – nodal authority that implements central and state government programmes in Kerala.

Government run Organisations

The Kerala State Handicapped Persons Welfare Corporation
The Commissionerate of Persons with Disabilities
The National Institute of Speech and Hearing
The Central Social Welfare Board

Legal Provisions

Kerala does not have a legislation specifically for persons with disabilities in the state but implements the central legislation – the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act 1995. The state also issues various schemes, policies and notifications for persons with disabilities. The Department of Social Welfare has implemented some central and state schemes for persons with disabilities in the state,[2] while some schemes are being implemented by the Kerala State Handicapped Persons Welfare Corporation (KSHPWC).[3] These are listed below under various categories as:

Accessibility
The Department of Local Self Governance vide G.O. (MS) No.41/11/LSGD, Thiruvananthapuram, dated 14/02/2011 have issued rules for housing which also include special provisions for accommodation of the requirements of persons with disabilities. These include provision of ramps, lifts, convenient parking slots and removal of architectural barriers.
Personal mobility

Persons with disabilities with a regular and reasonable income and having to travel regularly on work are given a subsidy of Rs. 2000 linked with bank loan for procuring motorised tricycles / vehicles.[4]

KSHPWC supplies aids and appliances every three years to Persons with Disabilities with annual income less than Rs. 60,000 (see note 3). These include: artificial limbs, tricycles, wheelchairs, callipers, crutches, hearing aids, white canes, colostomy bags, etc. The beneficiaries are selected at medical camps held at district, block and panchayat levels.
Subsidy of Rs.10,000 is provided by KSHPWC to each self-employed young disabled person for procuring motorized tricycle upon applying in the proper format with attested copies of original bill, registration and insurance documents, and photographs (see note 3).
Education
Through the Kerala Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules, 2010, the government provides free and compulsory education for children with disabilities until the age of 18. The rules also provide for inclusive education, special schools for severely disabled children, learning aids and appliances, training for special teachers and vocational training for children with disabilities.
Three seats are reserved for persons with disabilities in arts and science colleges and engineering colleges, nine seats are reserved in polytechnic colleges, five seats are reserved in ITIs, five per cent seats are reserved in junior technical colleges and 25 per cent seats are reserved for teachers in special schools (see note 4).

Scholarships are given to children with disabilities where annual income of parents is less than Rs. 24,000 at Rs. 30 per month for children in classes I – IV and Rs. 45 per month for children in classes V – VIII. For students in higher classes, scholarships are provided for day scholars and residential students with special allowance for readers. In addition to the scholarships, students with orthopaedic impairment are given Rs. 25 per month for maintenance of prosthetic / orthopaedic aids (at the recommendation of the head of the institution) and Rs. 50 per month as transportation allowance (see note 4).
Children with mental disabilities where the annual income of parents is less than Rs. 24,000 are given scholarships upto the age of 21 at the scale of Rs. 60 per month with dress allowance of Rs. 40 and school requisite allowance (see note 4).
The government runs two vocational training centres for persons with disabilities at Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode (see note 4).
Students with Disabilities who top their districts in the categories of Orthopaedic disability, speech and hearing impairment, visual impairment and mental retardation; in the SSLC and Higher Secondary exams are awarded Rs. 2,500 each. Awards of Rs. 5000 are given to state rank holders in the above categories (see note 3).
Health: Details of policies / schemes for health unavailable.
Rehabilitation: The state runs community based rehabilitation programmes and vocational training centres for persons with disabilities (see note 2).
Employment: The state provides three per cent reservation in classes I, II (videG.O. (RT) No. 291/2012/SWD dated, Thiruvananthapuram 20^th June 2012), III and IV (vide G.O. (P)No.20/98/P&ARd dated, Thiruvananthapuram, 14 July, 1998) of state government jobs and PSUs. Three per cent reservation is also provided on part-time contingency posts and one per cent worker class vacancies in the government, corporations and companies are reserved for persons with disabilities (see note 4).

An age relaxation of ten years on the upper age limit is provided to persons with disabilities for applying to government jobs. Upto 10 grace marks can be given to persons with disabilities at the discretion of the Public Service Commission for direct recruitment to various posts except those that are specifically excluded (see note 4).
Persons with disabilities are allowed a special casual leave of 15 days for treating an illness that is directly connected with their disability vide G.O. (P) 249/84/Fin. Dated 9–5–84.
Loans for self employment are being given to persons with disabilities by banks through KSHPWC for setting up self employment programmes. A subsidy of Rs. 2000 linked with the bank loan is given to each beneficiary (see note 4).
KSHPWC channelizes loans from the National Handicapped Finance and Development Corporation to Persons with Disabilities at low interest rates for self-employment. Applicants must have at least 40 per cent disability and their family income should not exceed Rs. 3,00,000 for rural and Rs. 5,00,000 for urban applicants (see note 3).
KSHPWC runs the following commercial units to provide employment to persons with disabilities (see note 4): Sowbhagya Department Store – Thiruvananthapuram, Sowbhagya Department Store – Kozhikode, Sowbhagya Extension Counter, MLA Quarters – Thiruvananthapuram, Photocopier Unit, MLA Quarters – Thiruvananthapuram, and Envelope Making Unit – Thiruvananthapuram.
KSHPWC together with the Kerala State Lotteries Department implements the scheme through which disabled persons are identified throughout the state for undertaking agency for Lottery tickets and are given financial assistance of Rs. 5,000 for purchase and sale of lottery tickets.

Social Protection

Persons with disabilities in the categories of vision impaired, hearing impaired and orthopaedically disabled whose annual family income does not exceed Rs.3,600 are given a disability pension of Rs.85 per month.
Conveyance allowance of Rs.100 for vision impaired and locomotor disabled employees of aided schools and government departments and Rs.50 for part time employees are given vide G.O.(P) No. 521/87/Fin, dated 15.6.87.
Free travel facility is provided to the vision impaired on buses and boats and for the locomotor disabled on buses. Persons with 50 per cent or more locomotor disabilities are given 70 per cent concession on private buses to travel upto 40 kilometres (see note 4).
A distress relief fund has been created for persons with disabilities vide G.O. (MS) No. 4/95/SWD dated 24/1/95. A maximum amount of Rs. 2000 can be given for a case in a financial year and the amount can be extended to Rs. 8000 in exceptional cases. Persons with disabilities whose annual income does not exceed Rs. 12,000 can claim financial assistance for the following reasons (see note 4): for medical treatment including surgery, disability incurred due to an accident, any other purposes not covered by existing schemes for persons with disabilities, grant by the government under the grant-in-aid to persons with disabilities under the Deendayal Disabled Scheme (see note 2).
Under the Rajiv One Million Housing Scheme (see note 4), one per cent of the houses constructed for the economically backward class have been reserved for persons with disabilities.
KSHPWC operates a scheme for children who are below 8 years of age and have 60 per cent or more disability and whose parent’s have an annual income of less than Rs.60,000, the corporation deposits an amount of Rs. 15,000 for boys and Rs.20,000 for girls. The fund under this scheme is released after the child attains the age of 18 years for self-employment or marriage or as per requests after assessing the case. (see note 3).
A scheme run by the state offers marriage assistance to women with disabilities and to daughters of Persons with Disabilities (see note 2).
KSHPWC runs an old-age home for persons with disabilities at Parassala (see note 3).

Miscellaneous

State awards of Rs. 3000 per head are given to outstanding and efficient employees among persons with disabilities (see note 4)
Persons with disabilities are exempted from professional tax and road tax. They are given an additional income tax exemption of Rs. 5000 (see note 4).
The state also gives grant-in-aid for voluntary organisations running homes for the disabled and financial assistance for advocates with orthopaedic or visual impairment (see note 2).

Government Orders

Category	Headline	Issuing Authority	Number & Date	Briefs
Employment	Public Services Reservations for Physically Handicapped Persons – three per cent reservation for Class III and Class IV posts	Personnel and Administrative Reforms (Advice) Department	G.O. (P)No.20/98/P&ARD Dated, Thiruvananthapuram, 14 July, 1998	Orders issued for a maximum of 50 appointments each in the categories of subordinate service, last grade service and part-time contingent service being set apart every year for the appointment of persons with disabilities to the public services.
Employment	Reservation of three per cent vacancies in Class I and II posts in Public Services for appointment of physically disabled persons – post of Assistant Engineer (Civil), Public Works Department – eligibility for full participation in the selection process and appointment in respect of certain categories of physically disabled persons – clarified orders	Social Welfare Department	G.O. (RT) No. 291/2012/SWD. Dated, Thiruvananthapuram 20^th June 2012	This order has been issued in clarification to earlier orders issued for identification of posts for Persons with Disabilities.
Building construction	Kerala Panchayat Building Rules 2011	Local Self Governance Department	G.O. (MS) No.41/11/LSGD Dated, Thiruvananthapuram 14/02/2011.	Notification has been issued to regulate building construction. Provides for accessibility and elimination of architectural barriers.

Special Schools and Vocational Training Centres

Centre for Training and Rehabilitation of the Mentally Retarded, Thiruvananthapuram
Adarsha Rehabilitation Institute for Spastics and Neurologically Impaired, Kochi
Asha Niketan, Kozhikode
Jagathy Government School for the Blind, Thiruvananthapuram
Jagathy Government BHSS for the Deaf, Thiruvananthapuram
Kunnamkulam GS for the Blind, Kunnamkulam, Thrissur
Kunnamkulam GS for the Deaf, Kunnamkulam, Thrissur

Non Governmental Organisations for Persons with Disabilities

National Association of the Blind, Thiruvananthapuram
Kerala Federation of the Blind, Thiruvananthapuram
Kerala Institution of the Blind, Thrissur
All Kerala Association of the Deaf, Thrissur
Kerala Government Deaf Employees Union
Association for the Welfare of the Handicapped, Kozhikode
Kerala State Physically Handicapped Employees Association

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/national-resource-kerala-chapter-call-for-comments

December 2012 Bulletin

praskrishna — 2013-01-16T05:15:27Z

We at the Centre for Internet & Society wish you all a great year ahead. In the December 2012 newsletter, we bring you the draft early chapters of our “National Resource Kit” project for persons with disabilities (covering four southern states); and accessibility-related comments on the Twelfth Five Year Plan; the draft research on pervasive technologies and access to knowledge that we presented at the Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest in Brazil; our comments on the privacy implications of including RFID tags in the proposed Rule 138A of the Motor Vehicle Rules, a report on the open access lectures delivered by Prof. Leslie Chan during his tour of India, reports of Wikipedia-related workshops conducted across three cities, and news and media coverage.

Jobs

CIS is seeking applications for the posts of Programme Officer (Access to Knowledge — Indic Language Initiatives), Developer (NVDA Project), Research Manager (Digital Humanities project), and Policy Associate (Access to Knowledge and Openness) and Policy Associate (Internet Governance). To apply send your resume to sunil@cis-india.org and pranesh@cis-india.org.

Accessibility

India has an estimated 70 million disabled persons who are unable to read printed materials due to some form of physical, sensory, cognitive or other disability. The disabled need accessible content, devices and interfaces facilitated via copyright law and electronic accessibility policies:

National Resource Kit for Persons with Disabilities
CIS received a grant of INR 54,83,200 from the Hans Foundation for Creating a National Kit of Laws, Policies and Programs for Persons with Disabilities on August 16, 2012. Anandhi Vishwanathan from CIS and Shruti Ramakrishnan from the Centre for Law and Policy Research are the researchers presently working for this project. Early draft chapters have been published. Feedback and comments are invited from the readers:

The Tamil Nadu Chapter (by Shruti Ramakrishnan, December 30, 2012).
The Karnataka Chapter (by Shruti Ramakrishnan, December 30, 2012).
The Kerala Chapter (by Anandi Vishwanathan, December 31, 2012).
The Andhra Chapter (by Anandi Vishwanathan, December 31, 2012).

Access to Knowledge

The Access to Knowledge programme addresses the harms caused to consumers, developing countries, human rights, and creativity/innovation from excessive regimes of copyright, patents, and other such monopolistic rights over knowledge:

Event Organised

2012 Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest (FGV Law School, Rio de Janeiro, December 15 – 17, 2012). The Second Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest was organized by Fundação Getulio Vargas, American University Washington College of Law, Columbia University, Open AIR, and ICSTD. Sunil Abraham and Pranesh Prakash participated in the event. Pranesh was one of the moderators in the Roundtable Discussion on Priority Policy Forums, Research and Analysis Needs and Commitments.

Research for the Global Congress

For the 2012 Global Congress on Intellectual Property and Public Interest event, CIS conducted research. Jadine Lannon (based on research by Annapoornima and Rohan George and with help from Yogesh Kumar did research on documentation of phones and their patent, Amba Kak did research on copyright and mobile licensing, Vikrant Vasudev conducted research on patent pools and valuation methods, Hans Varghese Mathews did research on mathematical models of patent pools and Nehaa Chaudhuri did research on analysis of 3Gand 4G patent pools.

Openness

The 'Openness' programme critically examines alternatives to existing regimes of intellectual property rights, and transparency and accountability. Under this programme, we study Open Government Data, Open Access to Scholarly Literature, Open Access to Law, Open Content, Open Standards, and Free/Libre/Open Source Software:

Event Report

Random Hacks of Kindness Global December 2012 — A Report (by Yogesh Londhe, December 10, 2012). Event was hosted at CIS office in Bangalore. CIS, Amnesty International India Office, Greenpeace India Office, HasGeek, Yahoo Research & Development and SimpleTechLife sponsored the event held in CIS office in Bangalore on December 1 and 2, 2012.

Events Participated

‘Information & Networks’ Partners’ Meeting (organised by International Development Research Centre, Canada in Rio de Janeiro, December 11 – 12, 2013). Sunil Abraham spoke in session on Open Business and IP.

Open Access Champion Leslie Chan Delivers Five Talks in India (Department of Library & Information Science, University of Kerala, National Institute of Interdisciplinary Science & Technology, CSIR, Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management – Kerala, Manasa Media Centre, Mysore University Library and SDM Institute for Management Development, December 17 – 20, 2012).

Access to Knowledge (Wikipedia Project)
Beginning from September 1, 2012, Wikimedia Foundation has awarded CIS a two-year grant of INR 26,000,000 to support and develop free knowledge in India. The A2K team consists of three members based in Delhi: Nitika Tandon, Subhashish Panigrahi and Noopur Raval.

Events Organised

Wikipedia Workshop at NMAIT (NMAIT, Karkala Taluk, December 21, 2012, co-organised in association with Metawings Institute).
Wikipedia Workshop at SRM (SRM University, Chennai, December 17, 2012, co-organised in association with Metawings Institute).
Marathi Wiki Workshop at TISS (Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, December 8, 2012).

Blog Entries

Non Unicode ISCII Text Can be Converted to Unicode Now! (by Subhashish Panigrahi, December 19, 2012).
New Avenues: Media Wiki Groups (by Noopur Raval, December 28, 2012).

News / Media Coverage

A Report of Odia Wikipedia Workshop at IIT, Kharagpur (Samaja, Odia daily, Kolkata edition, December 3, 2012).

Videos

Wikipedia: State of Tech — A Talk by Erik Moeller (CIS, Bangalore, November 12, 2012). Erik Moeller, Vice President of Engineering and Product Development at the Wikimedia Foundation gave a talk.
Art in the Open Source Age — A Talk by Gene Kogan (CIS, Bangalore, November 30, 2012). Gene Kogan, a programmer and digital artist gave a talk.

HasGeek
HasGeek creates discussion spaces for geeks and has organised conferences like the Fifth Elephant, Droidcon India 2011, Android Camp, etc. HasGeek is supported by CIS and works out from CIS office in Bengaluru.

Upcoming Event

Meta Refresh (MLR Convention Centre, JP Nagar, Bangalore, February 22 and 23, 2013).

Internet Governance

The Internet Governance programme conducts research around the various social, technical, and political underpinnings of global and national Internet governance, and includes online privacy, freedom of speech, and Internet governance mechanisms and processes:

Analysis of Central Motor Vehicle Rules

Comments on the Proposed Rule 138A of the Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989 Concerning Radio Frequency Identification Tags (by Bhairav Acharya, December 3, 2012).

Columns/Op-eds

Online Censorship: How Government should Approach Regulation of Speech (by Sunil Abraham, Economic Times, December 5, 2012).
The Worldwide Web of Concerns (by Pranesh Prakash, Deccan Chronicle, and Asian Age, December 10, 2012).
The Trouble with Hurried Solutions (by Chinmayi Arun, The Hindu, December 15, 2012).
Tomorrow, Today (Nishant Shah, The Indian Express, December 29, 2012).

Event Organised

Meeting of the Network of Internet & Society Centers (organised by Berkman Center for Internet & Society, Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet & Society, Center for Technology & Society, KEIO University SFC, the MIT Media Lab, the MIT Center for Civic Media, NEXA Center for Internet & Society and CIS, Cambridge, Massachusetts, December 6 – 8, 2012).

Upcoming Events

DML Conference 2013 (Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers - Chicago, Illinois, March 14 – 16, 2012).

Events Participated

Second International e-Governance Conference (organized by the National Committee for Corporate Governance Electronic Iraq and the United Nations Development Programme, Rashid Hotel, Baghdad, December 2, 2012). Sunil Abraham presented on "Review of the Legal Environment in Iraq for Effective e-Governance".
Seminar/Artist Talks : "Outresourcing" with the Transmediale Collective (organised by the Berlin - Transmediale new media collective, December 3, 2012, Bangalore). Sharath Chandra Ram presented a White Paper.
World Conference on International Telecommunications (organised by ITU, December 3 – 14). Chinmayi Arun participated as a civil society representative.
Internet Driven Developments: Structural Changes and Tipping Points (organised by Berkman Center for Internet & Society, Cambridge, Massachusetts at Harvard University, December 6 – 8, 2012).
Annual Conference on Human Rights 2012 (organised by Estonian Institute of Human Rights and Google). Malavika Jayaram participated as a panelist.
State Surveillance and Human Rights Camp (Sheraton Rio Hotel & Resort, Rio, Brazil, December 13 and 14, 2012). Elonnai Hickok made a presentation on MLATS and International Cooperation for Law Enforcement Purposes.
Economic Impact of Internet in India (organised by Aspen Institute India, December 21, 2012). Chinmayi Arun attended this event.

Blog Entries

Transcripts from WCIT-12 (by Snehashish Ghosh, December 3, 2012).
Section 66-A, Information Technology Act, 2000: Cases (by Snehashish Ghosh, December 3, 2012).
Internet-driven Developments — Structural Changes and Tipping Points (by Elonnai Hickok, December 28, 2012).
State Surveillance and Human Rights Camp: Summary (by Elonnai Hickok, December 31, 2012).
Mining the Web Collective (by Sharath Chandra Ram, December 31, 2012).

Video

Technology Culture and Events in South East Asia — A Presentation by Preetam Rai (CIS, Bangalore, December 18, 2012). Preetam Rai gave a lecture.

Media Coverage

66A ‘cut & paste job’ (by GS Mudur, Telegraph, December 3, 2012). Pranesh Prakash and Snehashish Ghosh are quoted.
Ayodhya trending on Twitter sparks censorship concerns (by Surabhi Agarwal, December 6, 2012). Sunil Abraham is quoted.
Debate on Section 66A rages on (Vasudha Venugopal, The Hindu, December 10, 2012). Pranesh Prakash is quoted.
Hacktivists deface BSNL website (by Kim Arora, The Times of India, December 13, 2012).
Govt likely to issue guidelines to clarify IT rules soon (by Surabhi Agarwal, LiveMint, December 16, 2012).
The freedom of expression debate: The State must mend fences with The Web (by Rahul Jayaram, India Today, December 18, 2012).
‘The IT Act is fine, but its interpretation is not’ (DNA, December 19, 2012).
No fear of losing internet freedom till Jan 15: Experts (by Kim Arora, The Times of India, December 22, 2012). Pranesh Prakash is quoted.
UN agrees to review agencies governing Internet (by Surabhi Agarwal, LiveMint, December 27, 2012). Pranesh Prakash is quoted.
Delhi gang rape: What Facebook, Twitter expose about govt (The Times of India, December 31, 2012). Pranesh Prakash is quoted.
A note of dissent on cash transfers and UID (The Hindu, December 31, 2012). Sunil Abraham was one of the signatories.
The year social media came of age in India (by Javed Anwer and Rukmini Shrinivasan, The Times of India, December 31, 2012). Sunil Abraham is quoted.

Telecom

While the potential for growth and returns exist for telecommunications in India, a range of issues need to be addressed. One aspect is more extensive rural coverage and the other is a countrywide access to broadband which is low. Both require effective and efficient use of networks and resources, including spectrum:

Newspaper Column

Inflation Control Through Structural Reforms (by Shyam Ponappa, Business Standard, December 11, 2012).

Building Knowledge and Capacity around Telecommunication Policy in India
Ford Foundation has given a grant of USD 2,00,000 to CIS to build expertise in the area of telecommunications in India. The knowledge repository deals with these modules: Introduction to Telecommunications, Telecommunications Infrastructure and Technologies, Government of India Regulatory Framework for Telecom, Telecommunication and the Market, Universal Access and Accessibility, The International Telecommunications Union and other international bodies, Broadcasting, Emerging Topics and Way Forward. Dr. Surendra Pal, Satya N Gupta, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Payal Malik, Dr. Rakesh Mehrotra and Dr. Nadeem Akhtar are the expert reviewers.

The following are the new outputs:

Licensing Framework for Telecom: A Historical Overview (by Snehashish Ghosh, December 31, 2012).
Market Structure in the Telecom Industry (by Snehashish Ghosh, December 31, 2012).

Digital Natives

Digital Natives with a Cause? examines the changing landscape of social change and political participation in light of the role that young people play through digital and Internet technologies, in emerging information societies. Consolidating knowledge from Asia, Africa and Latin America, it builds a global network of knowledge partners who critically engage with discourse on youth, technology and social change, and look at alternative practices and ideas in the Global South:

Book Review

Not Just Fancy Television (by Nishant Shah, Indian Express, December 8, 2012): Nishant Shah reviews Ben Hammersley's book "64 Things You Need to Know for Then: How to Face the Digital Future Without Fear ", published by Hodder & Stoughton.

Media Coverage

What does it mean to be a digital native? (by Oliver Joy, CNN, December 8, 2012).

About CIS

CIS was registered as a society in Bangalore in 2008. As an independent, non-profit research organisation, it runs different policy research programmes such as Accessibility, Access to Knowledge, Openness, Internet Governance, and Telecom. The policy research programmes have resulted in outputs such as the e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities with ITU and G3ict, and Digital Alternatives with a Cause?, Thinkathon Position Papers and the Digital Natives with a Cause? Report with Hivos, etc. We conducted policy research for the Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, etc., on WIPO Treaties, Copyright Bill, NIA Bill, etc. CIS is accredited as an observer at WIPO, and has given policy briefs to delegations from various countries, our Programme Manager, Nirmita Narasimhan won the National Award for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities from the Government of India and also received the NIVH Excellence Award.

Follow us elsewhere

Get short, timely messages from us on Twitter
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Visit us at http://cis-india.org

Support Us
Please help us defend consumer / citizen rights on the Internet! Write a cheque in favour of ‘The Centre for Internet and Society’ and mail it to us at No. 194, 2nd ‘C’ Cross, Domlur, 2nd Stage, Bengaluru – 5600 71.

Request for Collaboration
We invite researchers, practitioners, and theoreticians, both organisationally and as individuals, to collaboratively engage with Internet and society and improve our understanding of this new field. To discuss the research collaborations, write to Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, at sunil@cis-india.org or Nishant Shah, Director – Research, at nishant@cis-india.org

CIS is grateful to its donors, Wikimedia Foundation, Ford Foundation, Privacy International, UK, Hans Foundation and the Kusuma Trust which was founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin, for its core funding and support for most of its projects.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/december-2012-bulletin

Overview of Schemes and Notifications issued in Karnataka for the benefit of Persons with Disabilities

Shruti Ramakrishnan — 2013-01-05T16:17:37Z

This chapter is an early draft. It will be reviewed and modified in future. Feedback and comments are welcome.

Education

The State of Karnataka has issued numerous notifications and schemes for the benefits of persons with disabilities. This is a brief overview of all these schemes, which are described thematically under the headings of education, employment, rehabilitation, social security and others.[1] This mandate has been extended to even private universities by the various regulations made under the University Grants Commission, 1956.[1]

Further, the new Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 has included ‘a child with disability’ within the definition of “Child belonging to disadvantaged group”.[3] This definition has been adopted even in the Karnataka Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules, 2012 to ensure the extension of the benefits under the RTE Act to children with disabilities.[4]

The State of Karnataka has implemented the mandate in the PWD Act by providing for the minimum 3% reservation in all educational institutions that are government run or receive any grant from the government.[5] The government has provided an additional 2%, i.e. a total of 5% reservation for persons with disabilities for Pre-University Colleges in the state that are government owned or government aided.[6]

Apart from reservation, the state government has issued various notifications that aid in removing difficulties for students with disabilities and bring them on par with other students. These provisions include various exemptions to persons with disabilities. For instance, studying the II and III language is exempted for students with Hearing Impairment, Mental Retardation, Slow Learners and Spastic students in primary school, secondary school and degree courses.[7] Other exemptions also include the option for visually impaired students in primary and secondary school to choose other subjects instead of Maths and Science.[8]

The state government also provides certain additional benefits to disabled students such as additional time in writing examinations, scribes for visually impaired students and a sound library (audio record of academic material) to blind students. The government has also issued orders directing all educational institutions (primary schools, secondary schools and colleges) to provide for classrooms and toilets in the ground floor for persons with disability.[9]One of the novel aspects of this order is that it is also extended to private institutions unlike other government orders.

Amongst financial benefits, the state of Karnataka has initiated scholarship schemes[10] for disabled students and a Prize Money Scheme for meritorious students with disability.[11] The Director of Women and Children’s Welfare, Karnataka has also initiated a grant-in-aid scheme for the benefit of educational institutions established for the disabled.[12]

The object of this scheme is to ensure the extension of and improving current facilities of education given to disabled students by way of providing a sum of money annually as grant-in-aid. Voluntary organisations that are registered and run institutions for disabled persons are eligible for such grant subject to other conditions.

Employment

In the employment sector, the state of Karnataka has issued several notifications pertaining to employment opportunities for persons with disabilities.

The PWD Act mandates that at least 3% of governmental jobs be reserved for persons with disabilities. The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) (Karnataka Amendment) Rules, 2006 provide that such jobs will be reserved in all State Government Departments, Boards, Corporations, Zilla Panchayats, Taluk Panchayats, Town Panchayats, Gram Panchayats, Municipal Councils, local Bodies, Urban Development Authorities and other Establishments and aided Institutions.

The Karnataka Civil Services (General Recruitment) Rules, 1977 identifies “persons with disabilities” as persons suffering from at least 40% of:

blindness
low vision
leprosy cured
hearing impairment
locomotor disability
mental retardation
mental illness

Initially these Rules reserved only the minimum mandated 3% for persons with disabilities in Groups ‘A’ ,‘B’, ‘C’ and ‘D’ with a 1% sub-reservation specifically for visual impairment, hearing impairment and locomotor disability. Later in 2005, the reservations in Groups ‘C’ and ‘D’ was increased to 5% out of which 2% of the posts were reserved for the blind.

In accordance with Section 32 of the PWD Act, the Government of Karnataka has identified the list of jobs suitable to be performed by persons with disabilities in Groups ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’ and ‘D’. These lists are to be mandatorily reviewed every 3 years, but however, the state of Karnataka has not been reviewing these lists periodically. The list of jobs identified for ‘C’ and ‘D’ groups identified in 2002 was thereafter never reviewed. In October, 2012 the High Court of Karnataka in a public interest litigation initiated by the National Federation for the Blind directed the State of Karnataka to immediately review these lists. Consequently, the Government issued notifications adopting the identification of jobs made by the Central Government for posts in Groups ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’ and ‘D’. This list comes in as a relief for persons with disabilities as the Central Government identification is of a much wider ambit than the previous state government identification. The Central Government list identifies 782 posts in Group ‘A’, 254 posts in Group ‘B’, 1112 posts in Group ‘C’, and 215 posts in Group ‘D’ for persons with disabilities. These lists have subsequently been made applicable to posts even in autonomous bodies, public sector undertakings and Universities. Additionally, these notifications also mandate that aids and appliances required to carry out the job effectively must be provided. The High Court of Karnataka has also removed the problematic clause of requiring persons with disabilities to furnish a medical fitness certificate attesting their capability to perform the job performance.

The horizontal reservation provided to persons with disabilities in Karnataka is provided on a 20-point roaster scale wherein points 4, 44 and 84 in Groups ‘A’ and ‘B’ are reserved for persons with disabilities with point 4 reserved for the visually impaired, point 44 for the hearing impaired and point 84 for persons with orthopedic and other disabilities. For Groups ‘C’ and ‘D’ reservation is provided to persons with disabilities at points 4, 24, 44, 64, and 84 with point 4 and 24 reserved for persons with Visual Impairment, point 44 for Hearing Impairment, point 64 for orthopaedically handicapped persons and point 84 for other forms of disability.

The Karnataka government has also provided applicants with disabilities an age relaxation of 10 years over the maximum age limit prescribed for the post. Disabled Candidates writing exams conducted by the Karnataka Public Services Commission are allowed a scribe (where the candidate is visually impaired) in addition to provision of extra time to complete these exams. Apart from the above benefits provided during the recruitment stage, government employees who are disabled also receive the following benefits:

Conveyance allowance of Rs. 400/- a month
Relaxations in transfer of government employees
Preferential allotment in the provision of accommodation facilities
Flexible work timings

All employed disabled persons are also exempt from payment of Professional Tax. The state government earlier even provided for financial aid and support to disabled persons to encourage self-employment, but this aid has been discontinued. However the state through the KIADB (Karnataka Area Industrial Development Board) continues to provide for a 3% reservation in the allotment of industrial sites for entrepreneurs with disabilities.

Rehabilitation

Rehabilitation efforts in the State of Karnataka mainly consist of providing shelter homes and special homes for the disabled apart from financially aiding them in accessing aid and appliances designed for the disabled.

In an effort to aid disabled persons in the state of Karnataka to achieve mobility and creating opportunities to enhance their social and economic standing, the state has come up with a few rehabilitative schemes. The state acknowledges that there are various aids and gadgets such as tricycles (ordinary and motorized), wheel chairs, artificial limbs, crutches, hearing aids, low vision aids, etc that help disabled persons to substantially overcome their disability. However these gadgets are not affordable and accessible to majority of the disabled persons.

The state of Karnataka has introduced a scheme of assistance to help disabled persons to purchase aids and appliances. By way of this scheme persons with disabilities who fulfill the necessary criteria are eligible for financial assistance to purchase aids and gadgets. The extent of financial assistance aid they receive will be dependent on their income levels. Persons earning more than Rs. 12,000/- per annum are not eligible under this scheme.

With regard to setting up of homes for disabled persons, The state of Karnataka has provided for the set up of a special home ‘Manasa Kendra’ to care for mentally ill persons as per the direction of the Karnataka High Court.[13] These Homes are set up in five districts in Karnataka, namely, Bangalore, Belgaum, Bellary, Raichur and Shimoga.

Social Security

Social Security Schemes mainly include maintenance, reservation in housing schemes, provision of medical relief and setting up of medical boards for the benefit of persons with disability.

Karnataka has issued various schemes providing financial assistance to physically handicapped persons. Such assistance is sanctioned by the Department of Women and Child Welfare, Karnataka. Under this scheme visually impaired persons, hearing impaired persons, and orthopedically impaired persons are eligible to apply for financial assistance to the Department.

Apart from financial assistance, the State government since 1977 also provides for maintenance amounts to disabled persons under a specified income limit every month. In 1977, a maintenance amount of Rs. 40/- was fixed for persons with disabilities whose income was less than Rs. 3600/- per annum. This sum has been constantly revised periodically. At present the scheme as revised in 2007 provides for Rs. 400/- per month. The provision of maintenance to physically handicapped persons was extended even to mentally ill persons in 2005 due to a direction of the High Court of Karnataka.

Previously a maximum income limit was fixed in respect of disabled persons to availing benefits of certain welfare schemes. The limit was fixed at an income (or parent’s income) of Rs, 11,000 per annum in rural areas and Rs. 24,000/- per annum in urban areas. This limit has now been removed and there is no upper income limit to avail certain benefits such as free bus travel, scholarship and financial assistance for medical treatment of the disability.

Apart from provision of financial support directly to physically handicapped persons, the State also provides indirect benefits to disabled persons by way of maintenance to Residential Special Schools and insurance schemes for parents and guardians of mentally retarded persons. Further the state also provides for a Grant-in-Aid scheme for voluntary institutions established for persons with disability.

The Government further has also issued a notification entailing various benefits for physically handicapped persons such as the provision of offices in ground floor for disabled employees in corporations or municipal offices where there is no lift provided.

In the area of housing, state of Karnataka has issue orders directing the Karnataka Housing Board to provide for a 3% reservation for persons with disabilities in all housing schemes initiated for the poor, impoverished, slum dwellers and economically weaker sections of the society. The reservation includes housing schemes such as Ashrayam, Grama Navagrama, and the Rajiv Gandhi Village Housing Scheme. The reservation in the Navagrama Scheme and Ambedkar Housing Scheme for the homeless was in 2004 increased to 5% for persons with disabilities.

Miscellaneous

The state of Karnataka periodically has also issued other kinds of benefits on disabled persons such as free bus passes, special disability awards and promotion of cultural activities and sports.

With a view to make public transport accessible to persons with disabilities free bus passes are granted to blind persons in all the KSRTC and BMTC Buses. This facility was recently also extended to the Volvo buses run by the state. Persons with disability other than visual impairment are eligible to receive bus passes at a concessional rate.

The state also provides for the issuance of an original Identity card as proof of their disability. This ID card can be utilized for obtaining:

Free bus pass
Concessional rate of train fare
Concessional rate of airfare
Income tax Exemption
Special Government Schemes
Preferential allotment under Rajiv Gandhi Swrana Rojgar Yojna, Preferential site allotment

For the issuance of this ID card, a medical board incapable of issuing such a certificate is constituted at every District and Taluk Level.

[1]. Section 39 of the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995 (PWD Act).
[2]. Section 26 of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956 read with Rule 2 of the UGC Regulations, 1985 regarding the Minimum Standards of Instruction for the Grant of the First Degree through Formal Education.
[3]. Section2(d) of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 as amended by the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Amendment) Act, 2012.
[4]. Issued via Notification No. ED 77 YoYoKa 2010 dated 28.04.2012.
[5]. G.O. No.: ED U.G.C. 99 dated 03.06.1999.
[6]. G.O. No.: ED 10 STB 93, Bangalore dated 02.01.2004.
[7]. ED 56 UBV 2004 dated 23.03.2004. See also ED 158 PMS 79 dated 17.01.1981 and SWL 4 PHP 90 dated 20.04.1990.
[8].
[9]. ED 17 SXM 2002 dated 12.06.2002.
[10]. SWL 123 PHP 78 dated 02.06.1978 and WG CHW: 404: PHP: 2001 dated 04.09.2001.
[11]. DWD/PLAN/I.AD/91-92 dated 03.05.1991.
[12].SWL 18 PHP 82 dated 11.08.1982.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/national-resource-kit-karnataka-chapter

National Resource Kit: The Tamil Nadu Chapter (Call for Comments)

Shruti Ramakrishnan — 2013-11-07T06:20:16Z

The National Resource Kit team is pleased to bring you its research on the state of laws, policies and programmes for persons with disabilities in the state of Tamil Nadu.

Note: This is an early draft which will be modified and updated subsequently. Feedback and comments are welcome.

Tamil Nadu has around 1.6 million disabled persons and is the only state with a higher number of disabled females than males in India. Reservations for persons with disabilities in state services and educational institutions are being provided from 1981 onwards in lieu of it being the International year for the disabled.

The Department for the Welfare of Differently Abled Persons (WDAP) is the main department that deals with persons with disabilities in the state. However other departments such as the Department of Social Welfare and Nutritious Meal Programme (SWNMP) and the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (DPAR) also extend various benefits and issue schemes for the welfare of disabled persons.

Read the full chapter by clicking on the link below.

Tamil Nadu Chapter

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/national-resource-kit-tamil-nadu-chapter-call-for-comments

Comments and Feedback on the Draft Twelfth Five Year Plan with respect to Persons with Disabilities

Rahul Cherian — 2012-12-28T15:33:02Z

The Centre for Internet & Society was one of the ten organizations representing people with disabilities that sent comments and feedback on the draft twelfth five year plan.

We write to you on behalf of the organizations representing people with disabilities listed at the end of this document. At the outset, we would like to thank you for circulating the Draft Twelfth Five Year Plan with respect to persons with disabilities in advance in order to gain the feedback and the perspective of all interested parties and stakeholders, including persons with disabilities. However, we would like to bring to your attention that while the entire budgetary allocation has been given to us in this draft, the specifics of the allocation i.e. the detailed break up has not been given, and so any input that we may have may be insufficient in the absence of this information.

The World Health Organization estimates that globally about 1 billion people (or 14% of the population) live with some form of disability of who nearly 200 million experience considerable difficulties in functioning.[1] Given the large prevalence of disability of approximately 14% of the population, it is submitted that the statistics of the 2001 census which states that only 2.11 % of the population is disabled is wholly inaccurate. If the financial outlay is based on the flawed assumption that only 2.11% of the population is disabled, we fear that the financial outlay will be substantially less than is necessary to meet the actual needs of people with disabilities. Therefore we recommend that the Twelfth V Year Plan should be based on realistic numbers of the persons with disabilities in the country. It is recommended that at least 5% of the total outlay for the Twelfth Plan should be for disability related projects. It is also recommended that a reality check is done on the benefits available to persons with disabilities such as pensions. Unless this is done, the benefits available to persons with disabilities is wholly inadequate.

We would like to point out that the document you had circulated does not give the status of the implementation of the various schemes that were proposed under the Eleventh V Year. Without the status of implementation of schemes proposed earlier, we are concerned that merely reiterating the same schemes for the upcoming Plan period may lead to suboptimal usage of the allocated funds particularly with respect to those schemes that have not been implemented to the maximum extent possible. We therefore request you to include the status of implementation of the various schemes that were proposed in the earlier Plan period to enable transparency in this exercise.

Before we give specific input and comments on the financial outlay, we would like to point out our grievance in the wording of Sec. 24.218[2] of the draft which states that persons with disabilities have "un-evolved capacities" and we strongly believe that this approach that persons with disabilities will completely obscure the optimistic approaches sought to be achieved by this Plan. While it is appreciated that persons with disabilities need some protection, using terminology like "unevolved capacity" is just reaffirming a protectionist attitude as well as patronizing one. We hope that this terminology will be removed from the document. We also point out that in point number 24.227 the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is wrongly mentioned as "United Nations Conference on Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD)". This error must be rectified.

Be that as it may, the undersigned would like to place on record our appreciation for the inclusion of many aspects into the above mentioned document. We would also like to bring your attention to several aspects given below which we believe should be covered in the Twelfth V Year Plan (hereinafter referred to as "the Plan").

Specific Input

I. Detection of Disability
Early detection of disabilities in babies and children is critical to determine what types of early intervention and rehabilitation is required to be provided. The Plan must provide financial outlay for the following with respect to detection of disabilities for further action:

At birth screening - Every baby born should be examined in detail using a standard examination checklist, to detect anomalies. The checklist should focus on detecting anomalies so that further follow up on developmental delay could be identified for at risk cases which could further lead to interventions. At birth screening must be made mandatory and the mother and child should not be discharged from hospitals without completing this procedure. Special attention must be taken to screen high risk babies (such as babies born to mothers who have diabetes, high blood pressure, thyroid deficiency, pre-term babies, babies with history of perinatal hypoxia, neonatal infections, low birth weight babies, etc.). The screening should be done free of cost and appropriate allocation should be done for the training of medical professionals and soliciting of equipment for this purpose.
Additional Screening In addition, screening by health workers, medical officers and doctors are required at stages like vaccinations, routine check ups, etc. The Plan must include allocation for training programs to be formulated and appropriate training must be given to all health care workers on how to diagnose disabilities and how to determine developmental milestones. Allocation of funds must be made to train doctors at maternity clinics/hospitals on conducting adequate checks/tests for early detection of developmental delays and disabilities If any disability is suspected, the child must be referred to the medical officer. There must be recognition of the fact that failure to detect disabilities at the early stage may lead to secondary disabilities.
Universal screening camps - The Plan itself must provide financial outlay to enable each state to organize bi annual universal screening camps for all school going children in the state to detect disabilities. The screening must be conducted for all disabilities. These camps must include the necessary manpower /specialists (including audiologist /speech therapist, clinical child psychologist, physiotherapist, etc.) and equipment required to detect all types of disabilities in babies. Appropriate budgetary allocations need to be in place. Universal screening camps must be held in conjunction with setting up of early intervention centres failing which the children identified to have disabilities will tend to face social stigma.
Registration of Births of Children with Disabilities: In accordance with the Persons with Disabilities Act, the Registrar General appointed under section 3 of the Births and Deaths Registration Act, 1969 shall whilst carrying out the superintendence duties of registering births and deaths in the country ensure, including by issuing general directions to all Chief Registrars and other concerned officials, that the registration of births and deaths of all children with disabilities is undertaken in accordance with the procedure specified in the Births and Deaths Registration Act of 1969.

II. Early Intervention
Early intervention has been touched upon in the policy document. However, there is not enough emphasis on this area. The importance of early intervention is well established. Early intervention provides support for infants and young children with disabilities, their families and communities, in order to promote the child's development and inclusion. Without early intervention it is extremely difficult for children with disabilities to be integrated into mainstream society. Delay in diagnosis and treatment results in irreversible damage to the child's development. Early intervention could be in the form of medical intervention and/or variety of disability specific rehabilitation intervention like different therapies and specialized training (specialized training or therapy). Early intervention would also include:

Counseling and training of parents of children with disability.
Early stimulation for High risk babies
Early Intervention for Developmental Delay, Speech & Hearing Problems, Visual Problems, Autism Intervention etc.
Parental guidance for supporting activities of daily living.

It is critical that early intervention centres are set up in each district in the country. The State of Kerala has created a blue print for setting up early intervention centres in each district in the State. This document is attached separately for your information. The Plan should incorporate salient features from this document. Point 24.226 must be modified accordingly.

III. Education
While the Plan places emphasis on education in point 24.222 a most critical aspect has been left out. Training of teachers to impart education to children with disabilities in an inclusive school setup is extremely critical if such children are to get a meaningful education. In this connection the Plan should provide financial outlay for ensuring that both mainstream teachers and teachers in special schools are provided the necessary training for imparting education to children with disabilities. The salary of all such teachers should be on par with regular teachers. The Plan should also provide for refresher training to be imparted to teachers in this connection. In addition to the above, the Plan should provide adequate financial outlay to ensure that all educational materials are provided to children with disabilities in the accessible formats they require including in Braille, Daisy, etc. It is also critical to ensure that schools are made accessible such that children with disabilities have equal access to 4 all parts of the school. Moreover, it is imperative that adequate accessible transportation is provided to enable children with disabilities to reach the school. In this connection, point 24.245 is adequately modified. The Plan should also ensure that children with disabilities have access to schools at every taluk.

In point 24.222 there is a mention of setting up a national accessible library. This is an extremely encouraging move. However, the national accessible library is not mentioned in the responsibilities of any of the Ministry. We recommend that the national accessible library is included in the responsibilities of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. The Plan makes no mention of the HEPSN scheme and capacity building in colleges and universities. This should be addressed explicitly. In addition, the Plan makes no mention of the role of the UGC. Given the fact that the UGC is responsible for higher education in India, it needs to promote inclusive higher education through adequate capacity building through incentivizing the setting up of resource centers and accessible content creation. It could also interface with organizations like the National Assessment Accreditation Council (NAAC) that is responsible for accrediting colleges and universities to ensure that the provision of certain minimum standards / disabled student registration be made compulsory to receive accreditation and consequent larger share of UGC grants. Financial support for college / university professors (human / technological) needs to be specifically mentioned and augmented over the Xlth plan outlays. Several existing plans including the ADIP Scheme and the IEDC Scheme need to be brought in line with practical realities and the amounts payable under such Scheme should be significantly enhanced.

IV. Employment
Point 24.221 rightly highlights reservation as being critical. However, the Plan does not tackle the issue of the huge backlog in this area that has crept in over the year. The Plan must deal with this issue on a priority basis. The Plan should also provide for bridge training to be provided to persons with disabilities to enable them to be equipped to perform their respective roles after they are recruited to mainstream jobs. In this connection it is critical that all government offices must be made accessible (both in terms of physical accessibility and also in terms of accessibility of the electronic infrastructure) failing which disabled employees will not be able work from these offices. Point 24.225 should be therefore adequately modified to reflect this. The Plan should provide for setting up of career guidance cells in every district for persons with disabilities. The Plan should provide financial outlay to ensure that they necessary assistive aids such as computer screen reading software is made available at government offices free of cost for employees with visual impairment. Lastly the Plan should also provide financial outlay to ensure that accessible transport is provided to persons with disabilities to travel to and from the work place. In the alternative the Plan should provide for additional payments to be made to ensure that persons with disabilities can make their own arrangements to take the mode of transport they are most comfortable in to come and go from their workplace.

V. Accessibility
Access to the physical environment as well as to information, technology and communication is an essential requirement for integration of persons with disability into mainstream society. It is critical to recognize that the lack of provision of accessibility is the same as discrimination against persons with disabilities. The provision of accessibility both by the Government and by the private sector is therefore critical and the Plan must make an effective strategy to ensure that both these stakeholders provide the necessary accessibility to persons with disabilities.

While accessibility is tackled in a general manner in point 24.225, this has not been adequately tackled in the responsibilities of the Ministries in the subsequent pages of the document. The responsibilities of each of the Ministries with respect to accessibility must be explicitly specified in the document. While the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology has been allotted some responsibilities, this does not cover access to content, access to telecommunication services or access to broadcasting. For further information on access to content, telecommunication services and broadcasting see Annexure A. In addition, point 24.225 mentions that only important government buildings must be made accessible. This approach is fraught with danger and the Plan must provide for all government buildings and buildings accessible to the public in general must be made accessible. The Government must also formulate a set of standards for accessibility.

We would also like to point out that the recommendation under the obligations of the Ministry of Railways to provide one coach for persons with disabilities is blatant discrimination and is "ghettoisation" of persons with disabilities. It is submitted that this is the same as asking any other minority community to use only a particular coach on the train and is in violation of Article 14, Article 15 and Article 21 of the Constitution. This provision will prevent persons with disabilities from having equal access to the air conditioned coaches, first class coaches and will also prevent persons with disabilities from travel on an equal basis with others. The Ministry of Railways should instead be mandated to ensure that every coach is made accessible for persons with disabilities. In addition, the Plan requires the Ministry of Railways only to make multilevel and multiple platform railways stations to be made accessible. This is blatantly discriminatory to rural India. We therefore recommend that all railway stations are made accessible, including toilets, rest rooms etc.

VI. Independent Living
In point 24.226, the Plan does touch upon the subject of Independent Living. However, there needs to be detailed specifications on the manner in which Independent Living for persons with disabilities are provided. The setting up of Independent Living Centres is extremely crucial in light of Article 19 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. While this is not something which can be achieved overnight, the Government can begin by commissioning the setting up of one independent living centres or townships in each State over the next 5 years, which are fully accessible, and thus creating a model which can be replicated easily in the years to come. This would include independent living for persons with physical disability as well as psychosocial disabilities.

It has come to our attention that there has been a report filed by a committee under the Chairmanship of Additional Secretary, Department of Rural Development, Ministry of Rural Development, to make recommendations on the criteria for grant of benefits under the Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme. While the Scheme already includes "severe" and "multiple" disabilities, the Committee has also recommended the specific inclusion of autism and cerebral palsy. While the committee report itself is not available, this information is available in the press note . Choosing specific categories should not be encouraged whereas disability should be acknowledged based on the definition for persons with disabilities as provided by UNCRPD.

A crucial aspect to a real development of an individual with disability is not just pension but the support and assistance that he or she requires to live independently by effectively functioning and contributing in the family and community. In this respect, there is a huge requirement for personal assistants for persons with severe and profound disabilities. The National Social Assistance program should look at allocating funds to be disbursed for the payment of personal assistants for persons with disabilities rather than mere pension.

VII. Identity Cards and BPL Cards
We urge that the Plan takes all steps to ensure that identity cards are made available to all persons with disabilities in the country to ensure that they can easily access all the benefits available to them. These cards should be recognized throughout the country and accepted by all departments and authorities. We also urge that the Plan redoubles it efforts to ensure that BPL Cards are given to the applicable persons with disabilities.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we appreciate the initiative of the Government to double the financial outlay for persons with disabilities in the Twelfth V Year Plan to Rs. 32684 crores. However, there are significant areas that must be tackled as mentioned above if there has to be meaningful progress of persons with disabilities. We humbly request the Government to consider the points given above when finalizing the Plan.

We are happy to provide you any additional information in this connection.

Thank you and best regards,
Prepared by

Inclusive Planet Centre for Disability Law and Policy
Rahul Cherian and Amba Salelkar

With Input From:

Centre for Internet and Society
Nirmita Narasimhan
nirmita@cis-india.org
Xavier's Resource Center for the Visually Challenged
Sam Taraporevala
sam@xrcvc.org
Daisy Forum of India
Dipendra Manocha
dipendra.manocha@gmail.com
Andhjan Kalyan Trust
Praful Vyas
aktrust.drj@gmail.com
Parivaar
J.P. Gadkari
jpgadkari@gmail.com
Ummeed Child Development Centre
vibha.krishnamurthy@ummeed.org
National Centre for Autism, India
Merry Barua
actionforautism@gmail.com
Network of Persons with disAbility Organisations
Srinivasulu
npdoap@gmail.com
Disabilities Legislative Unit, South
dlu.south@gmail.com
National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled
A. Muralidharan
nprd.in@gmail.com

[1]. http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2011/9789240685215jeng.pdf
[2]. Protection acknowledging that Persons with Disabilities have 'un-evolved' capacities as a consequence of their disabilities and thereby have rights to protection; on the part of parents, community and the State from abuse and from participation in activities likely to cause them harm.

ANNEXURE A - Access to Content, Telecommunication Services and Broadcasting

Access to Content

Objective
All published content, whether printed or electronic, must be made available in accessible formats at the same time as it is first published and with no extra cost or hardship to persons with disabilities.

Strategy/ activities

Books for education- both at the school and university levels, must be made available in accessible electronic formats. This could be a target to be achieved in five years. CBSE and state board syllabi in all languages may be made available in accessible electronic formats.
Funds may be outlayed towards digitizing public libraries.
Government may frame schemes for funding disability organizations which are engaged in converting books into accessible formats, as is done in other countries like USA.
All the public libraries should have the facility to provide books in accessible formats to its disabled readership.
Government may promote open access and open education resources amongst educational, scientific and research organizations and libraries and stress the need for accessibility.
All government information must be available in accessible formats which can be accessed on multiple platforms like computers or mobile phones, including information provided through RTIs, etc.
All archives containing digital copies of books must be able to provide a requested book in an accessible format, even where they have been unable to completely digitize their archives in an accessible manner. However, the long term target must be to have all archives completely accessible.

Access to Telecommunication Services

Objective:
To ensure that every person with a disability has access to basic telephone and broadband services both in rural as well as urban areas.

Strategy/ Activities:

Public Kiosks and Common Service Centres set up by the Government must have at least one machine which is fitted with assistive technology for every ward.
Each school and college with an ICT centre must have at least one computer befitted with assistive technology and should be manned by a trained instructor who can guide students in using them.
Research and development must be funded in open source and cloud based solutions like screen readers and operating systems which will facilitate universal access at no cost to user. These research projects must necessarily have persons with disabilities to advise on the efficacy and design of the product.
Assistive technologies for computers and mobile phones must be developed in local languages and be made available at low cost.
Schemes may be launched to provide funds to persons with disabilities to purchase assistive technologies for their computers or handsets.
Each household with a person with disability must have a broadband connection and telephone connection.
At least 1 public pay phone in each area must be accessible with texting facility.
A national toll free emergency number must be set up like Reach 112 in Europe.
TRAI must include persons with disabilities in its periodic survey to gauge their access to telecommunication services. Similarly the DoT and DIT must make available data on ICT access for persons with disabilities.
A Code of Good practice should be evolved for servicing disabled customers which contains both minimum as well as best practices to be adhered to by service providers.

Service providers/ operators:

Should make their services accessible for persons with disabilities. Information about their accessible services must be available on their web site, which should also adhere to WCAG standards.
Should collect data on the number of their disabled customers and frame at least 1 or 2 schemes for persons with different disabilities and provide basic accommodations like accessible billing and accessible customer care. They could have a public relations officer to service the complaints of disabled customers.

The charter of the Universal Service Obligation Fund must be expanded to include 'persons with disabilities' as an underserved community and all ongoing projects must be made inclusive.
The DoT must make special mention of persons with disabilities in the Telecom Policy and also formulate specific policies to connect them with accessible telecom services.

Access to Broadcasting

Objective
To provide broadcasting access to persons with various disabilities.

Strategy/ Activities:

It must be made mandatory for all television programming to be recorded with clearly legible and appropriate audio descriptions and closed captioning.
All films must have clearly legible and appropriate closed captioning and audio description, and sign language tracks recorded and this must be made a prerequisite for obtaining a censor certificate.
All new theatres must have facilities for patrons to access closed captioning/audio descriptions/sign language, without which they should not be granted licenses. Existing theatres should be granted a period of 1 year within which such facilities should be obtained. These facilities should be available at no extra charge beyond that of the ticket to patrons.
In the ongoing compulsory digitalization of cable television in India, all set top boxes being procured must be made accessible to persons with vision/cognitive disabilities. Optional voice navigation must be made mandatory for all set top boxes being sold/imported into India.
All new television receivers/set top boxes must have built-in decoder circuitry or capability designed to display closed captioned video programming, the transmission and delivery of video description services, and the conveyance of emergency information. Existing patrons should be allowed to exchange their television receivers/set top boxes for accessible ones.
All new television sets sold or imported in India must be equipped with built-in closed caption decoder circuitry or capability designed to display closed-captioned video programming/ audio descriptions, and have the capability to decode and make available the transmission and delivery of video/audio description services, and have the capability to decode and make available emergency information in a manner that is accessible to individuals who are disabled.

Inclusive Planet Centre for Disability Law and Policy
12/21 Custain Beach Road, Santhome,
Chennai - 600 004.
Tel: +91-44-24611313
Fax: +91-44-24617924
www.inclusiveplanet.org.in

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/feedback-on-draft-twelfth-five-year-plan

WIPO to Convene a Diplomatic Conference in Morocco to Finalise TVI

Rahul Cherian — 2012-12-24T06:18:58Z

In a landmark development, on December 18, 2012, the Extraordinary General Assembly of the World Intellectual Property Organisation agreed to convene a diplomatic conference, likely to be in Morocco, in June of next year to finalise the Treaty for Visually Impaired Persons/Persons with Print Disabilities.

This comes about five years after a team of about ten of us sat down in the offices of Knowledge Ecology International in Washington D.C. to draft the first cut of the Treaty.

Even as late as December 17, it was uncertain as to whether the outcome would be positive, particularly as the United States was fixated on the word "instrument" and not "treaty". At one point during the EGA it was rumored that the US and the EU were insisting on a "kill switch" in the decision document of the Extraordinary General Assembly. Essentially the US and the EU were apparently pushing for wording in the decision text stating that if the text of the Treaty was not fully agreed by the end of the upcoming WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights in February, then the diplomatic conference was off. Luckily none of this type of wording was reflected in the decision of the EGA. The EU was insisting on a non-binding instrument as opposed to a treaty till November this year when they finally capitulated due to the extensive pressure applied internally by blind groups such as the European Blind Union and the Royal National Institute of Blind People in the United Kingdom.

However, it is not smooth sailing from here on since there are still some very critical issues to be resolved in the text of the Treaty. Possibly the most critical issue from the perspective of blind groups is the outstanding issue of commercial availability. The European Union and the United States insist that the Treaty should apply only when works in accessible formats such as Braille or Daisy are not commercially available. The contentious provision in the Treaty in relation to export of accessible format copies is the following: "The Member State/Contracting Party may limit said distribution or making available of published works which, in the applicable accessible format, cannot be otherwise obtained within a reasonable time and at a reasonable price, in the country of importation." There is also a similar clause with respect to national exceptions as well.

The problem that we have with this clause is that it places the burden on exporting organizations to determine, prior to export, whether a work is available in an accessible format in the importing country within a "reasonable time" and "reasonable price". In reality, this will be impossible for organizations to verify this position with any degree of certainty without spending substantial amounts of money or dedicating significant resources for this. As a result the organizations will not export accessible format copies because they are nervous about copyright violation thereby meaning that the treaty will not be used in reality. Obviously from our perspective there is no point in having a treaty which cannot be used to benefit the millions of persons with visual impairment.

Another outstanding issue that is crucial to us is that a beneficiary (such as a visually impaired person) in one country should be able to import accessible format copies directly from organizations abroad. The European Union does not want to permit this and insists that export and import should only be between organizations. The position of the European Union will be counterproductive because it will add too much burden on organizations in developing countries to serve their disabled populations.

We get the opportunity to fix these issues during the next session of the Standing Committee meeting in February 2013. If required there could another session called to sort out text related issues before the diplomatic conference in June.

Ultimately, the success or failure of the Treaty will boil down to whether the US and the EU actually end up ratifying the Treaty. After all, they have the largest collections of material in accessible formats which we need to import into India. The Hathi Trust in the United States has approximately 10 million books in accessible formats which will be invaluable for the visually impaired community in India. Given the recent rejection of the United States of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities it remains to be seen what the future holds.

Rahul Cherian is the legal advisor to the World Blind Union on the Treaty and is the founder of the Inclusive Planet Centre for Disability Law and Policy

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/wipo-to-convene-conference-to-finalise-tvi-next-year

Disability groups in India welcome progress on treaty for blind persons

praskrishna — 2012-12-31T01:40:07Z

Four years of struggle for a global treaty for the benefit of blind persons is finally bearing fruit. Member states of the World Intellectual Property Organisation have agreed to conclude a treaty for visually-impaired and print disabled persons by June 2013.

Madhavi Rajadhyaksha's article published in the Times of India on December 20, 2012 quotes Nirmita Narasimhan and Rahul Cherian.

Print disabled persons are a group which includes those who are blind, visually-impaired, orthopaedically challenged or those living with hearing problems or learning disability. They have traditionally lacked access to an array of books , films and research material simply because they aren't available in formats which are accessible to them. For instance, blind persons have been denied access to books and films which aren't available in Braille.

The international treaty that is underway would ensure free exchange of work suitable to print impaired persons across borders. In other words, a book in Braille available in the United Kingdom could be freely imported by India for the benefit of visually-impaired persons here.

The treaty is particularly a huge boon for developing countries like India, many of which cannot afford the huge costs of translating works into print-friendly formats or importing them from more developed nations. There are roughly 285 million blind and partially sighted people in the world with the largest pool in India.

The desperate need for such a treaty is evident from the fact that only seven per cent of published books are made accessible to persons with disabilities. This estimate of the World Blind Union is largely for richer countries, with less than one per cent of work available to those in poorer countries.

Organizations like the Indian Right to Read Alliance which has been pushing for the treaty welcomed the June deadline. "This is an incredible development, and after a four year struggle we are looking forward to the treaty being concluded next year. This Treaty will revolutionize access to reading materials for persons with print disabilities around the world and we in India will hugely benefit from being able to import books in accessible formats from countries with large libraries such as the United Kingdom and the United States," said Rahul Cherian Jacob of the Inclusive Planet Centre for Disability Law and Policy, who is the legal advisor to the World Blind Union.

Sam Taraporevala, Director of the Xavier's Resource Centre for the Visually Challenged was elated by this development. "There is a library in the United States which has 10 million books in accessible digital formats which will be accessible to us once this treaty is passed. This is huge boost to our blind and visually impaired students who want to get into the field of research."

The treaty could transform the lives of million of people around the world, believes Nirmita Narasimhan, policy director, Centre for Internet and Society, a Bangalore based NGO which has played a crucial role in WIPO negotiations. She pointed out that breaking the barriers would make the Internet and accessible information and communications technologies more meaningful by expanding their potential for use.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/times-of-india-city-mumbai-madhavi-rajadhyaksha-december-20-2012-disability-groups-in-india-welcome-progress-on-treaty-for-blind-persons

Accessible Broadcasting in India

srividya — 2013-01-28T03:37:40Z

A report based on ITU's "Making Television Accessible Report" prepared by the Centre for Internet and Society

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/accessible-broadcasting-in-india.pdf

November 2012 Bulletin

praskrishna — 2013-01-06T13:59:11Z

Welcome to the newsletter of November 2012 from the Centre for Internet & Society (CIS). The present issue features an analysis of Section 66A of the IT Act by Pranesh Prakash, comments on the draft Science, Technology and Innovation Policy, an introduction to 12 mobile devices that we are researching as part of the Pervasive Technologies project, submissions of civil society in relation to the revision of International Telecommunication Regulations that are to take place at the ITU's World Conference on International Telecommunications in Dubai, updates from the Wikipedia community on Indic languages, and news and media coverage.

Jobs

CIS is seeking applications for the posts of Research Manager and Programme Officer – Internet Governance. To apply send your resume to sunil@cis-india.org.

Accessibility
India has an estimated 70 million disabled persons who are unable to read printed materials due to some form of physical, sensory, cognitive or other disability. The disabled need accessible content, devices and interfaces facilitated via copyright law and electronic accessibility policies:
Blog Entry Human Machine Interfaces: The History of an Uncertain Future (by Sharath Chandra Ram, November 30, 2012).
Event Participated Workshop on Making ICT and Mobile Phones Accessible for Persons with Disabilities in Nepal (organised by ITU, November 9, 2012). Nirmita Narasimhan was a speaker in the session "Introduction: ICT and Telecom Accessibility, Good Practices in Policy and Industry Initiatives".
Access to Knowledge
The Access to Knowledge programme addresses the harms caused to consumers, developing countries, human rights, and creativity/innovation from excessive regimes of copyright, patents, and other such monopolistic rights over knowledge:
WIPO Transcripts We are providing archival copies of the transcripts of the 25th session of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights held in Geneva from November 19 to 23, 2012: WIPO SCCR 25 Day 1, November 19, 2012 WIPO SCCR 25 Day 2, November 20, 2012 WIPO SCCR 25 Day 3, November 21, 2012 WIPO SCCR 25 Day 4, November 22, 2012 WIPO SCCR 25 Day 5, November 23, 2012
Comments Comments on the Broadcast Treaty and Exceptions and Limitations for Libraries and Archives (by Smitha Krishna Prasad, November 29, 2012). Comments on the Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (Draft) (by Snehashish Ghosh, submitted to the Ministry of Science and Technology, November 26, 2012).
Pervasive Technologies: Access to Knowledge in the Marketplace As a part of the Pervasive Technologies: Access to Knowledge in the Marketplace research project, CIS is researching upon 12 gray-market mobile devices to generate a better understanding of the intellectual property implications of the pervasive mobile technologies available in the Indian market: Workshop Report Exploring the Internals of Mobile Devices — Report from a One-day Workshop at TERI (by Jadine Lannon, November 30, 2012).
Blog Entries ICOMM2012: International Communications and Electronics Fair (by Jadine Lannon, November 14, 2012). Pervasive Mobile Technologies: Meet Our Mobile Devices! (by Jadine Lannon, November 30, 2012).
Upcoming Event 2012 Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest (FGV Law School, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, December 15 – 17, 2012).
Openness The 'Openness' programme critically examines alternatives to existing regimes of intellectual property rights, and transparency and accountability. Under this programme, we study Open Government Data, Open Access to Scholarly Literature, Open Access to Law, Open Content, Open Standards, and Free/Libre/Open Source Software:
Event Organised Autonomy, Access, Infrastructure and Future — A Discussion with C S Lakshmi (CIS, Bangalore, November 29, 2012). A video of the event is published. Art in the Open Source Age — A Talk by Gene Kogan (CIS, Bangalore, November 30, 2012).
Blog Entry Open Government Platform (by Neeta Verma, Alka Mishra and D.P. Mishra, Informatics Magazine, July 2012).
Event Participated Science Gallery Workshop @ Srishti (organised by Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology and Science Gallery at Trinity College Dublin, Srishti School of Art Design and Technology (N2 campus), Bangalore, November 23, 2012). Sunil Abraham participated in this event.
Access to Knowledge Programme Beginning from September 1, 2012, Wikimedia Foundation has awarded CIS a two-year grant of INR 26,000,000 to support and develop free knowledge in India. The A2K team consists of three members based in Delhi: Nitika Tandon, Subhashish Panigrahi and Noopur Raval. Program Manager, Shiju Alex left the organisation. November 16, 2012 was his last working day.
Events Organised Kolkata: Tasting the Sweetness of Wikipedia! (Kolkata, November 3, 2012). First Odia Wikipedia Education Program (Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Dhenkanal, November 8, 2012). Odia Wikipedia Workshop at AML (Academy of Media Learning, Bhubaneswar, November 10, 2012). A Wikipedia Mini-hackathon in Delhi (CIS, New Delhi, November 11, 2012). Wikipedia: State of Tech — A Talk by Erik Moeller (CIS, Bangalore, November 12, 2012). An Odia Wikipedia Workshop at KMBB (KMBB College, Bhubaneswar, November 19, 2012). Follow up to Wikipedia Introductory Session (Bharati Vidyapeeth, Delhi, November 19, 2012).
Events Participated Wikipedia Hackathon (organised by BITS, Hyderabad, October 25 – 27, 2012). Wikipedia Women's Workshop in Mumbai (by Noopur Raval, Vidyalankar Institute of Technology, Wadala, Mumbai, November 4, 2012).
News and Media Coverage ‘Some Indian laws could be challenging’ (Bangalore Mirror, November 15, 2012). A Report of the Odia Wikipedia Workshop held in KMBB College of Engineering, Bhubaneswar (Sambad, November 19, 2012). OdishaDiary conferred prestigious Odisha Youth Inspiration Award 2012 to Odia Wikipedia team (Orissa Diary, November 23, 2012). વિકિપીડિયા ગુજરાતી માં પણ છે (by Harish Kothari, Cybersafar, November 28, 2012).
Blog Entry Typing in Indic Languages from Mobiles made Easy! (by Subhashish Panigrahi, November 19, 2012).
HasGeek HasGeek creates discussion spaces for geeks and has organised conferences like the Fifth Elephant, Droidcon India 2011, Android Camp, etc. HasGeek is supported by CIS and works out from CIS office in Bengaluru. The following event was organised by HasGeek in the month of November: Droidcon India (November 2 and 3, 2012, MLR Convention Centre, Whitefield, Bangalore).
Internet Governance The Internet Governance programme conducts research around the various social, technical, and political underpinnings of global and national Internet governance, and includes online privacy, freedom of speech, and Internet governance mechanisms and processes:
Analysis of IT Act Breaking Down Section 66A of the IT Act (by Pranesh Prakash, November 25, 2012). Fixing India’s anarchic IT Act (by Pranesh Prakash, Livemint, November 28, 2012). Draft nonsense (by Pranesh Prakash, The Times of India, November 24, 2012).
Analysis of Justice AP Shah Report Q&A to the Report of the Group of Experts on Privacy (by Elonnai Hickok, November 9, 2012).
Comments / Submissions to ITU Statement of Civil Society Members in the "Best Bits" pre-IGF Meeting. CIS was one of the signatories of this submission made to the ITU. Submission on India's Draft Comments on Proposed Changes to the ITU's ITRs. CIS was one of the signatories along with Society for Knowledge Commons, Delhi Science Forum, Free Software Movement of India, Internet Democracy Project and Media for Change. Submission by Indian Civil Society Organisations on Future ITRs and Related Processes. CIS was one of the signatories of this submission in response to ITU’s call for public comments. Indian Government's Submission to ITU: We have put up the text of the submission made by the Government of India to the World Conference of International Telecommunications, Dubai on November 3, 2012.
Event Participated India Internet Governance Conference (organised by the Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, FICCI and Internet Society, October 4 -5, 2012). Pranesh Prakash made a presentation. CIS was one of the supporting organisations.
Blog Entries Arbitrary Arrests for Comment on Bal Thackeray's Death (by Pranesh Prakash, November 19, 2012). This was re-posted in Outlook (November 19, 2012), KAFILA (November 19, 2012), and Shail's Nest (November 20, 2012). DoT Blocks Domain Sites — But Reasons and Authority Unclear (by Smitha Krishna Prasad, November 21, 2012).
Upcoming Events Technology Culture and Events in South East Asia — A Presentation by Preetam Rai(CIS, Bangalore, Near Domlur Club and TERI Complex, December 18, 2012, 5.00 p.m. to 6.30 p.m.). DML Conference 2013 (Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers - Chicago, Illinois, March 14 – 16, 2012).
Internet Governance Forum Pranesh Prakash, Chinmayi Arun, Malavika Jayaram and Elonnai Hickok participated in the Internet Governance Forum held in Baku, Azerbaijan in the month of November 2012. In total, CIS spoke in 12 panels: Best Bits 2012 (organised by Best Bits, Baku, Azerbaijan November 3 and 4, 2012). Pranesh Prakash and Elonnai Hickok participated in this event. The Privatisation of Censorship: The Online Responsibility to Protect Free Expression (organized by Index on Censorship, Baku, Azerbaijan, November 5, 2012). Pranesh Prakash was a panelist. New Trends in Industry Self-Governance (organised by Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, UK and Media Change & Innovation Division, IPMZ, University of Zurich, Switzerland and Nominet, UK, Baku, Azerbaijan, November 7, 2012 from 4.30 p.m. to 6.00 p.m). Pranesh Prakash was a panelist. Civil Rights in the Digital Age, about the Impact the Internet has on Civil Rights (organised by ECP on behalf of the IGF-NL, Baku, Azerbaijan, November 7, 2012, 4.30 p.m. to 6.00 p.m.). Malavika Jayaram was a panelist. Solutions for Enabling Cross-border Data Flows (co-organised by ICC BASIS and the Internet Society, Baku, Azerbaijan, November 7, 2012). Cloudy Jurisdiction: Addressing the thirst for Cloud Data in Domestic Legeal Processes (co-organised by Electronic Frontier Foundation (Peru) and University of Ottawa, Baku, Azerbaijan, November 7, 2012). What Frameworks for Cross-Border Online Communities and Services (hosted by the Internet & Jurisdiction Project, Baku, Azerbaijan, November 8, 2012). Chinmayi Arun was a panelist. Governing Identity on the Internet (co-organised by Brenden Kuerbis, Citizen Lab and Christine Runnegar, Internet Society, Baku, Azerbaijan, November 8, 2012, 11.00 a.m. to 12.30 p.m.). Malavika Jayaram was a panelist. Law Enforcement via Domain Names: Caveats to DNS Neutrality (organised by Hong Xue, Vivekanandan, Wei Mao and Leo Liu, Baku, Azerbaijan, November 8, 2012). Chinmayi Arun was a panelist. Who is Following Me: Tracking the Trackers (organised by Internet Society and the Council of Europe, Baku, Azerbaijan, November 8, 2012). Malavika Jayaram was a speaker at this event. National IG Mechanisms – Looking at Some Key Design Issues (Baku, Azerbaijan, November 8, 2012). Pranesh Prakash was a panelist. Steady Steps.....FOSS and the MDG's (organised by International Center For Free and Open Source Software and Free Software and Open Source Foundation for Africa, Baku, Azerbaijan, November 8, 2012). Pranesh Prakash was a panelist.
Event Participated Privacy in the Social Networked World (hosted by the Centre for Business Information Ethics, Meiji University, Tokyo, Japan, on behalf of the Asian Privacy Scholars Network, November 19 – 20, 2012). Elonnai Hickok spoke on Transparency and Privacy in India.
Featured in the Media Power to youth (The Hindustan Times, November 3, 2012). The article names Sunil Abraham and Lawrence Liang as some of the young people who are shaping the future. 25 Indians to watch (FT Magazine, November 16, 2012). Sunil Abraham is one among the 25 rising Indian stars to watch out for. Malavika Jayaram named a top lawyer for Internet and e-Commerce in India (WHO’s WHO LEGAL, November 20, 2012).
Media Coverage Information security policy on govt agenda (by Surabhi Agarwal, LiveMint, November 6, 2012). Sunil Abraham is quoted. Law yet to catch up with tech-enabled peeping toms (by Sandhya Soman & Pratiksha Ramkumar, Times of India, November 7, 2012). Sunil Abraham is quoted. India second in requesting user info: Google (by Karthik Subramaniam, Hindu, November 14, 2012). Pranesh Prakash is quoted. Post and be Damned (by Kavita Shanmugham, November 14, 2012). Pranesh Prakash is quoted. India second in keeping tabs on netizens (by Ishan Srivastava, The Times of India, November 15, 2012). India ranks second globally in accessing private details of users (thinkdigit, November 15, 2012). Pranesh Prakash is quoted. Google's 'Transparency Report' sketchy, inconclusive: Government (by Indu Nandakumar, Economic Times, November 17, 2012). Pranesh Prakash is quoted. Women Arrested in Mumbai for Complaining on Facebook (by Neha Thirani and Hari Kumar, New York Times, November 19, 2012). Girls arrested for Facebook post on Thackeray get bail (FirstPost, November 19, 2012). Arrest of girl over Thackeray FB update a clear misuse of Sec 295A (FirstPost, November 19, 2012). Pranesh Prakash is quoted. How to Steer Clear of India’s Strict Internet Laws (by Sangeeta Rajesh and Heather Timmons, New York Times, November 20, 2012). Internet users flay Mumbai girls' arrest over Facebook post (IBN Live, November 20, 2012). Pranesh Prakash is quoted. Arrests over Facebook posts: Why we’re on a dangerous slide (Venky Vembu, FirstPost, November 20, 2012). Pranesh Prakash is quoted. Girl's arrest draws flak on social media (The Times of India, November 20, 2012). Pranesh Prakash is quoted. India's Shame: World Reacts to FB Post Arrest (by Sonal Bhadoria, India Times, November 21, 2012). Pranesh Prakash is quoted. Indian government at second position after U.S.A for demanding user data from Google (WHDI Reviews, November 22, 2012). Pranesh Prakash is quoted. Indians Rank Second For Online Snooping (Indolink, November 23, 2012). Pranesh Prakash is quoted. Civil society & industry oppose India’s plans to modify ITRs (by Shalini Singh, The Hindu, November 23, 2012). Sunil Abraham is quoted. Amnesty International calls for review of 66A of IT act (by Nirmalya Behera, Business Standard, November 28, 2012). Thousands go online against 66A (by Apoorva Dutt, DNA, November 29, 2012). Pranesh Prakash is quoted. The flaw in cyber law (by S Ronendra Singh, Hindu Business Line, November 29, 2012). Sunil Abraham and Snehashish Ghosh are quoted. Govt tweaks enforcement of IT Act after spate of arrests (by Surabhi Agarwal, LiveMint, November 29, 2012). Pranesh Prakash is quoted. Yes, You Can Get Arrested for a Facebook Status Update Now (by David Wagner, Atlantic Wire, November 29, 2012). Pranesh Prakash is quoted. The real Sibal’s law: Resisting Section 66A is futile (by Lakshmi Chaudhry, FirstPost, November 30, 2012). Pranesh Prakash’s blog post on section 66A which was also published in Outlook is quoted.
Videos Women arrested for Facebook post: Did cops act under Sena pressure? (NDTV, November 19, 2012). YP Singh, Alyque Padamsee, Rohan Joshi, Karuna Nundy and Pranesh Prakash took part in a discussion about the arrest of two girls over a Facebook comment. The Last Word: Is there a need to review Information Technology Act? (CNN-IBN, November 20, 2012). Aryaman Sundaram, Pavan Duggal, Pranesh Prakash and Ravi Visvesvaraya Prasad took part in a discussion with Karan Thapar on section 66A of the IT Act. Interview with Pranesh Prakash (by Surabhi Agarwal, LiveMint, November 30, 2012).
Telecom While the potential for growth and returns exist for telecommunications in India, a range of issues need to be addressed. One aspect is more extensive rural coverage and the other is a countrywide access to broadband which is low. Both require effective and efficient use of networks and resources, including spectrum:
Building Knowledge and Capacity around Telecommunication Policy in India Ford Foundation has given a grant of USD 2,00,000 to CIS to build expertise in the area of telecommunications in India. The knowledge repository deals with these modules: Introduction to Telecommunications, Telecommunications Infrastructure and Technologies, Government of India Regulatory Framework for Telecom, Telecommunication and the Market, Universal Access and Accessibility, The International Telecommunications Union and other international bodies, Broadcasting, Emerging Topics and Way Forward. Dr. Surendra Pal, Satya N Gupta, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Payal Malik, Dr. Rakesh Mehrotra and Dr. Nadeem Akhtar are the expert reviewers.
The following are the new outputs: DoT — Its Powers and Responsibilities (by Snehashish Ghosh, November 30, 2012). Government Policy and Guidelines (by Snehashish Ghosh, November 30, 2012). TRAI Regulations (by Snehashish Ghosh, November 30, 2012). TRAI Telecommunication Tariff Orders (by Snehashish Ghosh, November 30, 2012).
Newspaper Columns Super WiFi & Shared Spectrum: A Time to Start Sharing (by Shyam Ponappa, Organizing India Blogspot on November 3, 2012 and Business Standard, November 1, 2012). Folly of Mandating Spectrum Auctions (by Jayna Kothari, Hindu Business Line, November 24, 2012).
Event Participated 2nd MPL Faculty Workshop (North Zone) on Teaching Public Policy, Media and Law (Central University, Rajasthan, November 1-2, 2012). Snehashish Ghosh made a presentation on "Building a Telecom Knowledge Repository."
Digital Natives Digital Natives with a Cause? examines the changing landscape of social change and political participation in light of the role that young people play through digital and Internet technologies, in emerging information societies. Consolidating knowledge from Asia, Africa and Latin America, it builds a global network of knowledge partners who critically engage with discourse on youth, technology and social change, and look at alternative practices and ideas in the Global South:
Interview Whose Change Is It Anyway? \| DML2013: As a preparation for the DML conference, Nishant Shah had an interview with Howard Rheingold, a cyberculture pioneer, social media innovator, and author of "Smart Mobs. Watch the video on YouTube.
About CIS CIS was registered as a society in Bangalore in 2008. As an independent, non-profit research organisation, it runs different policy research programmes such as Accessibility, Access to Knowledge, Openness, Internet Governance, and Telecom. The policy research programmes have resulted in outputs such as the e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities with ITU and G3ict, and Digital Alternatives with a Cause?, Thinkathon Position Papers and the Digital Natives with a Cause? Report with Hivos, etc. We conducted policy research for the Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, etc., on WIPO Treaties, Copyright Bill, NIA Bill, etc. CIS is accredited as an observer at WIPO, and has given policy briefs to delegations from various countries, our Programme Manager, Nirmita Narasimhan won the National Award for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities from the Government of India and also received the NIVH Excellence Award.
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Request for Collaboration We invite researchers, practitioners, and theoreticians, both organisationally and as individuals, to collaboratively engage with Internet and society and improve our understanding of this new field. To discuss the research collaborations, write to Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, at sunil@cis-india.org or Nishant Shah, Director – Research, at nishant@cis-india.org

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/november-2012-bulletin

Human Machine Interfaces: The History of an Uncertain Future

sharath — 2013-01-04T11:30:47Z

"Multimodal interfaces maybe re-engineered much more easily now and can transform the ways in which the physically,cognitively and sensorially disabled can access information and interact with the digital world", says Sharath Chandra Ram.

Fundamental inspirations in digital information practices sprouted from the hypothetical electro-mechanical device ‘Memex’ proposed by renowned scientist Vannevar Bush in 1945, who incidentally, as the graduate professor of Claude Shannon, also paved the way for digital circuit design theory. The Memex (Memory + Index) concept entailed a system where a user could add associative trails to notes, books, communication and audio-visual experiences involving both him and others. Memex in Bush’s view was to create trails of links in temporal sequences of subjective experiences of a person, accessible to him (and others) anytime — a sort of augmented and extended memory. So implausible was considered this ambitious proposal of his, that the word ‘vannevar’ has entered the dictionary as a noun used to describe something that is unfeasibly fantastic and imaginative.

Wholly new forms of encyclopedias will appear, readymade with a mesh of associative trails running through them, ready to be dropped into the memex and there amplified.[1]

The Memex idea had an immediate bearing on the conception of the World Wide Web and also influenced Ted Nelson’s coinage of ‘hyperlink’ that mapped a single word in a document to other associative content. Douglas Engelbart inspired by Bush’s essay, invented an interface that aided the very metaphor of pinpointed navigation through hyperlinks — the X-Y Indicator — that later came to be known to the world as the Computer Mouse. Not much has changed in the ways by which humans have interacted at the interface level. The WIMP paradigm (Windows, Icons ,Menus and Pointers) has been here to stay.

The X-Y indicator that previously mapped motions made on a two dimensional track pad onto the screen has simply been infused onto touch screens. While this may have eased the process of visual design automation, could our interaction be more natural, expressive, immersive and creative? Our experience in the real world is multi modal and we communicate with others using our body, hands, visual cues and sound. Is there a way by which our interaction in the virtual world could closely mimic our real world behavior?

The answer to the above questions came around the same time that the mouse was invented — Myron Kreuger's Videoplace. Unarguably the first and finest immersive virtual reality created way back in the 1970s, ‘Videoplace’ combined two cultural forces — the television (a purveyor of passive experience) and computer (symbol of forbidding technology) to create an expressive medium for communicating playfulness and active participation. Kreuger argued that "computer art which ignores responsiveness is using the computer only for visual design automation, rather than as a basis for a new medium." Kreuger used image processing and gestural interaction as early as in the 70s to interact with virtual objects in the digital world and has inspired a whole generation of computer vision artists including the likes of Golan Levin. If one recalls the seemingly futuristic gestural interface that Tom Cruise used in the film ‘Minority Report’ — be assured it’s already here! Jaron Lanier, a pioneer in virtual reality systems who headed the National Tele Immersion Initiative developed the entire working set of the film.

It seems Kreuger’s work had remained in a niche closet due to early commercialization and large scale adoption of the XY mouse and touch devices. ‘User centric design’ has become increasingly device dependent and really only caters to enticing users to information that the interface wants to disseminate rather than let the user engage with the interface intuitively.

Today, natural interfacing techniques are regaining much commercial interest. A landmark event was the massively viral YouTube video of Johnny Lee Cheung hacking the Nintedo Wiimote’s infrared sensor to track the head movement of a user in real time and provide an illusion of 3-Dimensional Virtual Reality. Within a year, Microsoft hired Cheung to develop the Kinect Camera for gestural interaction with it’s X-box gaming console and also bought all assets of 3DV system’s 3D sensor ‘ZCam’ -- the most affordable option available to new media artists until then. Within a week of the Kinect’s release, it’s drivers were hacked and exposed by the opensource art community that responded to Adafruit’s USD 2000 Kinect hack challenge.

With similar gestural devices by ASUS and the much-awaited Leap sensor, we are on the brink of a paradigm shift in the ways of accessing information that shall redefine concepts in human computer interaction. Cognitive interface solutions by NeuroSky and Emotiv Systems have already paved the way to neuronal signal activated interactions and games. The OpenEEG project has propelled research into open hardware schematics for brain computer interaction.

The linear presentation of search engine results on a browser across millions of pages , I predict, will change this decade as the GUI will transform into a 4 Dimensional Space layered in time, with relevant search results being clustered onto a connected graph node structure and distanced based on their mutual relevance. This calls for a more natural interface that depends not on the traditional keyboard-mouse interaction but on the use of intelligent interfaces such as eye-tracking , gaze , gesture ,speech and thought waves to sift through large databases that shall present themselves in totality along with multimodal feedback to the user.

While all this will transform the ways in which the specially-abled shall access digital information, such transparent interfaces shall also raise a number of policy questions related to privacy and who knows ,one day, even freedom of thought!!

On one hand, we would like to see the price of natural interfaces being made affordable to the commoner, on the other it will require us to unlearn traditional means of information interaction that we have been made quite comfortably accustomed to. Until then it is anyone’s guess what Microsoft’s recent acquisition of Skype along with the desktop version of the Kinect would turn bedroom and boardroom interactions into!

[1].Ironically sourced from a present day Wikipedia article linking to Bush’s 1945 article in The Atlantic Monthly titled “As We May Think”. See http://goo.gl/4mZKx

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/human-machine-interfaces-the-history-of-an-uncertain-future

ITU – NTA Workshop on Making ICT and mobile phones accessible for persons with disabilities in Nepal

praskrishna — 2012-11-07T12:19:04Z

The International Telecommunication Union is organizing this event on November 9, 2012 in Nepal. Nirmita Narasimhan is participating as a speaker in the session "Introduction: ICT and telecom accessibility, good practices in policy and industry initiatives".

This was published by the ITU on November 7, 2012.

09:00	Welcome and Inauguration Master of Ceremony (MC) welcomes all
	MC requests chief guest (Hon. Minister or Secretary) to inaugurate the Diyo (Oil lamp / Light)
09:15	Opening Remarks Sameer Sharma, Senior Adviser, ITU Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific
09:25	Keynote Address MoIC Secretary / Joint Secretary
09:40	Announcements Master of Ceremony thanks the Members at the Dais and walks over ot the schedule
09:40-10:00	Photo Session - Coffee Break
10:00	Making ICT Accessible for Persons with Disabilities: ITU Initiatives Sameer Sharma, Senior Adviser, ITU Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific
10:30	Introduction: ICT and telecom accessibility, good practices in policy and industry initiatives Nirmita Narasimhan, ITU Expert, Accessibility
11:00	Formulating policy and project implementation for persons with disabilities Archana Gulati, ITU Expert, Universal Service Policy
11:30	Perspective, initiatives, plans and challenges in making Telecom Services accessible to Persons with Disabilities NDCL / Ncell
12:15	Policy initiatives, ground realities and way forward for making telecom services accessible to Persons with Disabilities NTA
12:30	Panel Discussion Telecom Operators, MoIC officials
13:30	Closing Remarks MoIC / NTA / ITU
13:45-14:30	Lunch break

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/itu-int-itu-d-asp-cms-events-2012-nepal-itu-nta-workshop-on-making-ict-and-mobile-phones-accessible-for-persons-with-disabilities-in-nepal

Centre for Internet and Society

Making Public Libraries Accessible to People with Disabilities

Making Public Libraries Inclusive For Persons With Disabilities – An Overview

Problem Statement

Suggestions For Improvement

Annexure 1[10]

Annexure 2

Annexure 3

Assistance Aids/Equipment

For Assisting people with Hearing Impairment or Deafness

For Assisting people with Learning Disabilities

For Assisting people with Physical Disabilities

Linking Commercial Availability and Exceptions in the Treaty for Visually Impaired/Persons with Disabilities

Concerns with linking commercial availability and exceptions

Accessible Broadcasting in India

Executive Summary

National Resource Kit: The Andhra Chapter (Revised)

National Resource Kit : The Kerala Chapter (Call for Comments)

Statistics

Ministries and Departments

Government run Organisations

Legal Provisions

Government Orders

Special Schools and Vocational Training Centres

Non Governmental Organisations for Persons with Disabilities

December 2012 Bulletin

Feedback

Media Coverage

Blog Entry

Event Organised

Research for the Global Congress

Event Report

Events Participated

Events Organised

Blog Entries

News / Media Coverage

Videos

Upcoming Event

Analysis of Central Motor Vehicle Rules

Columns/Op-eds

Event Organised

Upcoming Events

Events Participated

Blog Entries

Video

Media Coverage

Newspaper Column

Book Review

Media Coverage

Overview of Schemes and Notifications issued in Karnataka for the benefit of Persons with Disabilities

Education

Employment

Rehabilitation

Social Security

Miscellaneous

National Resource Kit: The Tamil Nadu Chapter (Call for Comments)

Comments and Feedback on the Draft Twelfth Five Year Plan with respect to Persons with Disabilities

Specific Input

Conclusion

ANNEXURE A - Access to Content, Telecommunication Services and Broadcasting

Access to Content

Access to Telecommunication Services

Access to Broadcasting

WIPO to Convene a Diplomatic Conference in Morocco to Finalise TVI

Disability groups in India welcome progress on treaty for blind persons

Accessible Broadcasting in India

November 2012 Bulletin

Pervasive Technologies: Access to Knowledge in the Marketplace

Access to Knowledge Programme

HasGeek

Media Coverage

Videos

Human Machine Interfaces: The History of an Uncertain Future

ITU – NTA Workshop on Making ICT and mobile phones accessible for persons with disabilities in Nepal