Centre for Internet and Society

Web Accessibility Policy Making: An International Perspective

nirmita — 2012-09-25T05:33:25Z

G3ict and CIS are pleased to announce the publication of a new, improved edition of the Web Accessibility Policy Making: An International Perspective. The report published in cooperation with the Hans Foundation provides an updated synopsis of the many policies that governments have implemented around the world to ensure that the Internet and websites are accessible to persons with disabilities.

The report contains a Foreword by Axel Leblois, Founder and Executive Director of G3ict, an introduction and studies from countries like Australia, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Philippines, Portugal, Sweden, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States, and the European Union. The report contains contributions from Prashanth Ramadas, Asma Tajuddin, G Aravind, Katie Reisner, Sucharita Narasimhan, Bama Balakrishnan and Nirmita Narasimhan. Axel Leblois, Donal Rice, Immaculada Placienca Porrero, Kevin Carey, Licia Sbattella and Sunil Abraham are the expert reviewers.

Foreword by Axel Leblois

This third edition of our joint report with CIS “WEB ACCESSIBILITY POLICY MAKING: AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE” provides an updated synopsis of the many policies that governments have implemented around the world to ensure that the Internet and web sites are accessible to persons with disabilities. With 153 countries parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities as of December 2011, an increasing number of governments are now in the midst of developing policies and programs to ensure that web sites and services under their jurisdictions are accessible.

Indeed, the Preamble of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities recognizes “the importance of accessibility to the physical, social, economic and cultural environment, to health and education and to information and communication, in enabling persons with disabilities to fully enjoy all human rights and fundamental freedoms”. Its article 9 stipulates that: “To enable persons with disabilities to live independently and participate fully in all aspects of life, States Parties shall take appropriate measures to ensure to persons with disabilities access, on an equal basis with others, to the physical environment, to transportation, to information and communications, including information and communications technologies and systems” (1). It further specifies that “State Parties shall also take appropriate measures to … Promote access for persons with disabilities to new information and communications technologies and systems, including the Internet” (2.g).

There is therefore no doubt that all State Parties have an obligation to act upon those commitments. However, as this report demonstrates it clearly, web accessibility policies and their levels of enforcement vary considerably among countries with some common denominators such as the compliance with the W3C – WAI guidelines on web accessibility.

G3ict and CIS hope that this new, improved edition, which will now be available in print as well as in electronic format, will help accelerate the development of web accessibility policies and programs around the world. We want to express our sincere appreciation to Nirmita Narasimhan, programme manager at CIS and editor of the G3ict Publications and Reports for her dedication to this report which would not have been made possible without her incredible work and motivation as Disability Advocate.

Download a PDF of the Web Accessibility Policy Making here [335 KB]

Download the Daisy File [23412 KB]

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

Technology for Accessibility in Higher Education

nirmita — 2012-01-31T06:29:03Z

Education for students with disabilities has long been a serious cause of concern in India, as also in other countries around the world. A person with a disability studying in mainstream educational institutions in India experiences many difficulties in navigating through the obstacle course of the Indian educational system, writes Nirmita Narasimhan in this IIMB Journal brought out on the occasion of the conference 'never-the-less - Enabling Access for Persons with Disabilities to Higher Education and Workplace - Role of ICT and Assistive Technologies.

Problems exist in many areas – course content, staff, facilities, resources as well as the educational and examination process. The relative physical inaccessibility of educational institutions, unavailability of accessible content in different languages, lack of trained and sensitive teachers, and the lack of awareness about developments in enabling technologies have hitherto rendered the educational environment itself rather difficult to access. In addition to the long waiting periods in getting the course materials digitized into accessible formats, as well as the assignment of scribes unfamiliar with subject topics for students to write the examinations put students with print disabilities at additional disadvantage – as if there weren’t enough problems already! Thus the educational experience often becomes a nightmare for a student who is disabled. However, compared with the situation from a decade earlier, the education scenario for persons with disabilities has, thanks to the sustained advocacy and interventions of disability organizations, gradually improved and promises to get better in the years to come.

Today, technology has made it possible for persons with disabilities to read and work independently. Some institutions for higher learning around the country, like St Xavier’s College, Mumbai, Delhi University and Loyola College in Chennai have already set up ICT centres which facilitate reading and working students who are print impaired. They offer support through digitization, training, and facilities. Organisations like National Association for the Blind and other Daisy organizations convert study materials for blind students and make them available in formats and media of the students’ choice. Students themselves, through peer to peer networks and mailing lists are able to collaboratively produce and share accessible study materials on a variety of subjects ranging from graduation to competitive exams. Another really big boon is the advent of the mobile phone as a suitable platform for listening to books. Today, two international mobile screen reader software - Nuance Talks and Mobile Speak - are available in the Indian market at competitive prices and this has led to an increase in the incidence of mobile adoption amongst persons with print disabilities, at least in the metropolitan cities.

There are many areas of improvement, which institutions of higher education can adopt for enhancing the education experience for students. For instance, the provision of digitized reading materials, access to computers with assistive devices, choice of examination methods, maintaining accessible web sites, promoting open access and open educational resources will go a long way in furthering education amongst students who have disabilities. Institutions could explore new models of imparting education which are proving successful in other parts of the world. Furthermore, existing sources of information and knowledge, such as information in the public domain and knowledge imparted through distance education should be made accessible to a wider audience.

Click here for the conference details held in IIM, Bangalore on 20 and 21 January 2012.
Download the original published in the Journal: Enabling Access for Persons with Disabilities to Higher Education and Workplace [PDF, 1422 KB]

Nirmita Narasimhan is a Programme Manager with the Centre for Internet and Society and works on policy research and advocacy related to IP reform and technology access for persons with disabilities. She received a National Award from the President of India in 2010 recognizing her contribution to the Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/accessibility-in-higher-education

Mobile technologies and enlightened service packages help persons with disabilities connect to new opportunities

nirmita — 2012-09-13T13:38:32Z

Innovative approaches from mobile hardware and applications developers as well as operators are helping connect the estimated 15% of the global population that lives with some form of disability to the power of information and communication technology.

The press release was published by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) on September 12, 2012

A new report released jointly by ITU and civil society partner The Global Initiative for Inclusive ICTs (G3ict) on the occasion of the United Nations Conference on States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, (New York, 12-14 September), reveals a surge of interest in an as-yet untapped market, with new accessibility applications now being launched almost daily, offering unprecedented ways to empower persons with disabilities to communicate, access information and control their environment.

Senior citizens, people living with disabilities and the illiterate are often marginalized from the ‘mobile miracle’ however, because devices are not equipped with the right kind of accessibility features, or because the price of accessible mobile phones and services is out of reach. That’s now changing, with a host of exciting options coming onto the market.

New screen readers can make mobile phones easily usable for the blind, those with low vision and the illiterate. Visual or vibrating alerts, relay services and hearing aid compatibility devices are making mobile phones accessible for the deaf and hard of hearing, while features such as voice recognition and auto text are proving a boon to those with physical disabilities.

Examples of pioneering solutions highlighted in the report include special text-only billing plans for the deaf and hard-of hearing so that subscribers pay only for messaging and data; a new SMS-to-Avatar translation system being developed by the University of Tunis which converts typed text into real-time, online interpretation in sign language with the help of a dictionary of words and signs; and new GPS-based devices and services that help blind and partially sighted people navigate streets using an interface that announces the nearest points of interest and the user’s current location, with links to Braille readers over Bluetooth.

‘Digital accessibility’ is a relatively untapped market segment that offers potentially lucrative commercial opportunities for mobile service providers, manufacturers and smart phone application developers while ensuring the digital inclusion of persons with disabilities. A handful of leading mobile operators from around the world are already successfully addressing the needs of seniors and persons with disabilities, demonstrating the business case for promoting mobile accessibility.

Unfortunately, not all mobile operators and manufacturers are following suit, and affordability remains a major issue, especially for smart phone solutions and for subscribers in developing markets. “ITU encourages all Member States to implement regulatory and policy measures to promote access and ensure the accessibility needs of all people are met,” said Dr Hamadoun I. Touré, ITU Secretary-General. “This is especially timely given the widespread adoption of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities which requires ICT accessibility of all its signatories, most of which are also ITU Member States.”

There are already six billion mobile cellular telephone subscriptions globally. By 2013, ITU estimates that there will be more mobile cellular telephone subscriptions than human beings on the planet. But while some people are hyper-connected, others are yet to be reached.

“This report will help guide all stakeholders as they implement business practices and policies to promote accessible mobile phones and services at home. We want to see affordable, accessible mobile phones and services used to ‘m-power’ persons with disabilities and other users around the globe,” said Brahima Sanou, Director of ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau, which led the preparation of the report.

The report also includes a checklist for policy makers which includes steps such as developing a roadmap with operators, supported by organizations of persons with disabilities, to identify and address mobile phone accessibility gaps; facilitating or holding capacity building programmes with mobile operators on disability awareness and ways to reach out and serve persons with disabilities; and identifying areas for which Universal Service/Access Funds may intervene to equalize access for users with disabilities.

The report, Making Mobile Phones and Services Accessible for Persons with Disabilities, is available for free download from the ITU website at: http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/sis/PwDs/Documents/Mobile Report.pdf

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/www-itu-press-release-mobile-technologies-and-enlightened-service-packages-help-persons-with-disabilities-connect-to-new-opportunities

Inputs for NTP 2011

praskrishna — 2012-01-02T05:07:57Z

The Centre for Internet and Society wishes to commend the DoT on the draft of the New Telecom Policy and offers its suggestions to improve the draft with specific changes.

The new draft contains several noteworthy initiatives and goals such as Delicensing additional frequency bands for public use, Network sharing, spectrum sharing, pooling and trading , recognizing that revenue generation is not the primary reason for licensing spectrum and that auctions often result in inordinate delays, identifying the mobile phone as a primary instrument for development and inclusion, Convergence of broadcast, telecom and cable infrastructure, promotion of cloud based technologies, Nationwide license, free roaming and one number, promotion of fixed mobile convergence to free up spectrum, promoting consumer interests by increasing choice and quality and addressing concerns of privacy, data security, etc and placing emphasis on research and development, awareness raising and capacity building.

We offer below suggestions to improve the draft with specific changes marked in bold print.

Spectrum Management

We endorse the approach to permit spectrum ‘pooling, sharing and later, trading for optimal and efficient utilization of spectrum’ as described in 4.1. In this regard, we would like to suggest that the Government may consider mandatory spectrum sharing as is being done in USA with respect to white spaces and digital dividends as a better approach over licensing spectrum to a single operator and allowing voluntary sharing since it could result in more dynamic and efficient use of spectrum with access being authorized as per requirement from a central data base driven system.

De-licensing additional spectrum

We agree with the approach to prioritise identification of additional frequency bands for license exempt use for the operation of low power devices, as stated in section 4.6 of the National Telecom Policy 2011. We also support the promotion of the use of technology such as Software Defined Radios (SDRs) and Cognitive Radios (CRs) in white spaces, as mention in section 4.9 of the NTP. These developments in the Indian Telecom policy show promise for the deployment and spread of affordable technologies operating in de-licensed frequencies, which will contribute to the bridging of the digital divide present in India. We offer certain recommendations in this regard:

WPC should have more unlicensed bands available for internet and multimedia to fuelinnovation and efficient spectrum utilization. Unlicensed bands need to be allocated inbigger chunks in various slots.
Frequencies in the 5.15GHz-5.35GHz bands, as well as 5.725-5.825GHz bands are delicensedfor indoor use only. These bands should be de-licensed for outdoor use as well in order to facilitate the creation of wider wireless communication networks and the use ofinnovative technologies.
Bands for the use of DECT technologies have already been de-licensed in Europe and theUnited states. The1800-1890MHz band, which is earmarked for the operations of DECT based devices in India, should be de-licensed for the use of low power cordless communication technologies in line with international practices.
The 433-434 Mhz band should be unlicensed for data telemetry as it is done in many other countries.
Unutilized slots in between TV channels (white spaces) should be made available for unlicensed/Class license usage.

Licensing, Convergence and Value Added Services

With respect to allowing the sharing of network mentioned in 3.6, we would like to propose a similar model as suggested for spectrum sharing, which is more along the lines of Singapore or Australia’s NGN, with the network(s) being run by public private partnership (PPP) consortiums, but led by a private operator.

Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities

Persons with disabilities should be mentioned specifically within the policy and steps should be taken to enable access to telecommunications facilities for them. These would include steps like formulating a Code of good practice for manufacturers and service providers, identifying accessibility standards in different areas, investing in R&D in accessible technologies, setting up a nationwide emergency and relay service, mandating broadcast accessibility to ensure that set-top boxes are accessible and that at least 50 per cent of all TV programmes are captioned, carrying out regular surveys to gather statistics on use of telecommunications services by persons with disabilities, etc.

Specific recommendations

Mission

(To be modified to read as)

1. To develop a robust, secure state-of-the-art telecommunication network providing seamless coverage with special focus on rural and remote areas and bridging digital divide amongst disadvantaged persons, including persons with disabilities.

Objectives

(To be modified to read as)

28. Protect consumer interest by promoting informed consent, transparency, accountability and accessibility in quality of service, tariff, usage etc. 36. Put in place an accessible web based, real time e-governance solution to support online submission of applications for all services of DoT and issuance of licences and clearances from DoT.

Universal Service Obligation Fund

To include ‘Persons with Disabilities, elderly and illiterate persons’ specifically as a category of beneficiaries within the charter of the fund. Telecom infrastructure/ row issues, green telecom, clear skyline,
(Point to be modified to read as)
5.13. To prescribe sectoral Standard Operating Procedures for effective and early mitigation during disasters and emergencies. To mandate Telecom Service Providers to provide alternative accessible reliable means of communication at the time of disaster by creating appropriate regulatory framework. 5.15. To facilitate an institutional framework to establish nationwide Unified Emergency Response Mechanism by providing nationwide single access number for emergency services and to ensure that the same are also accessible to persons with disabilities.

Broadband and universal service

Given that the uptake of broadband has been rather slow in comparison with mobile phones, a useful step to scaling up broadband penetration and providing ubiquitous broadband services could be to identify broadband as an ‘essential service’ under the Essential Services Maintenance Act, 1981. This could be recognized as an objective in the policy and will help to ensure provision of affordable and reliable provision of broadband.

Specific recommendation

(Point to be modified to read as)

3. Recognize broadband as an ‘essential service’ under the Essential Services Maintenance Act and provide affordable and reliable broadband on demand by the year 2015 and to achieve 175 million broadband connections by the year 2017 and 600 million by the year 2020 at minimum 2 Mbps download speed as well as making available higher speeds of at least 100 Mbps on demand.

Multi stakeholder approach

All activities such as setting up a council under 2.3, advisory groups in 2.4, 2.10, etc should necessarily include participation from civil society to ensure a balanced representation of the public interest perspective.

Specific recommendations

(Points to be modified to read as)

2.3. To set up a council consisting of experts from Telecom Service Providers, Telecom Manufacturing Industry, Government, civil society,

Academia and R&D institutions.

2.4. To promote synergy of academia, R&D centres, manufacturers, service providers, civil society, consumer groups and other stakeholders for achieving collaboration and reorientation of their efforts for creation of IPRs, development and deployment of new products and services suited to Indian environment.

Implementation and monitoring

While the policy identifies several laudable objectives and initiatives, there is little indication as to time lines and mechanisms for enforcement with measurable indicators. It would be useful to clearly specify these to ensure smooth and effective implementation of the policy.

Protection of consumer interests

Any initiatives taken in this regard, such as formulation of a Code etc, must necessarily involve consumers. The policy also needs to recognize that special effort is required to ensure that information is made available to consumers and more steps are taken towards consumer outreach. This also includes making web sites more user friendly and accessible to consumers. At present even the web sites of the DoT, USOF, and TRAI etc are extremely inaccessible.

Regulation

While it is important to create a conducive regulatory framework for India’s development agenda, we would nevertheless like to caution against over regulation, especially in cases where market forces themselves take care of the situation. It is best to have a light handed approach based on need. It is also suggested that a review of the TRAI act as proposed under 12.1 could result in vesting the sector regulator with greater autonomy and independence.

Specific recommendation

(Point to be modified to read as)
12.1. To review the TRAI Act with a view to addressing regulatory inadequacies/impediments in effective discharge of its functions and strengthening it by increasing its autonomy.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/telecom/inputs-ntp-2011

Universal Service for Persons with Disabilities: A Global Survey of Policy Interventions and Good Practices

nirmita — 2012-10-08T05:43:46Z

The Global Initiative for Inclusive Information and Communication Technologies and the Centre for Internet and Societies in cooperation with the Hans Foundation have published the Universal Service for Persons with Disabilities: A Global Survey of Policy Interventions and Good Practices. The book consists of a Foreword by Axel Leblois, an Introduction and four chapters. Deepti Bharthur, Axel Leblois and Nirmita Narasimhan have contributed to the chapters.

Foreword

Universal Service definitions have been developed by 125 countries and are the foundation for policies and programs ensuring that telecommunications are available to all categories of population. Universal service funds are the main vehicle used to fund those programs, primarily addressing imbalances such as lack of availability of services in rural areas. While geographic coverage has vastly improved over the past decade with wireless infrastructure, the scope of Universal Service has expanded to include other categories of underserved populations.

Among those, persons with disabilities and senior citizens, who represent 15% of the world population[1] are an increasing concern for legislators and regulators. Basic accessibility features for public telephone booths, fixed line or wireless handsets, customer services in alternate formats such as Braille, or assistive services such as relay services for hard of hearing or deaf persons are in fact not implemented in a majority countries.[2]

To address those issues, several countries have expanded the scope of their national definition of Universal Service Obligation to include persons with disabilities allowing programs promoting the accessibility of information and communication technologies to be covered by Universal Service Funds.

The adoption of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities by over 150 countries since March 31st, 2007 will likely accelerate this trend: States Parties have an obligation to ensure that Information and Communication Technologies and Services are made accessible to persons with disabilities. This can be done by aligning the definition of Universal Service Obligation with article 9 of the Convention and expanding the charter of Universal Service Funds to cover programs promoting accessibility for persons with disabilities. This report is the first attempt to document how Universal Service definitions and related policies and programs have been implemented by various countries to ensure that persons with disabilities have full access, on an equal basis with others,to telecommunication services.G3ict would like to express its sincere appreciation to the Center for Internet and Society for its support of this project, to Nirmita Narasimhan for researching and editing this report;to the International Telecommunication Union for providing references and helping identify countries to be surveyed, and to the Hans Foundation for funding the print version of the report. Promoting universal service for persons with disabilities can affect positively the lives of millions of users around the world. We hope that this report may serve as a useful reference for policy makers, operators, organizations of persons with disabilities, and as a framework for good practice sharing among countries currently implementing the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Axel Leblois
Executive Director
G3ict – Global Initiative for Inclusive ICTs

Introduction

The advent of the Internet and accessible information and communication technologies (ICT) has opened up exciting possibilities and opportunities for persons with disabilities.The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (the ‘UNCRPD’)3 has explicitly recognized the right of persons with disabilities to seek, receive and impart information on an equal basis with others4 and has placed specific obligations on member states to ensure that all ICT based facilities and services (which include telecommunications services) must be made available and accessible to all. To this end, member states are required to formulate and implement appropriate laws and policies at national, regional and global levels. In an age where almost all spheres of life are inextricably woven with and dependent on ICT, Article 9 of the UNCRPD on Accessibility is possibly one of the most powerful and critical tools in the hands of policy makers to ensure that persons with disabilities are assured of basic human rights such as education, health, employment and access to information and participation.While the lack of awareness amongst governments is undeniably a serious impediment to implementing accessible ICT in any country, an equally serious and perhaps more realistic problem is the lack of resources which is plaguing many countries, especially developing nations. The fact that governments are already struggling to ensure basic human rights for all citizens by judiciously dividing their limited resources for the whole gamut of needs makes it difficult for them to outlay separate and substantial budgets which may be required for implementing ICT accessibility. In such a scenario it becomes very important to look around and identify sources of funding, new or existing, which can be leveraged by governments to fulfill their obligation towards making all ICT based applications and services accessible and promoting assistive technologies for persons with disabilities.

This report aims to highlight the extreme suitability of leveraging the Universal Service Fund (USF) to implement accessibility and assistive technologies in telecommunications. It examines the evolution of the concept of USF, its minimum mandate and scope, funding sources, as well as project implementation mechanisms and showcases countries which are using the USF to fund accessibility projects through policies and programmes.

[1].WHO Global Report on Disability, June 2011 - http://www.who.int/disabilities/world_report/2011/en/index.html

[2].CRPD Progress Report on ICT Accessibility – 2010 by G3ict - http://g3ict.org/resource_center/publications_and_reports

Click here for the Braille format
Download the Daisy version here
Download the book here PDF [302 KB]

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/universal-service-for-persons-with-disabilities

Accessibility in the New Telecom Policy 2011

praskrishna — 2012-01-02T05:12:12Z

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

Demographic case

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

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

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

Legal case

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

Global best practices:

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

Challenges to disability access to telecommunications in India:

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

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

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

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

Absence of a national relay service and emergency service system.

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

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

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

Recommendation

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

Annexure – List of Signatories

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

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

Click to download the file [PDF, 182 kb]

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

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

ITU Tutorial on Audiovisual Media Accessibility

praskrishna — 2012-06-18T10:58:29Z

At the invitation of CIS, in cooperation with the ITU-APT Foundation of India, ITU is organising a two-day Tutorial on Audio Visual Media Accessibility from March 14 to 15, 2012 at the India International Centre, New Delhi, India. The Tutorial will be preceded by the fourth meeting of the Focus Group on Audio Visual Media Accessibility (FG AVA) on March 13, 2012. This meeting will take place at the same venue and will also be hosted by CIS, in cooperation with the ITU-APT Foundation of India.

Cross-posted from the International Telecommunication Union website. Register online for the event here.

Watch the event Live

Background

Several tools will be used in the two-day tutorial, namely ITU publications relating to the field. To name two amongst the most recent ones, Accessibility to Broadcasting Services for Persons with Disabilities and Making Television Accessible" Report, G3ict-ITU, November 2011.

Objectives

The programme of the ITU Tutorial on Audiovisual Media Accessibility will provide an in-depth insight of topics and measures to improve the accessibility of AV media: Captioning (pre-prepared and live), Audio/Video Description and spoken captions, visual signing and sign language, emergency access services. These topics will reference examples from digital broadcast television and mobile telephony media. Participants will gain a better understanding of:

How to Get started - strategies for establishing and expanding new accessibility services (how it can be done, what it costs, what business models exist to ensure the viability of accessibility services);
How standards can help developing countries plan and implement the transition from analogue to digital TV (what issues need to be addressed to optimize the Digital Dividend; making sure that various groups of vulnerable viewers are not disenfranchised by the digital switchover);
Human resource development for improved usability and accessibility (closely tied to work being done by the Audiovisual Media Accessibility Focus Group’s Working Parties).

Audience

Regulators and legislators working on measures to improve digital media’s compliance with international accessibility conventions and directives; Accessibility service advocates from organizations representing persons with disabilities; Media executives from public service and commercial TV channels seeking compliance with media accessibility regulation; Pay-TV operators; Consumer electronics manufacturers; Consumer electronics wholesalers and retailers examining the business implications of demographic changes and media regulation.

Tutors

The tutors are leading experts in the field from industry and either participated in the writing of the handbook or contribute to the work of the ITU-T Focus Group on Audiovisual Media Accessibility.

Draft Programme

FG AVA Tutorial Programme - 14-15 March 2012

Day 1 - Wednesday 14 March 2012
Morning
Master of Ceremony:
Mr Sunil Abraham, Executive Director of the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS)

Welcome addresses:
Mr Ravi Shanker
Administrator
Administrator Universal Service Obligation Fund

Dr. Govind
CEO
National Internet Exchange of India

Ms. Swaran Lata
Director and Head of Department
(TDIL Programme)
Department of Information and Technology

Mr. R. N. Jha
Deputy Director General (International Relations)
Department of Telecommunications

Ms. Archana Gulati
Financial Advisor,
National Disaster Management Authority

Tutorial Programme
Wednesday 14 March 2012
Introduction to seminar - Peter Olaf LOOMS
Tutors, objectives, activities, resources.

The rationale of accessible media – who needs them? - Peter Olaf LOOMS

Who needs accessible media?
What is the nature of the media accessibility challenge in India?
Can we quantify and prioritise the challenge?

2. Introduction to media and accessibility – what are the strategies? Peter Olaf LOOMS

What can be done to improve TV accessibility?
How can an understanding of the value chain and the stakeholders help optimise media accessibility?
What can we do to make media other than TV accessible?

Afternoon

3. Making television accessible – what is in scope and out of scope? Peter Olaf LOOMS

What does the term “media” mean?
What can we do to improve TV usability?
How can we improve accessibility by offering access services?

Thursday 15 March 2012

4. Access services – the options (subtitling, audio description, visual signing, audio subtitles and speaking interfaces) Takebumi ITAGAKI and Peter Olaf LOOMS

Workflows - what does producing access services entail?
Bandwidth requirements – what does it take to encode and deliver media and access services to their intended users?
Costs – what resources are needed and what do they cost?

5. Accessibility and business models

What is a business model?
Are there business models for accessible television receivers?
What are the common business models for television access services?
Legislation, regulation and standards – how do we turn vision into reality?

Afternoon

6. Putting it all together – from vision to reality

How can we plan and execute the introduction of access services for a specific media platform
Evaluating our work over the two-day period

Formal closing of the seminar

Learning Resources

"Making Television Accessible" joint ITU and G3ict Report (in English).

Accessibility to Broadcasting Services for Persons with Disabilities ITU-R Report
Podcasts (integrated slides and audio) in English from the Danish Technical University and the IT University of Copenhagen on Agile Project Management and on Accessible Media issues.
Case work (handouts) on USB sticks.

Learning Activities

Lectures

Pair Work

Case work in groups

See the agenda on ITU website

Related Information

Documentation and Registration

General Information

Host: Centre for Internet and Society, New Delhi, India in cooperation with the ITU-APT Foundation of India

Organized by: ITU

Date: 14-15 March 2012

Venue: India International Centre,
Seminar hall no. 1, 2 and 3 main building
#40, Lodi Road, Max Mueller Marg,
Connaught Place, New Delhi, Delhi 110001.
E-mail : cbo.iic@nic.in;
Website: www.iicdelhi.nic.in
Map from airport to IIC: http://maps.google.co.in/maps?hl=en&tab=wl

Practical Information (including hotel accommodation, transportation, visa and health requirements) (coming soon)

Host country contact persons:
Sunil Abraham (Executive Director)
mail: sunil@cis-india.org

Nirmita Narasimhan (Programme Manager)
mail: nirmita@cis-india.org

Ajoy Kumar (Administrator)
mail: ajoy@cis-india.org

Office details:
Centre for Internet and Society
194, 2nd C Cross,
Domlur 2nd stage,
Bengaluru: 560071
Tel: +91 80 25350955, +91 80 40926283
website: www.cis-india.org

Convening Letter, Registration and Programme

Convening Letter

On-line registration

Draft Programme (coming soon)

Organized by:

Hosted by:

VIDEO

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/itu-tutorial-delhi

Nirmita receives NIVH Award

praskrishna — 2011-12-29T05:53:19Z

Nirmita Narasimhan received the NIVH Excellence Award from Justice AS Anand (retd), former chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, on International Day of Persons with Disabilities at the National Institute for the Visually Handicapped in Dehradun on Saturday, 3 December 2011.

A programme manager with the Centre for Internet and Society, Nirmita says: “I wanted to learn all these things to make my life worthwhile, maybe I wanted to prove a point but it has been a great journey all this while,” she said.

The Tribune covered the award ceremony and published this in their newspaper on 3 December 2011. Read it here

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/nirmita-nivh-award

The Business Case for Web Accessibility

nirmita — 2011-12-07T09:56:47Z

NASSCOM Foundation has published a handbook on web accessibility titled "Understanding WebAccessibility — A Guide to create Accessible Work Environments". Nirmita Narasimhan authored a chapter "The Business Case for Web Accessibility".

The Internet is perhaps one of the most revolutionary things that happened for persons with disabilities. It has transformed their lives from one of ignorance and dependence to one of inclusion and participation. Using assistive technologies, blind persons can now read newspapers and information on websites, deaf persons can understand video content through captioning and persons with different disabilities can access computers in a variety of ways. However, despite these exciting developments in assistive technologies, the relative inaccessi-bility of websites remains a severe impediment to disability access to the internet.

There may be several reasons for complying with web accessibility. These may be:

Social (i.e. acknowledging the right of persons with disabilities to have equal access to information and opportunities offered by the internet);
Legal reasons (i.e. complying with national guidelines, policies or laws);
Technical (i.e. ensuring increased interoperability, reducing server load, time taken in website maintenance and better quality websites); and
Business (i.e. realizing that having an accessible website makes good business sense).

This article focuses on the last reason, i.e. business drivers for web accessibility.

Web accessibility means that a website can be accessed completely by all users, regardless of disability or any disabling factor such as illiteracy, old age or limited bandwidth. Compliance with the Web Content Access Guidelines (WCAG) will ensure that a website will be equally accessible to all disabled users, irrespective of the type of disability (visual, motor, auditory, cognitive or persons who are prone to seizures). Contrary to common belief, an accessible website is not necessarily a boring one. In fact, often times, the difference between an accessible and an inaccessible website may not be evident visually, but only upon use.

It is important for business houses to bear in mind that making websites accessible not only benefits persons with disabilities, but is helpful to every user. For instance, captioning of videos for the deaf will also benefit illiterate persons and persons having limited bandwidth, who constitute a sizeable percentage of the Indian population. Furthermore, nearly everyone benefits from clearly structured content, easy navigation and illustrated graphics. There are over a billion persons with disabilities living around the world, over 70 million in India alone and some surveys also estimate that one fifth of internet users have some form of disability or disabling condition. Hence companies which ensure that their web sites are accessible will be assured of a much wider reach than companies whose websites are not accessible.

An important aspect of creating an accessible website is that if a website is designed and developed in an accessible manner from the very beginning, its cost would exceed the cost of creating an inaccessible web site by perhaps merely 2%. However, on the other hand, if one were to have to retrofit accessibility features into a website, the cost and effort would be the same as that of creating an entirely new site. Furthermore, while the website would become accessible, the maintenance and day to day activities on it would also need to continue to be accessible. An accessible web site enhances ease of maintenance and scalability. Companies must also ensure that the developers maintaining the website must have a good understanding of WCAG.

Perhaps one of the biggest advantages of having an accessible web site is that it also increases its chances of ranking and visibility amongst search engines. There is a significant overlap between guidelines for accessibility and SEO. For instance, both of them require alternative text for graphics, clearly defined heading structures, identification of language of pages and page content, descriptive links etc. Having an accessible website will ensure that it can be accessed on new browsing technologies and platforms, like mobile phones and PDAs. Not only is navigation and usability enhanced, but the separation of content from presentation drastically reduces the download time of accessible web sites, rendering it a pleasurable experience for users to visit the web site.

There is a clear business case in creating products and web sites which are accessible. This is evident in the fact that some of the largest and most successful companies in the world have incorporated accessibility and universal design in their products and services. For instance,

Apple has been committed to accessibility since 1985 and its accessibility website3 features all its accessibility technologies for persons with disabilities as well as other third party products. Apple has integrated universal access into its operating system so that they are usable with Apple and other products.

The accessibility statement on the web site of General Electric4 gives details of its ongoing work on the accessibility of its website and a disabled user can track the company's progress by reading this page. It also provides a help facility for persons who are unable to use the site due to access problems.

A stunning example of a company which has made huge business profits through application of universal design principles in its products is that of NTT DoCoMo which came out with its accessible line of mobile phones called the “Raku-Raku” phone and rapidly captured the majority market share of mobile phones in Japan. The company has sold up to 20 million5 handsets as of July 2011 since its inception and released 18 models.

Some further examples of companies which are committed to accessibility are Cisco Systems Inc.6, AT&T Services Inc.7, France Telecom8, Google9, Hewlett-Packard10, IBM11, Microsoft Corporation12, Nokia13 and Vodafone14. The web sites of these companies have detailed information on the key areas of their accessibility work.

It is therefore clear that companies are increasingly recognizing the wisdom of unlocking their content to a larger audience. Not only do they increase their customer base, but also are able to garner loyalty from their customers as well as bolster their image by showing consideration towards customers with different needs.

The publicity that can be leveraged by business houses on account of their commitment to accessibility and inclusion will go a long way in building a good and lasting relationship with their customers. Hence, companies are strongly urged to make a concerted effort to promote web accessibility through awareness, internal policies and providing requisite training and support. In a world where policy makers are also increasingly becoming aware of the need for web accessibility and mandating it through policies, it will become inevitable for both public and private organizations to have websites which are universally accessible.

Read the original published by NASSCOM Foundation here

Download the entire book here (PDF, 1570 kb)

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/business-case-for-web-accessibility

An Interview of Nirmita Narasimhan on ITU Portal

praskrishna — 2011-11-28T06:36:54Z

ITU Girls in ICT is now online! ITU interviewed Nirmita and published her profile on their website.

Nirmita Narasimhan

Programme Manager
Centre for Internet and Society, India
Centre for Internet and Society, India

Nirmita Narasimhan is a Programme Manager with the Centre for Internet and Society and works on policy research and advocacy related to IP reform and technology access for persons with disabilities. She was awarded the National Award for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities by the President of India in recognition of her work in December 2010. Her work ranges from research and policy drafting and review to advocacy through campaigns, workshops etc.

Nirmita’s current work focuses on copyright reform, accessibility, engaging in international discussions on IP related instruments at the World Intellectual Property Organisation, working with disability organisations, governments and UN bodies in advocating for digital accessibility, promoting open access with the Government of India and other issues which are part of the policy space in ICT accessibility in India. Certain specific areas on which she has worked are formulation of the draft National Electronic Accessibility Policy (with the Department of Information Technology), reviewing the Indian Copyright Act and working towards amendments to the Act to include exceptions and limitations for the print challenged, working at a national level towards support of the World Blind Union treaty at the WIPO, organising workshops on web accessibility for web developers in different cities around the country, working towards making accessible materials available for the visually challenged, creating advocacy resources for disability organisations and policymakers on implementing different aspects of the UNCRPD related to ICT accessibility etc. Nirmita’s work can be viewed at www.cis-india.org. Nirmita has presented papers in international fora like the IGF and the Asia Pacific conference on mainstreaming ICT technologies which was held in Bangkok in August 2009. Her focus was primarily policy formulation for ICT and electronic accessibility. She has also contributed to the G3ICT -ITU e-accessibility toolkit for policymakers which was published on line in February 2010and was editor of its print handbook version which was released in Delhi in October 2010. Since then, Nirmita is also part of the G3ict editorial team. Nirmita participated in the Right to Read event held in the European parliament in May 2010 and participated in the UN expert committee on implementation of the UNCRPD with respect to ICT and electronic accessibility for persons with disabilities in developing countries in June 2010. Nirmita has prepared reports in the capacity of expert for ITU and UNESCO on accessible mobile telephony and accessible ICT for education in the Asia Pacific region.

Nirmita is also a proficient Karnatic classical music singer and has been giving performances for many years now.

What would you say are the most challenging and the most satisfying aspects of your work?

One of the most challenging aspects of my work has been to make people from diverse backgrounds realise the need for accessibility and take action on it. I often encounter ignorance about the needs of persons with disabilities and a lack of sensitivity to their need for independence and dignity. It is very difficult to remain objective when faced with attitudes that consider dependence on others as an inevitable side affect of disability, instead of trying to see how attitudes and procedures can be improved to encourage and support independence. Dealing with people who are closed to new ideas and bringing them to an intelligent comprehension of disability is a difficult task. Another really challenging aspect of my work has been to try and build consensus amongst different organisations to work together towards a common goal.

The most satisfying aspect of my work is seeing the value it provides to people and how lives will become better because of some change I have worked towards bringing about. For instance as a result of the Right to Read campaign, the parliamentary Standing Committee recognised that the proposed wording in the new draft copyright bill was discriminatory and recommended that the concerns of disability groups be taken on board. This amendment will open up the world of books and knowledge to approximately 70 million persons with disabilities in India. Similarly when the Government comes out with an electronic accessibility policy, it will mean that eventually 7000 government web sites will become accessible to persons using assistive technologies. Another example of satisfaction was when the USOF started a process for including persons with disabilities in their pilot project scheme.

What qualifications or certifications did you attain in order to reach your professional goals?

I have a Bachelors degree in law. But more than just qualifications or certifications, I have learnt and achieved mostly through my experience and interaction with people around me.

If there is one message you would like to convey to young women to encourage them to consider a profession in the ICT sector, what would it be?

ICT can truly be a great equalizer since it opens up limitless opportunities for persons with disabilities and the world to benefit from each other. As a person with a disability myself, I have experienced firsthand the transforming power of ICT in my life. Despite not having an ICT background to start with, today I am working in the field of ICT and Accessibility. One of the lessons I have learnt on my journey is that one should not be afraid of trying new things for fear of failure or be hesitant to ask for help in the course of one’s life. Failures and dependence upon people are a part of every person’s life and should not be construed as a sign of individual weakness or weakness stemming from disability. For many people around the world, ICT has made it possible to live more or less independently and participate on an equal basis with the rest of society. I strongly urge all girls and women to take up a career using ICT as it will prove to be an invaluable tool to live a more independent life.

School and Degree Awarded

Bachelor of Law, University of Delhi
Bachelor (Hons) German, Jawaharlal Nehru University
M.Phil (Karnatic Music), University of Delhi

Featured projects

I have worked on several projects over the past few years. I contributed to the G3ict-ITU e-Accessibility Toolkit for Policymakers and was also editor of the print version. My organisation CIS was one of the champions of the Right to Read campaign.

www.e-accessibilitytoolkit.org
www.cis-india.org
http://usof.gov.in/usof-cms/disabled.htm

On line bio/story

Online bio

Read the original published by ITU here

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/interview-with-nirmita

The Case for Accessible Banking

Dinesh Kaushal — 2012-01-03T04:54:14Z

Dinesh Kaushal examines the state of accessibility of banking services in India. By giving concrete examples of shortcomings in existing ATMs and net banking facilities which make it difficult for persons with disabilities to do electronic transactions, Dinesh urges banks to make a move to upgrade their ATMs and make their web services accessible.

The Automated Teller Machine (ATM) with its facility for withdrawing cash on the go and transacting banking business through internet has become a vital aspect of everyday life. It is important for independent living and this facility should be made available universally, particularly for the disabled for whom visiting the banks may be difficult. However, despite a universal recognition of the importance of this facility, only a few countries have taken the necessary steps to enable it for persons with disabilities.

ATM machines and net banking have brought comfort for every one of us except for a few who are unable to use such conveniences. In India, although the Reserve Bank of India appears to have identified this as a needful area, barely a handful of accessible ATMs are available for use by persons with disabilities. There are people who can't see, who can't walk or use their hands and more often than not persons with such disabilities are dependent on family members or friends to use ATM facilities like withdrawing cash, checking mini statements, requesting for a new chequebook, transferring funds, etc. This needs to change. A better tomorrow can be made only if we start moving now.

Technology and careful consideration can make a major difference between frustrating limitations and exhilarating independence. Technology has radically transformed the way persons with disabilities live their daily lives. For example, a blind person can today browse the internet, communicate through e-mails, and read and write documents with the assistance of a special software called screen reader that speaks out the text on the computer screen. It was unimaginable for a blind person to read or write printed text prior to the arrival of computers. Despite these advancements, the impact of technology is yet to be seen in some areas.

The advent of ATM and internet banking could potentially make persons with disabilities more independent in respect of personal financial matters. Someone who can’t walk could do most of the transactions from his or her home, without the hassle of going to the bank. Similarly, a blind person could use the bank’s website to make payments without worrying about the hassle of having to deal with print document such as cheques or other bank documents.

As we know, an ATM is used to withdraw money from the bank or to do other transactions that help us to operate our bank accounts such as checking our bank balances or ordering cheque books. An ATM's interface is mostly visual. We go to an ATM machine, look at the machine to know where to insert the ATM card, and then interact with the screen that helps us to complete our transactions.

A blind person or an illiterate person can't read the ATM screen. They would need the help of another person to operate it. But many a times, it is impossible to find someone who can help to access the ATM machine, and even if one can find help, it is often impossible to find a trustworthy person with whom one’s bank details can be shared.

Accessing an ATM is also challenging for wheelchair bound persons and even though such persons can read the screen of an ATM machine, they find it difficult to reach the machine itself because often there are stairs to reach the room where the ATM machine is kept. Furthermore, even where they manage to get inside, the screen and keypad of the ATM machine are often too high to be operated by someone seated on a wheelchair. A physically disabled person might have to hand over his ATM card and pin to someone to withdraw cash on his behalf.

There are similar problems with net banking. Net banking makes it easy to do various transactions from the comforts of our home, and for persons with disabilities it can become a blessing. Many of the offline transactions that could be daunting for persons with disabilities can be easily done on an accessible website. For example, a blind person will definitely need help to write cheques or read printed bank statements, but the same transactions can be done independently through net banking with the help of a talking computer or a talking mobile phone. Net banking websites must be made accessible so that persons with disabilities can use them. But many net banking websites are not developed using standard web technologies such as proper html tags and Accessible Rich Internet Applications for complex applications, making it difficult for a person with disability to use such websites independently. For example, tabular information can be shown just by arranging it with tabs and spaces, but such arrangement makes it difficult for assistive software to allow meaningful interaction with the table. Instead of table with spaces and tabs, html provides tags to mark such table elements, and assistive technology allows keystrokes to explore such tables. For example, Citibank’s statements provide all entries of one column as one cell so all entries’ details are in one cell, and their amounts or other information is in another cell. However, for a person using assistive technology, it is easy if each entry has its own cell and each entry is in a row. Without proper table marking it is difficult to match each entry’s details.

There are standards and technologies that make it possible for a person with disability to access websites and ATM machines, such as text to speech or ability to playback audio files for ATMs and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 for websites. But technology doesn’t work on its own alone. Application of accessible technology requires willingness of the banks and other parties. For example, ATM manufactures often have ATM machines that can start talking with very few modifications such as the mere addition of audio recordings for the messages on screen, and most of the accessibility problems with net banking websites are minor fixes as well. For example, one such problem is where a bank’s website may be mostly accessible, but its net banking portal (the interface that is used during making payments for online transactions) may not have the option to enter the password with the keyboard, although the same bank’s site would allow entry of the password with the keyboard during the normal login process. Even though such fixes do not require expensive modifications, it is hard to find accessible ATM machines and accessible websites.

A talking ATM is the regular ATM with an additional module that allows a blind person to get the information in audio format. A talking ATM could be configured so that when a user plugs in a headphone in the audio jack, the ATM would start talking to the person with audio messages. This interface is similar to the IVR that we use in phone banking. Providing audio messages via a headphone jack is safe as well. Installing talking ATM technology is not very expensive. It might range anywhere between Rs. 25,000 and Rs. 50,000.[1]

It is understandable that banks can't upgrade all the ATM machines simultaneously, but they must start somewhere, so they may try any one of the following:

Make sure that all new ATM installations are audio enabled, as all major ATM manufacturers now produce talking ATMs including: Triton, NCR, Wincor-Nixdorf, Diebold, and Fujitsu.
Evaluate all the existing ATM machines to find out if they can be converted to talking ATM machines by only upgrading the software. If that is the case, upgrade the software with the help of the manufacturer.
Find out if the remaining ATM machines can be converted to talking ATM machines by adding special hardware. The manufacturer of that ATM would be able to provide such hardware.
For the rest of the ATM machines, mark them and when possible replace them with new machines.

To understand how talking ATM machines work, you can either check out the ATMs of the Punjab National Bank or IndusInd Bank or listen to an online recording of episode 138 of a radio show Eyeway Yeh Hai Roshni Ka Karwan. The discussion about talking ATM starts after 9 minutes 20 seconds of the episode.[2]

In order to make banking more accessible, make sure that the following strategies are followed:

Start with good usability practices such as the full participation of persons with disabilities during the implementation of accessible features. For example, involvement of blind persons in evaluating the effectiveness of the speech quality and information spoken by the talking ATM would make it possible to develop systems that are usable.
Ensure that there is a fair representation of various disabilities. Make it possible for people who use wheelchairs to reach the ATM.
For the net banking to be accessible, Web Content Accessibility Guidelines should be followed, and the websites must be tested by persons with disabilities.

Accessible banking is good business as well as social responsibility of the banks. In India, this has even been acknowledged by the RBI, which has issued a notification (DBOD.No.Leg.BC.123 /09.07.005/2008-09)[3] suggesting that at least one-third of the new ATMs of all banks must be accessible. There are already some examples such as the Punjab National Bank that has a few talking ATM machines in Jaipur. State bank of India had announced in January 2010 that it will install 7000 talking ATMs,[4] but but we do not know what is the status now. Another problem is that many ATMs have limited accessibility such as talking welcome message or signout message, but that does not pass as accessible ATM. We must at least achieve the target set by the RBI.

Some countries have already implemented talking ATMs on a very large scale. For example, in the United States one in every four ATMs are talking ATMs. In Canada, there is a national standard (CSA B651.1-09 - Accessible design for automated banking machines). This standard is available for purchase for the implementation of accessible ATMs. In 2011 UK's leading charity for blind and partially sighted people, RNIB, launched a campaign to get major banks to install talking cash machines.

Financial independence in the true sense is possible only when a blind person or someone who is in a wheelchair can perform all banking transactions without the need of help from someone else.

Notes
[1].This information is provided by Dinesh Gujjar, see the acknowledgement below.
[2].The episode can be downloaded at http://www.inclusiveplanet.com/en/book/524145
[3].http://www.rbi.org.in/commonman/English/scripts/Notification.aspx?Id=408
[4]. http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/sbi-to-install-7000-talking-atms-for-visually-challenged/82526/on

Acknowledgement and reference

The information regarding accessible banking in foreign countries and names of ATM manufacturers who provide accessible ATM machines has been obtained from the “make money talk” campaign report – RNIB. http://www.rnib.org.uk/getinvolved/campaign/yourmoney/cashmachine/Pages/make_money_talk.aspx
Some background information is also available at the talking ATM page of the Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talking_ATM
I am thankful to Dinesh Gujjar of Punjab National Bank for providing me the information about PNB's talking ATM machines and existence of the RBI notification that requests banks to provide one-third ATMs as talking ATMs.
I am also thankful to Pranay Gadodia and Satguru Rathi from Eyeway for connecting me with Dinesh Gujjar and providing me with the text of the RBI notification mentioned above.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/accessible-banking

e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities (Russian Version)

praskrishna — 2012-04-26T10:04:08Z

The e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities is based upon the online ITU-G3ict e-Accessibility Policy Toolkit for Persons with Disabilities (www.e-accessibilitytoolkit.org) which was released in February 2010. This is the Russian translation of the same.

The Toolkit and its companion handbook have contributions from more than 60 experts around the world on ICT accessibility and is a most valuable addition to policy makers and regulators, advocacy and research organisations and persons with disabilities on the implementation of the ICT dispositions of the CRPD.

The handbook is a joint publication of ITU, G3ict and the Centre for Internet and Society, in cooperation with The Hans Foundation. The book is compiled and edited by Nirmita Narasimhan. Preface by Dr. Hamadoun I. Toure, Secretary-General, International Telecommunication Union. Introduction by Dr. Sami Al-Basheer, Director, ITU-D. Foreword by Axel Leblois, Executive Director, G3ict.

UNIC Moscow (United Nations Information Centre - Moscow) has translated the English version of the kit to Russian. For more information on the translation initiative by UNIC Moscow, click here.

Download the Russian version here (PDF, 1045 kb)

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/e-accessibility-kit-in-russian

Indian Government Websites Not Accessible Enough for the Disabled

Srinivasu Chakravarthula — 2011-11-08T05:50:32Z

Innumerable websites! All are citizen centric. But are they accessible to you? Srinivasu Chakravarthula examines this and stresses that website owners need to follow the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 to enable persons with disabilities and the elderly to surf portals more effectively.

Today, there are about 7800 Central and state government websites hosted by the National Informatics Centre (NIC). They are all certainly citizen centric – whether it is the Ministry of Finance, banks, the passport authority, educational board, transport, consumer affairs, or the most important website that generates revenue for the government – the Income Tax Department.

However, the question which we need to ask is whether these websites are up-to-date and accessible to everyone? Internet is often more useful to people who are elderly and for people having disabilities.

So what does accessibility really mean? Accessibility is nothing but ensuring that information and functionality is available to all users including people with disabilities. The Accessibility Guidelines identify an accessible website as one which can be perceived, operated, understood and is robust. Today, thanks to the advancement of technology, people with disabilities are able to use computers and perform every task that others do. For example, a visually impaired person uses the screen reader to access the computer; a deaf blind user uses a refreshable Braille display, hearing impaired persons rely on captions to understand the multimedia, learning disabled users rely on image based content and elderly people prefer to see large fonts and so on. In addition, there are lots of features available in the browser itself. For instance, in Firefox, we can increase the font size by using the key combination of CTRL and Plus and can also change the contrast of the page.

Having said that, website owners need to follow the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 to enable people with disabilities and the elderly to surf the Web more effectively. In India, the Government of India and the state governments need to follow the Guidelines for Indian Government Websites (GIGW) formulated by NIC.

A brief survey of some 1500 of these websites revealed that barely one per cent of these meet the requirements of the above guidelines. Many of them are not up-to-date and some don’t even reveal their government identity that could actually make users think of authentication.

The websites were checked for their elements and their mark-up; which means, audit was conducted to see text alternatives for non-text elements such as images, videos, buttons, etc. Other criteria were the presence of heading structures, associated labels for form fields, grouping of form elements, keyboard access for navigation, slide shows and other media, links and image maps. The test also checked to see if rich functionality works with keyboard and on text browsers; whether flash content works well with screen readers and documents are verified for accessibility; in addition, websites were checked for the colour contrast.

The methodology used to test the websites was a combination of automated and manual testing. The initial testing was done using the automated evaluation tool WAVE, a Firefox add-on which checked for errors and features, structure, outline of the website, simulation of text version and simulation with no styles. This was followed by a manual check for appropriate text alternatives, heading structure, form labels, colour contrast, etc. The test revealed that most of the websites were not accessible, merely due to the lack of semantic mark up and common errors, some of which are described below:

No text alternatives for images – Without text alternatives, neither screen reader users nor search engines and those who disable display of the images on the browser can perceive information about the image.
No associated labels for form fields – Without associated labels, screen readers will treat the form fields as orphan form fields with no labels and read them as "unlabelled"fields. Hence, it will be impossible for visually impaired users to fill in those forms.
No heading structure defined – This would create an issue both for search engines as well as persons with disabilities. Assistive technologies such as screen readers usually have access keys for users to quickly navigate a page, which rely on the mark-up.
Deprecated Marquee has been used – This is a deprecated element in HTML and ought not be used anymore.
No keyboard functionality for flash content and drop down menus – Without keyboard support, people with mobility limitations and visually impaired or elderly users and those who do not wish to use the mouse cannot perceive the information.
Not enough government identity is present – It is GIGW’s requirement that all government websites should display government’s identity through emblems.
Several websites have poor color contrast – This will prevent people who are elderly and persons with low vision from easily identifying the content of a web page.
Several websites have used table based layouts – This is not the best practice to control the layout; one should use Cascading Style Sheets (CSS).
Information is cluttered in some well known websites such as that of the Income Tax department – It will be difficult to perceive information easily by people who are elderly, who have low vision, have learning disabilities and those who surf the Web through mobile devices.
Several websites do not have a mechanism to send feedback – It is again a GIGW requirement that every website should have such a mechanism.
There is no mechanism to skip the navigational module – This is an extremely useful feature to help screen readers and keyboard users to skip navigational links and directly access the main content.
No accessibility options such as large text or colour schemes are provided – This would be helpful to less experienced users who are as yet unaware of in-built browser options.
Several forms do not have a mechanism for error handling – It is necessary to inform users about errors before submitting the form.
Several websites do not have appropriate page titles – Page titles help users to know where they are on their computer.
Many websites do not have site map – This is an easy way to have access to all the pages at one place.

Hence, there is a lot to be done to actually enable every citizen to use these citizen centric websites. There are guidelines in place at http://web.guidelines.gov.in and it's time for every ministry to ensure successful implementation and to make their portals accessible to all.

Srinivasu Chakravarthula is an accessibility manager at Yahoo, India and has several years of experience in the field of website accessibility.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/govt-websites-not-accessible

CIS-TWN Analysis of WIPO Treaty for the Print Disabled (SCCR/22/15)

pranesh — 2011-10-12T08:29:01Z

CIS and the Third World Network (TWN) conducted a quick analysis of the "Consensus document on an international instrument on limitations and exceptions for persons with print disabilities presented by Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, and the United States of America" presented as WIPO document numbered SCCR/22/15.

SCCR/22/15

ORIGINAL: English

DATE: June 20, 2011

Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights

Twenty-Second Session Geneva, June 15 to 24, 2011

Consensus document on an international instrument on limitations and exceptions for persons with print disabilities presented by Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, and the United States of America

PREAMBLE

Recalling the principles of non-discrimination, equal opportunity and access, proclaimed in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities,

Mindful of the obstacles that are prejudicial to human development and the fulfillment of disabled persons with regard to education, research, access to information and communication,

Emphasizing the importance of copyright protection as an incentive for literary and artistic creation and enhancing opportunities for everyone to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits,

Recognizing the importance of both accessibility to the achievement of equal opportunities in all spheres of society and of the protection of the rights of authors in their literary and artistic works in a manner as effective and uniform as possible,

Aware of the many barriers to access to information and communication experienced by persons who are blind or have limited vision, or have other disabilities regarding access to published works,

Aware that the majority of visually impaired persons/persons with a print disability live in countries of low or moderate incomes,

Desiring to provide full and equal access to information, culture and communication for the visually impaired persons/persons with a print disability and, towards that end, considering the need both to expand the number of works in accessible formats and to improve access to those works,

Recognizing the opportunities and challenges for the visually impaired/persons with a print disability presented by the development of new information and communication technologies, including technological publishing and communication platforms that are transnational in nature,

Recognizing the need to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers,

Aware that national copyright legislation is territorial in nature, and where activity is undertaken across jurisdictions, uncertainty regarding the legality of activity undermines the development and use of new technologies and services that can potentially improve the lives of the visually impaired/persons with print disabilities,

Recognizing the large number of Members who, to that end, have established exceptions and limitations in their national copyright laws for visually impaired persons/persons with a print disability, yet the continuing shortage of works in ~~special~~accessible formats for such persons,

Recognizing that the preference is for works to be made accessible by rightholders to people with disabilities at publication and that, to the extent that the market is unable to provide appropriate access to works for visually impaired persons/persons with a print disability, it is recognized that alternative measures are needed to improve such access,

Recognizing the need to maintain a balance between the rights of authors and the larger public interest, particularly education, research and access to information, and that such a balance must facilitate effective and timely access to works for the benefit of visually impaired persons/persons with a print disability,

Emphasizing the importance and flexibility of the three-step test for limitations and exceptions established in Article 9(2) of the Berne Convention and other international instruments,

Considering the discussions within the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights on the issue of exceptions and limitations for the benefit of visually impaired persons/persons with a print disability and the various proposals tabled by Member States,

Prompted by a desire to contribute to the implementation of the relevant recommendations of the Development Agenda of the World Intellectual Property Organization,

Taking into account the importance of an international legal instrument/joint recommendation/treaty both to increase the number and range of accessible format works available to visually impaired persons/persons with a print disability in the world and to provide the necessary minimum flexibilities in copyright laws that are needed to ensure full and equal access to information and communication for persons who are visually impaired/have a print disability in order to support their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others and to ensure the opportunity to develop and utilize their creative, artistic and intellectual potential, for their own benefit and for the enrichment of society,

Have agreed as follows:

ARTICLE A

DEFINITIONS

For purposes of these provisions

"work" means a work in which copyright subsists, whether published or otherwise made publicly available in any media.

"accessible format copy" means a copy of a work in an alternative manner or form which gives a beneficiary person access to the work, including to permit the person to have access as feasibly and comfortably as a person without a print disability. The accessible format copy must respect the integrity of the original work and be used exclusively by beneficiary persons~~persons with print disabilities~~.¹

[Possible enumeration of different formats.]²

"authorized entity" means a governmental agency, a non-profit entity or an~~non-profit~~ organization³ that has as one of its ~~primary missions~~activities to assist persons with print disabilities by providing them with services relating to education, training, adaptive reading, or information access.

An authorized entity maintains policies and procedures to establish the bona fide nature of persons with print disabilities that they serve.

An authorized entity has the trust of both persons with print disabilities and copyright rights holders. It is understood that to obtain the trust of rightholders and beneficiary persons, it is not necessary to require the prior permission of said rightholders or beneficiary persons.⁴

~~If an authorized entity is a nation-wide network of organizations, then all organizations, institutions, and entities that participate in the network must adhere to these characteristics.~~

"reasonable price for developed countries" 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.

"reasonable price for developing countries" means that the accessible format copy of the work is available at prices that are affordable in that market, taking into account the humanitarian needs of persons with print disabilities.

References to 'copyright' include copyright and any relevant rights related to copyright that are provided by a Contracting Party in compliance with ~~the Rome Convention, the TRIPS Agreement, the WPPT or otherwise~~any applicable international treaties or otherwise.⁵

ARTICLE B

BENEFICIARY PERSONS

A beneficiary person is a person who

is blind;
has a visual impairment or a perceptual or reading disability, such as dyslexia, which cannot be improved by the use of corrective lenses to give visual function substantially equivalent to that of a person who has no such impairment or disability and so is unable to read printed works to substantially the same degree as a person without an impairment or disability; or
is unable, through physical disability, to hold or manipulate a book or to focus or move the eyes to the extent that would be normally acceptable for reading.

ARTICLE C

NATIONAL LAW EXCEPTIONS ON ACCESSIBLE FORMAT COPIES

Member State/Contracting Party should/shall provide in their national copyright law for an exception or limitation to the right of reproduction, the right of distribution and the right of making available to the public, as defined in article 8 of the WCT, for beneficiary persons as defined herein.
A Member State/Contracting Party may fulfill Article C (1) by providing an exception or limitation in its national copyright law such that
1. Authorized entities shall be permitted without the authorization of the owner of copyright to make an accessible format copy of a work, supply that accessible format copy or an accessible format copy obtained from another authorized entity to a beneficiary person by any means, including by non-commercial lending or by electronic communication by wire or wireless means, and undertake any intermediate steps to achieve these objectives, when all of the following conditions are met:
  1. the authorized entity wishing to undertake said activity has lawful access to that work or a copy of that work;
  2. the work is converted to an accessible format copy, which may include any means needed to navigate information in the accessible format, but does not introduce changes other than those needed to make the work accessible to the beneficiary person;
  3. copies of the work in the accessible format are supplied exclusively to be used by beneficiary persons; and
  4. ~~4. the activity is undertaken on a non-profit basis.~~ ⁶
  5. A beneficiary person or someone acting on his or her behalf may make an accessible format copy of a work for the personal use of the beneficiary person where the beneficiary person has lawful access to that work or a copy of that work.
2. A Member State/Contracting Party may fulfill Article C (1) by providing any other exception or limitation in its national copyright law that is limited to certain special cases which do not conflict with a normal exploitation of the work and do not unreasonably prejudice the legitimate interests of the right holder.
3. The Member State/Contracting Party may limit said exceptions or limitations to published works which, in the applicable ~~special~~accessible format, cannot be otherwise obtained within a reasonable time and at a reasonable price.
4. It shall be a matter for national law to determine whether exceptions or limitations referred to in this Article are subject to remuneration.
ARTICLE D

CROSS-BORDER EXCHANGE OF ACCESSIBLE FORMAT COPIES
1. Member States/Contracting Parties should/shall provide that if an accessible format copy of a work is made under an exception or limitation or export license in their national law, that accessible format copy may be distributed or made available to a beneficiary person in another Member State/Contracting Party by an authorized entity ~~where that other Member State/Contracting Party would permit that beneficiary person to make or import that accessible copy~~.⁷
2. A Member State/Contracting Party may fulfill Article D(1) by providing an exception or limitation in its national copyright law such that:
  1. Authorized entities shall be permitted without the authorization of the owner of copyright to distribute or make available accessible format copies to authorized entities in other Member States/Contracting Parties for the exclusive use of persons with print disabilities, where such activity is undertaken on a non-profit basis.⁸
  2. Authorized entities shall be permitted without the authorization of the owner of copyright to distribute or make available accessible format copies to persons with print disabilities in other Member States/Contracting Parties where the authorized entity has verified the individual is properly entitled to receive such accessible format copies under that other Member State/Contracting Party's national law.⁹
The Member State/Contracting Party may limit said distribution or making available to published works which, in the applicable ~~special~~accessible format, cannot be otherwise obtained within a reasonable time and at a reasonable price, in the country of importation.
1. Without prejudice to other exceptions to the exclusive rights of authors that are otherwise permitted by the Berne Convention or the TRIPS Agreement, a Member State/Contracting Party may fulfill Article D(1) by providing any other exception or limitation in its national copyright law that is limited to certain special cases which do not conflict with a normal exploitation of the work and do not unreasonably prejudice the legitimate interests of the right holder.
ARTICLE E

IMPORTATION OF ACCESSIBLE FORMAT COPIES

To the extent that national law would permit a beneficiary person or an authorized entity acting on the beneficiary person’s behalf to make an accessible format copy of a work, the national law should/shall permit a beneficiary person or an authorized entity acting on that person's behalf to import an accessible format copy.¹⁰

ARTICLE F

CIRCUMVENTION OF TECHNOLOGICAL PROTECTION MEASURES

Member States/Contracting Parties should/shall ensure that beneficiaries of the exception provided by Article C have the means to enjoy the exception where technological protection measures have been applied to a work.

In the absence of voluntary measures by rightholders and to the extent that copies of the work in the accessible format are not available commercially at a reasonable price or via authorized entities, Member States/Contracting Parties should/shall take appropriate measures to ensure that beneficiaries of the exception provided by Article C have the means of benefiting from that exception when technical protection measures have been applied to a work, to the extent necessary to benefit from that exception.¹¹

~~ARTICLE G~~

~~RELATIONSHIP WITH CONTRACTS~~

~~Nothing herein shall prevent Member States/Contracting Parties from addressing the relationship of contract law and statutory exceptions and limitations for beneficiary persons.~~

ARTICLE H

RESPECT FOR PRIVACY

In the implementation of these exceptions and limitations, Member States/Contracting Parties should/shall endeavour to protect the privacy of beneficiary persons on an equal basis with others.

[End of document]
1. This change must be replicated everywhere where appropriate. ↩
2. Formats should not be enumerated, since even the disabilities are not enumerated. ↩
3. Non-profit organizations alone cannot cope with the needs of visually impaired people in the developing world. Thus, while it may sound like the ideal, it is impractical given the realities of the situation in the developing world. ↩
4. A "trust" system would make it impossible for developing countries to actualize these provisions. If despite this, copyright infringement happens, then national remedies exist for such infringement. ↩
5. To clarify: what is the purpose of these and not mentioning WCT, Berne, etc.? ↩
6. To be deleted for the same reasons as above. Non-profit basis, if insisted upon, can be retained in Article D(2)(A), but not here. ↩
7. Import law provisions are already there in Article E, and should remain there. In Art. E, it states, “shall permit” import, and here, “would permit”. ↩
8. This instance of "non-profit basis" may be retained if necessary. ↩
9. To clarify: what would such verification require? Would self-certification suffice? ↩
10. It should be clarified, possibly through an agreed statement, that nothing in this article shall derogate from the flexibility provided in Art. 6 of the TRIPS Agreement, which allows for countries to provide international exhaustion.
  
  Thus, if the principle of international exhaustion is in place (i.e., parallel importation is allowed), then importation can be carried out by anyone, and not just by a beneficiary person or an authorized entity. ↩
11. This second paragraph weakens the principle established in the first by adding more conditions. They are almost phrased as alternatives, and the first alternative (paragraph) is the better one. ↩

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/cis-analysis-july2011-treaty-print-disabilities

September 2011 Bulletin

praskrishna — 2012-07-30T06:34:19Z

Greetings from the Centre for Internet and Society! In this issue we are pleased to present you the latest updates about our research, upcoming events, and news and media coverage that happened in the month of September 2011.

Researchers@Work

RAW is a multidisciplinary research initiative. CIS believes that in order to understand the contemporary concerns in the field of Internet and society, it is necessary to produce local and contextual accounts of the interaction between the Internet and socio-cultural and geo-political structures. To build original research base, the RAW programme has been collaborating with different organizations and individuals in order to focus on its two year thematic of Histories of the Internets in India. Five monographs were recently launched at a workshop, Locating Internets: Histories of the Internet(s) in India — Research Training and Curriculum held in Ahmedabad from 19 to 22 August 2011.

Re:Wiring Bodies by Asha Achuthan
The Last Cultural Mile by Ashish Rajadhyaksha
Porn: Law, Video, Technology by Namita A Malhotra
Archives and Access by Aparna Balachandran and Rochelle Pinto
Internet, Society and Space in Indian Cities by Pratyush Shankar

Digital Natives with a Cause?

Digital Natives with a Cause? is a knowledge programme initiated by CIS, India and Hivos, Netherlands. It is a research inquiry that seeks to look at the changing landscape of social change and political participation and 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 want to critically engage with the dominant discourse on youth, technology and social change, in order to look at the alternative practices and ideas in the Global South. It also aims at building new ecologies that amplify and augment the interventions and actions of the digitally young as they shape our futures.

Featured Publication

Digital AlterNatives with a Cause? - This collaboratively produced collective, edited by Nishant Shah and Fieke Jansen, asks critical and pertinent questions about theory and practice around ‘digital revolutions’ in a post MENA (Middle East - North Africa) world. It works with multiple vocabularies and frameworks and produces dialogues and conversations between digital natives, academic and research scholars, practitioners, development agencies and corporate structures to examine the nature and practice of digital natives in emerging contexts from the Global South.

Book Review

Digital (Alter)Natives with a Cause? — Book Review by Maarten van den Berg - The books come in a beautifully designed cassette and are accompanied by a funky yellow package in the shape of a floppy disk containing the booklet ‘D:coding Digital Natives’, a corresponding DVD, and a pack of postcards portraying the evolution of writing - in the sentence ‘I love you’, written with a goose feather in 1734, to the character set ‘i<3u’ entered on a mobile device in 2011, writes Maarten van den Berg. The review was published in "The Broker" on 19 September 2011.

Event Organised

Digital AlterNatives book launch – CIS and Hivos launched this book at the Museum for Communication, Hague on 16 September 2011.

Accessibility

Estimates of the percentage of the world's population that is disabled vary considerably. But what is certain is that if we count functional disability, then a large proportion of the world's population is disabled in one way or another. At CIS we work to ensure that the digital technologies, which empower disabled people and provide them with independence, are allowed to do so in practice and by the law. To this end, we support web accessibility guidelines, and change in copyright laws that currently disempower the persons with disabilities.

Event Participated

Stakeholders Meeting of the USOF on Facilitating ICT Access to Persons with Disabilities in Rural Areas, on 7 September 2011. Nirmita Narasimhan made a presentation.

Access to Knowledge

Access to Knowledge is a campaign to promote the fundamental principles of justice, freedom, and economic development. It deals with issues like copyrights, patents, and trademarks, which are an important part of the digital landscape. CIS believes that access to knowledge and culture is essential, and such access promotes creativity and innovation, and helps bridge the differences between the developing and developed worlds in a positive manner. Towards this end, CIS is campaigning for an international treaty on copyright exceptions for print-challenged people, advocating against laws (such as the PUPFIP Bill) that privatize public-funded knowledge, call for the WIPO Broadcast Treaty to be restricted to broadcast, question the demonization of 'pirates', and support endeavours that explore and question the current copyright regime.

New Blog Entries

Copyright Amendment Bill in Parliament by Nirmita Narasimhan, 30 August 2011.
Photocopying the past by Sunil Abraham in the Indian Express, 2 September 2011.
Calling Out the BSA on Its BS by Pranesh Prakash, 9 September 2011.

Internet Governance

Internet technologies have fundamentally questioned the notion of governance, not only at the level of administration but also at the level of mechanisms of control, regulation and shaping of the individual. e-Governance initiatives, in combination with other regimes of surveillance, control and censorship, are redefining what it means to be a citizen, a subject, and an individual. We look at questions of governance — at the micro level of the individual and the private (family, relationships, community structures, etc.) as well as the level of governmentality — at the macro level of nation state, citizenship, market economies, and the public (spaces of consumption, work, leisure, political engagement, etc.) under the umbrella of digital governance.

New Blog Entry

Understanding the Right to Information by Elonnai Hickok, 28 September 2011.

Events Organised

Using the Internet as a Tool for Political Change: Lessons Learned and Way Forward, IGF, Nairobi, 27 September 2011.

Telecom

The growth in telecommunications in India has been impressive. While the potential for growth and returns exist, a range of issues need to be addressed for this potential to be realized. One aspect is more extensive rural coverage and the second aspect is a countrywide access to broadband which is low at about eight million subscriptions. Both require effective and efficient use of networks and resources, including spectrum. It is imperative to resolve these issues in the common interest of users and service providers.

Articles by Shyam Ponappa

Shyam Ponappa is a Distinguished Fellow at CIS. He writes regularly on Telecom issues in the Business Standard and these articles are mirrored on the CIS website.

Reviving Growth, published in the Business Standard on 1 September 2011.

Event Organised

Open Spectrum for Development in the Context of the Digital Migration, IGF, Nairobi, 29 September 2011.

Miscellaneous

Film Screening

Screening of Partners in Crime, Vikalp@Smriti Nandan along with CIS screened the film and followed it with a discussion with the director of the film, Paromita Vohra, Smriti Nandan Cultural Centre, 9 September 2011.
Prime Security: The Mathematics of RSA Encryption, a one-day workshop with Rohit Gupta, a leading Mathematician.

News & Media Coverage

India's social media "spring" masks forgotten protests [Alistair Scrutton in Reuters, 25 August 2011].
Social media holds the key to Hazare's campaign success [Alistair Scrutton in NEWS.scotsman.com, 26 August 2011].
Digital divide: Why Irom Sharmila can’t do an Anna [FirstPost.Ideas, 25 August 2011].
When revolutions go viral [Times of India (Crescent Edition), 27 August 2011].
IBSA Seminar on Global Internet Governance, organised by the Brazilian Ministry of External Relations, with support from the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br) and the Center for Technology & Society (CTS/FGV) and governmental and non- governmental actors from India, Brazil and South Africa, 1 to 2 September 2011, Fundacao Getulio Vargas (FGV) - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Pranesh Prakash participated in this event.
Copyrights Amendment Bill to Be Tabled in Indian Parliament – Parallel Import provisions have Been Removed [Mike Palmedo in infojustice.org, 5 September 2011]
The Power of Information: New Technologies for Philanthropy and Development [Indigo Trust, 15 September 2011]. Sunil Abraham participated in this event. A video of his speech is now available on YouTube.
Planning Commission, Census 2011 and India Post using social media to understand people's pulse better [Vikas Kumar in the Economic Times, 20 September 2011]
The Impact of Regulation: FOSS and Enterprise, organised by FOSSFA and ICFOSS, IGF, Nairobi, 28 September 2011.
Privacy, Security, and Access to Rights: A Technical and Policy Analyses, organised by Expression Technologies, IGF, Nairobi, 29 September 2011.
Putting Users First: How Can Privacy be Protected in Today’s Complex Mobile Ecosystem?, organised by GSM Association, 29 September 2011.
The Truman Show, in Kerala [Times of India, posted on CIS website on 23 September 2011].
Making a difference, online and offline [LiveMint, 27 September 2011].

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CIS is grateful to 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/september-2011-bulletin

Centre for Internet and Society

Web Accessibility Policy Making: An International Perspective

Foreword by Axel Leblois

Technology for Accessibility in Higher Education

Mobile technologies and enlightened service packages help persons with disabilities connect to new opportunities

Inputs for NTP 2011

Spectrum Management

De-licensing additional spectrum

Licensing, Convergence and Value Added Services

Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities

Specific recommendations

Mission

Objectives

Universal Service Obligation Fund

Broadband and universal service

Specific recommendation

Multi stakeholder approach

Specific recommendations

Academia and R&D institutions.

Implementation and monitoring

Protection of consumer interests

Regulation

Specific recommendation

Universal Service for Persons with Disabilities: A Global Survey of Policy Interventions and Good Practices

Foreword

Introduction

Accessibility in the New Telecom Policy 2011

Demographic case

Legal case

Global best practices:

Challenges to disability access to telecommunications in India:

Recommendation

Annexure – List of Signatories

ITU Tutorial on Audiovisual Media Accessibility

Watch the event Live

Background

Objectives

Audience

Tutors

Draft Programme

FG AVA Tutorial Programme - 14-15 March 2012

Related Information

Documentation and Registration

Nirmita receives NIVH Award

The Business Case for Web Accessibility

An Interview of Nirmita Narasimhan on ITU Portal

Nirmita Narasimhan

School and Degree Awarded

Featured projects

On line bio/story

The Case for Accessible Banking

e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities (Russian Version)

Indian Government Websites Not Accessible Enough for the Disabled

CIS-TWN Analysis of WIPO Treaty for the Print Disabled (SCCR/22/15)

SCCR/22/15

PREAMBLE

ARTICLE A

DEFINITIONS

ARTICLE B

BENEFICIARY PERSONS

ARTICLE C

NATIONAL LAW EXCEPTIONS ON ACCESSIBLE FORMAT COPIES

ARTICLE D

CROSS-BORDER EXCHANGE OF ACCESSIBLE FORMAT COPIES

ARTICLE E

IMPORTATION OF ACCESSIBLE FORMAT COPIES

ARTICLE F

CIRCUMVENTION OF TECHNOLOGICAL PROTECTION MEASURES

ARTICLE G

RELATIONSHIP WITH CONTRACTS

ARTICLE H

RESPECT FOR PRIVACY

September 2011 Bulletin

Researchers@Work

Digital Natives with a Cause?

Featured Publication

Book Review

Event Organised

Accessibility

Event Participated