Centre for Internet and Society

Accessible Broadcasting in India

srividya — 2013-01-28T05:28:38Z

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

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

Executive Summary

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

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

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

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

This abridged report specifically covers:

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

Download the abridged report

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

Accessibility Test Results: Government and Other Popular Websites

nirmita — 2011-08-17T08:50:16Z

The CIS conducted some automated accessibility tests on a few Government web sites, including that of the National Informatics Centre, and on the web sites of some banks, medical and educational institutions. This is a report of the results.

Summary

We carried out accessibility testing on the homepages of 23 sites using the automated tool at www.contentquality.com. Of the 23 sites tested, 21 failed automated verification and only the RBI and IIM-B websites passed verification on the basis of WCAG Priority 1 checkpoints. However, all 23 sites had issues with Priority 2 and Priority 3 checkpoints and failed on these criteria. Most sites also used layout tables, without linearized alternatives. Overall the sites that failed the fewest tests were RBI, IIM-B, RTI and CMC Vellore. On the additional test carried out on the quality of the alternative text, only the Ministry of HRD passed; this test was not applicable for the CMC Vellore, RBI, RTI, IIM-B and DDA sites; all others failed the test.

Even a basic automated verification tool, thus, demonstrates the deplorable state of public website accessibility in India, where all sites surveyed, except two, did not even conform to the basic accessibility criteria enumerated in the WCAG priority one checkpoints.

The section below lists the tests that most sites commonly failed; this is followed by a section with the actual test details, including information on the URL, time of test, status, browser emulated and checkpoints passed/failed.

Note:

The web content accessibility validation tool on www.contentquality.com, i.e. the HiSoftware Cynthia Says portal, is designed to identify errors in content related to Section 508 standards and the WCAG guidelines. This free tool is an online test which only validates one page at a time – the tests above were run for the homepages of the various sites and while this served as an initial automated accessibility check, this was by no means a comprehensive test for which more sophisticated tools as well as manual checking would be required.

Checkpoints

Priority 1

1.1 (a) Provide a text equivalent for every non-text element (e.g., via "alt", "longdesc", or in element content). This includes: images, graphical representations of text (including symbols), image map regions, animations (e.g., animated GIFs), applets and programmatic objects, ascii art, frames, scripts, images used as list bullets, spacers, graphical buttons, sounds (played with or without user interaction), stand-alone audio files, audio tracks of video, and video.

- RBI and CMC Vellore passed this, all others failed

6.3 (l),(m) Ensure that pages are usable when scripts, applets, or other programmatic objects are turned off or not supported. If this is not possible, provide equivalent information on an alternative accessible page.

12.1 (i) Title each frame to facilitate frame identification and navigation.

- HRD, DDA, NASSCOM, Hindu and Times of India failed. All others passed; in some cases this was not applicable.

Priority 2

7.4 Until user agents provide the ability to stop the refresh, do not create periodically auto-refreshing pages.

11.2 Avoid deprecated features of W3C technologies.

12.3 Divide large blocks of information into more manageable groups where natural and appropriate.

13.2 Provide metadata to add semantic information to pages and sites.

Priority 2 - Tables

3.2 Create documents that validate to published formal grammars.

5.3 Do not use tables for layout unless the table makes sense when linearized. Otherwise, if the table does not make sense, provide an alternative equivalent (which may be a linearized version).

Priority 2 - Forms

12.2 Describe the purpose of frames and how frames relate to each other if it is not obvious by frame titles alone.

12.4 Associate labels explicitly with their controls.

13.2 Provide metadata to add semantic information to pages and sites.

- All passed 7.4 . With regard to all the other checkpoints, some sites passed and others failed.

Priority 3

4.3 Identify the primary natural language of a document.

9.4 Create a logical tab order through links, form controls, and objects.

9.5 Provide keyboard shortcuts to important links (including those in client-side image maps), form controls, and groups of form controls.

10.5 Until user agents (including assistive technologies) render adjacent links distinctly, include non-link, printable characters (surrounded by spaces) between adjacent links.

Alternative text validation

1.1 Validate that the alt text does not use the word image When users add alternative text to an image they tend to add the word "Image" when it really says nothing about the image, but describes the object versus the meaning of the object. This check will fail a page for the use of the word image in the alternative text.

1.2 Validate that the alt text does not contain the text: .jpg, .gif, .bmp, .jpeg Many content creation tools will automatically add alternative text when you add an image to your content. The text is generally the image name. Validate that: .jpg, .gif, .bmp, .jpeg, are not found in the alt text.

1.3 Validate that the alt text does not contain the text "image" Many content creation tools will automatically add alternative text when you add an image to your content. The text is generally the image name or the word image with a number associated, like image001. This checkpoint will fail a page if the string image is found in the alternative text.

2.1 Validate that Alternative Text is greater than 7 and less than 81 characters in length Short alternative text may not be valid, warn the report user if alternative text was found that is less than seven characters in length. Additionally alternative text should not be larger than 80 characters, if the alt text is greater the long description attribute should be used. This check validates that the alt attribute does not exceed 80 characters in length.

2.2 Validate that Alternative Text is not used to repeat words Alternative text should not be used to simply hide words with the hope of increasing your ranking on search engines. If you repeat a word more than 5 times your page may not be indexed.

- Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, JNU, IITD, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, AIIMS and NASSCOM failed on all these 4 points. Other results were split, with some passes and some failures

TEST DETAILS

National Informatics Centre

Verified File Name: http://indiaimage.nic.in/

Date and Time: 11/27/2008 12:01:55 AM
Failed Automated Verification
Emulated Browser: MS Internet Explorer 6.0

Priority 1 - Failed 1.1, 6.3;
Priority 2 - Passed 7.4, 13.1, 13.3, 12.2; Failed 11.2, 13.2, 12.4
Priority 3 - Passed 10.5; Failed 4.3, 10.5
Alt text quality – Passed 1.2, 2.2; Failed 1.1, 1.6; Warning 2.1;

Lok Sabha

Verified File Name: http://loksabha.gov.in/
Date and Time: 11/25/2008 1:11:21 AM
Failed Automated Verification
Emulated Browser: MS Internet Explorer 6.0

Priority 1 – Failed 1.1
Priority 2 – Passed 7.4, 12.3; Failed 11.2, 13.2, 12.4,
Priority 3 – Failed 4.3, 9.4, 9.5,10.5
5.3 – used lots of tables
Alt text quality – Failed 1.1, 1.2, 1.6, 2.2; Warning 2.1

Rajya Sabha

http://rajyasabha.gov.in/

Verified File Name: http://rajyasabha.gov.in/
Date and Time: 11/25/2008 3:32:13 AM
Failed Automated Verification
Emulated Browser: MS Internet Explorer 6.0

Priority 1 – Failed 1.1
Priority 2 – Passed 7.4, 13.1; Failed 3.2, 12.4
Priority 3 – Failed 4.3, 9.4, 9.5, 10.5
Alt text quality – Failed 1.1, 1.2, 1.6, 2.2; Warning 2.1

Ministry of Human Resources

http://education.nic.in/

Verified File Name: http://education.nic.in/
Date and Time: 11/25/2008 3:43:36 AM
Failed Automated Verification
Emulated Browser: MS Internet Explorer 6.0

Priority 1 – Failed 1.1, 6.3
Priority 2 – Passed 7.4, 12.4, 13.1; Failed 3.2, 11.2
Priority 3 – Passed 9.5,10.5 Failed : 4.3,9.4
Alt text quality – Passed 1.1, 1.2, 1.6, 2.2; Warning 2.1

Ministry of Urban Affairs

http://urbanindia.nic.in/moud/moud.htm

Verified File Name: http://urbanindia.nic.in/moud/moud.htm
Date and Time: 11/25/2008 9:11:56 AM
Failed Automated Verification
Emulated Browser: MS Internet Explorer 6.0

Priority 1 - Failed 1.1
Priority 2 - Passed 7.4, 13.1; Failed 3.2, 11.2, 13.2
Priority 3 – Passed 10.5 ; Failed 4.3, 9.4, 9.5
Alt text quality – Failed 1.1, 1.2, 1.6, 2.2; Warning 2.1

Delhi Development Authority:

Verified File Name: http://www.dda.org.in/
Date and Time: 11/25/2008 9:56:31 AM
Failed Automated Verification
Emulated Browser: MS Internet Explorer 6.0

http://www.dda.org.in/

Priority 1 - Failed 1.1, 6.3
Priority 2 - Passed 7.4, 13.1; Failed 11.2, 13.2
Priority 3 – Passed 10.5 ; Warning 4.3, 9.4, 9.5
Alt text quality – N/A

Railways

http://www.indianrail.gov.in/

Verified File Name: http://www.indianrail.gov.in/
Date and Time: 11/25/2008 10:01:28 AM
Failed Automated Verification
Emulated Browser: MS Internet Explorer 6.0

Priority 1 - Failed 1.1
Priority 2 - Passed 7.4, 13.1, 13.2, 12.4 ; Failed 3.2, 11.2
Priority 3 – Passed 4.3, 10.5; Failed 9.4, 9.5
Alt text quality – Failed 1.1, 1.2, 1.6, 2.2; Warning 2.1

Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment

http://socialjustice.nic.in/

Verified File Name: http://socialjustice.nic.in/
Date and Time: 11/25/2008 10:07:22 AM
Failed Automated Verification
Emulated Browser: MS Internet Explorer 6.0

Priority 1 - Failed 1.1
Priority 2 - Passed 7.4, 12.4 ; Failed 3.2, 11.2, 13.2
Priority 3 – Failed 4.3, 9.4, 9.5, 10.5
Alt text quality – Failed 1.1, 1.2, 1.6, 2.2; Warning 2.1

Ministry of Law and Justice

http://lawmin.nic.in/

Verified File Name: http://lawmin.nic.in/
Date and Time: 11/25/2008 10:50:36 AM
Failed Automated Verification
Emulated Browser: MS Internet Explorer 6.0

Priority 1 - Failed 1.1
Priority 2 - Passed 7.4, 13.1, 12.4; Failed 11.2, 13.2
Priority 3 – Passed 10.5; Failed 4.3, 9.4, 9.5
Alt text quality – Failed 1.1, 1.2, 1.6, 2.2; Warning 2.1

RTI

http://www.rti.gov.in

Verified File Name: http://www.rti.gov.in
Date and Time: 11/26/2008 3:54:10 AM
Failed Automated Verification
Emulated Browser: MS Internet Explorer 6.0

Priority 1 – Passed 1.1, 6.3; Failed 12.1
Priority 2 - Passed 7.4, 11.2, 13.1, 12.4; Failed 3.2, 13.2, 12.2
Priority 3 – Passed 9.4, 9.5, 10.5; Failed 4.3
Alt text quality – N/A

NCERT

Verified File Name: http://www.ncert.nic.in/index.htm
Date and Time: 11/26/2008 6:22:59 AM
Failed Automated Verification
Emulated Browser: MS Internet Explorer 6.0

Priority 1 –Failed 1.1, 6.3, 7.1
Priority 2 - Passed 7.4, 13.1, 12.4, 12.2; Failed 3.2, 13.2, 11.2
Priority 3 – Passed 10.5; Failed 4.3, 9.4, 9.5
Alt text quality – Failed 1.1, 1.2, 1.6, 2.2; Warning 2.1

JNU

http://www.jnu.ac.in/

Verified File Name: http://www.jnu.ac.in/
Date and Time: 11/25/2008 4:00:11 AM
Failed Automated Verification
Emulated Browser: MS Internet Explorer 6.0

Priority 1 – Failed 1.1, 7.1
Priority 2 – Passed 7.4 ; Failed 3.2, 11.2, 13.1, 13.2, 12.4
Priority 3 – Failed 4.3, 9.4, 9.5, 10.5
Alt text quality – Failed 1.1, 1.2, 1.6, 2.2; Warning 2.1

IIT Delhi

http://www.iitd.ac.in/

Verified File Name: http://www.iitd.ac.in/
Date and Time: 11/25/2008 5:07:01 AM
Failed Automated Verification
Emulated Browser: MS Internet Explorer 6.0

Priority 1 – Passed 6.3; Failed 1.1, 7.1
Priority 2 – Passed 7.4, 13.1,12.2, 12.4; Failed 11.2, 13.2
Priority 3 – Failed 4.3, 9.4, 9.5, 10.5
Alt text quality – Failed 1.1, 1.2, 1.6, 2.2; Warning 2.1

AIIMS

http://www.aiims.edu/

Verified File Name: http://www.aiims.edu/
Date and Time: 11/25/2008 10:11:37 AM
Failed Automated Verification
Emulated Browser: MS Internet Explorer 6.0

Priority 1 - Failed 1.1, 7.1
Priority 2 - Passed 7.4,12.4, 13.1 ; Failed 11.2, 13.2
Priority 3 – Failed 4.3, 9.4, 9.5, 10.5
Alt text quality – Failed 1.1, 1.2, 1.6, 2.2; Warning 2.1

CMC Vellore

http://home.cmcvellore.ac.in/

Verified File Name: http://home.cmcvellore.ac.in/
Date and Time: 11/25/2008 10:15:44 AM
Failed Automated Verification
Emulated Browser: MS Internet Explorer 6.0

Priority 1 - Passed 1.1; Failed 12.1
Priority 2 - Passed 7.4, 11.2, 12.4, 13.1 ; Failed 13.2
Priority 3 – Passed 9.4, 9.5, 10.5; Failed 4.3
Alt text quality – N/A

IIM Ahmedabad

http://www.iimahd.ernet.in/

Verified File Name: http://www.iimahd.ernet.in/
Date and Time: 11/25/2008 10:19:46 AM
Failed Automated Verification
Emulated Browser: MS Internet Explorer 6.0

Priority 1 - Failed 1.1;
Priority 2 - Passed 7.4, 12.4, 13.1 ; Failed 3.2, 11.2, 13.2
Priority 3 – Passed 10.5; Failed 4.3, 9.4, 9.5
Alt text quality – Failed 1.1, 1.2, 1.6, 2.2; Warning 2.1

IIM Bangalore

Verified File Name: http://www.iimb.ernet.in/
Date and Time: 11/26/2008 6:27:18 AM
Passed Automated Verification
Emulated Browser: MS Internet Explorer 6.0

Priority 1 - Passed 1.1, 6.3;
Priority 2 - Passed 7.4, 11.2, 12.4, 13.1; Failed 3.2, 13.2
Priority 3 – Passed 9.4, 9.5, 10.5; Failed 4.3
Alt text quality – N/A

IIM Calcutta

Verified File Name: http://www.iimcal.ac.in/
Date and Time: 11/26/2008 6:30:42 AM
Failed Automated Verification
Emulated Browser: MS Internet Explorer 6.0

Priority 1 - Passed 6.3; Failed 1.1
Priority 2 - Passed 7.4, 12.4, 13.1; Failed 3.2, 11.2, 13.2
Priority 3 – Passed 10.5; Failed 4.3, 9.4, 9.5
Alt text quality – Failed 1.1, 1.2, 1.6, 2.2; Warning 2.1

State Bank of India

http://www.sbi.co.in/

Verified File Name: http://www.sbi.co.in/
Date and Time: 11/25/2008 10:26:29 AM
Failed Automated Verification
Emulated Browser: MS Internet Explorer 6.0

Priority 1 - Failed 1.1;
Priority 2 - Passed 7.4, 12.4; Failed 3.2, 11.2, 13.1, 13.2
Priority 3 – Passed 10.5; Failed 4.3, 9.4, 9.5
Alt text quality – Failed 1.1, 1.2, 1.6, 2.2; Warning 2.1

Reserve Bank of India

http://www.rbi.org.in/home.aspx

Verified File Name: http://www.rbi.org.in/home.aspx
Date and Time: 11/25/2008 10:36:25 AM
Passed Automated Verification
Emulated Browser: MS Internet Explorer 6.0

Priority 1 - Passed 1.1;
Priority 2 - Passed 7.4, 11.2, 13.1, 12.4; Failed 3.2, 13.2
Priority 3 – Passed 10.5; Failed 4.3, 9.4, 9.5
Alt text quality – N/A
http://www.rbi.org.in/commonman/English/Scripts/Home.aspx

NASSCOM

http://www.nasscom.in/Default.aspx

Verified File Name: http://www.nasscom.in/Default.aspx
Date and Time: 11/25/2008 10:47:00 AM
Failed Automated Verification
Emulated Browser: MS Internet Explorer 6.0

Priority 1 - Failed 1.1, 6.3;
Priority 2 - Passed 7.4; Failed 11.2, 13.1, 13.2, 12.4
Priority 3 – Failed 4.3, 9.4, 9.5, 10.5
Alt text quality – Failed 1.1, 1.2, 1.6, 2.2; Warning 2.1

The Hindu

http://www.hinduonnet.com/

Verified File Name: http://www.hinduonnet.com/
Date and Time: 11/25/2008 11:00:09 AM
Failed Automated Verification
Emulated Browser: MS Internet Explorer 6.0

Priority 1 - Failed 1.1, 6.3;
Priority 2 - Passed 7.4 ; Failed 3.2, 11.2, 13.1, 13.2, 12.4
Priority 3 – Passed 10.5; Failed 4.3, 9.4, 9.5
Alt text quality – Failed 1.1, 1.2, 1.6, 2.2; Warning 2.1

The Times of India

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/

Verified File Name: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/
Date and Time: 11/25/2008 11:22:15 AM
Failed Automated Verification
Emulated Browser: MS Internet Explorer 6.0

Priority 1 - Failed 1.1, 6.3;
Priority 2 - Passed 7.4 ; Failed 3.2, 11.2, 13.1, 13.2, 12.4
Priority 3 – Passed 10.5; Failed 4.3, 9.4, 9.5
Alt text quality – Failed 1.1, 1.2, 1.6, 2.2; Warning 2.1

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-of-accessibility-tests-conducted-on-some-government-and-other-popular-web-sites

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

praskrishna — 2012-12-14T10:27:00Z

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

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

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

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

Accessibility of Political Parties Websites in India

nirmita — 2014-03-24T10:22:34Z

Given the impending elections in India across April and May 2014, a test was conducted to determine the accessibility of websites of the Election Commission of India, the Parliament and some key political parties in India. This report summarises the results of the test.

Introduction

The Internet has rapidly become a preferred medium for accessing information on various topics, ranging from politics, news, governance, recreation, business, education and carrying on social interaction. While this was initially a trend found more in urban areas, with the proliferation of the mobile phone, there is an ever expanding number of rural, elderly and illiterate persons accessing and downloading content from the Internet.

The focus shift of the government to carrying on administration and governance through electronic media and to enable G2C transactions over the Internet underscores the absolute necessity of ensuring that information and communications technologies realise their full potential as a tool for inclusion and participation. Even policymakers and parliamentarians have started using it as an effective medium to engage with the public. The Government of India has made some efforts in this direction, since it formulated Guidelines for Indian Government websites and also the recently notified National Policy on Universal Electronic Accessibility. Both of these require all Government websites and those of other entities such as essential service providers, research and academic institutions and other stakeholders to conform to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0, the universally accepted standard for measuring web accessibility formulated by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Since inaccessibility of websites impedes access on all platforms, it is one of the most important domains of electronic accessibility.

Highlights

41 websites were tested
13 websites failed to open or had no official website address / URL
Most of the remaining 28 websites have some accessibility barriers, with only 2 websites having no known accessibility errors
The average number of errors per homepage across all tested websites is 91, with around 10 websites having more than 100 errors.
28.5% of homepages have over 500 cumulative errors
21.4% of websites have no alternate text for non-text objects
21.4% of the websites have no navigation-markup
Only 1 website has a colour change option
Around 50% of the web pages have form links of which only 50% were accessible

Click to download the full report below

as PDF
as Word file

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

Accessibility of Government Websites in India: A Report

Nirmita Narasimhan, Mukesh Sharma and Dinesh Kaushal — 2012-09-26T08:16:55Z

The Centre for Internet & Society is pleased to announce the publication of a report on the accessibility of government websites in India. The report is published in cooperation with the Hans Foundation. Nirmita Narasimhan, Mukesh Sharma and Dinesh Kaushal are the authors.

Executive Summary

Website inaccessibility is the largest and most common barrier to implementing effective e-governance. In a country like India, where a very large percentage of the population is disabled, elderly, illiterate, rural, having limited bandwidth, speaks only a vernacular language or uses alternative platforms like mobile phones, having accessible websites becomes all the more important to ensure that government information and services which are available online are accessible and usable by these groups.

This report summarises the key findings of a test conducted to measure the accessibility of 7800 websites of the Government of India and its affiliated agencies against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0, which is the universally accepted standard for web accessibility. It uses a combination of automated and manual testing to derive key findings. While the automated tool identified errors such as images without textual descriptions and HTML and CSS errors, manual testing was used wherever human decision was required, for instance, to judge whether a description of a link or image was indeed accurate, or to check for accessibility of forms.

Executive Summary

Highlights

Introduction

What is Accessibility?

Methodology

Findings and Interpretation

Known, Likely and Potential Problems
HTML and CSS Validation
Alternate Text for Non-text Objects

Recommendations

Appendix 1: Examples of Errors

Appendix 2: About the National Policy on Universal Electronic Accessibility

Appendix 3: List of Testers and Authors

Given below is the link to download the full report:

Accessibility of Government Websites in India: A Report (PDF)

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/accessibility-of-government-websites-in-india

Accessibility of Government Websites in India — Test Results

nirmita — 2012-08-02T12:56:45Z

The Centre for Internet & Society conducted a survey of the accessibility of the government websites in India. A total of 7800 websites listed on the Government of India directory were researched upon.

Two data sets were considered to evaluate the websites. The first data set comprises the errors identified by the automated tool AChecker. These errors are (known errors, likely errors, probable errors, HTML validation errors and CSS validation errors). The second data set was arrived at through manual evaluation. This includes (alternate text for non-text objects, colour change option, navigation markup and form accessibility).

To view the test details, click here (Excel File, 1618 Kb)

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/accessibility-audit-of-govt-websites

Accessibility of Government Websites in India

nirmita — 2012-09-25T05:54:58Z

This report summarises the key findings of a test conducted to measure the accessibility of 7800 websites of the Government of India and its affiliated agencies against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0, which is the universally accepted standard for web accessibility.

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

Accessibility of Banks and Financial Services Institutions: A Global Survey

Nilofar Ansher — 2013-10-29T06:51:20Z

The Global Initiative for Inclusive ICTs (G3ict), a non-profit initiative advocating digital inclusion for persons with disabilities, has launched a global survey called ‘Banking and Financial Services Accessibility Initiative’. The project aims to be a repository of information on the measures that banks, insurance companies and allied financial services firms are undertaking in order to make their offerings more accessible and user-friendly for persons with disabilities and senior citizens.

Towards this end, G3ict, together with Scotiabank, requests senior managers, COO / CEOs, Managing Directors, IT Directors, HR Directors, and accessibility professionals from banks and financial services companies to participate in this Global Survey.

Aim

The survey will help us develop accessibility benchmarks and identify best practices in the field. The aim is to design options for banks and financial services institutions to increase their customer base by enabling them to cater to a group that might currently not be able to fully access financial services. The outcome will also help promote diversity and inclusion in the banking communities from a CSR standpoint.

Survey

Please take the survey at this link http://bit.ly/17h67lu (opens as a Survey Gizmo webpage). Help us spread the word, by passing on this message to your bank manager or financial services consultant.

Contact

For further information about the survey and its results, please get in touch with Ms. Pina D'Intino, G3ict Financial Access Team Lead at pina.dintino@scotiabank.org.

Organizers

G3ict – The Global Initiative for Inclusive ICTs - is a non-profit advocacy initiative of the United Nations Global Alliance for ICT and Development (UN-GAID). Its mission is to facilitate and support the implementation of the dispositions of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on the accessibility of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) and assistive technologies.

If you require any further details, please do get in touch at nansh@g3ict.org.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/accessibility-of-banks-and-financial-services-institutions

Accessibility in the New Telecom Policy 2011

praskrishna — 2012-01-02T05:12:12Z

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

Demographic case

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

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

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

Legal case

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

Global best practices:

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

Challenges to disability access to telecommunications in India:

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

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

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

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

Absence of a national relay service and emergency service system.

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

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

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

Recommendation

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

Annexure – List of Signatories

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

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

Click to download the file [PDF, 182 kb]

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

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

Accessibility in Telecommunications

praskrishna — 2011-11-08T08:08:49Z

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

Given below are the links to two questionnaires:

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

Accessibility at CIS – Looking back at 2010

praskrishna — 2011-08-17T08:53:08Z

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

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

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

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

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

The Copyright Challenge

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Accessibility

kaeru — 2016-06-04T12:32:42Z

India has an estimated 70 million disabled persons who are unable to read printed materials due to some form of physical, sensory, cognitive or other disability. The disabled need accessible content, devices and interfaces facilitated via copyright law and accessibility policies. We have organised Right to Read campaigns in the four metro cities of Chennai, Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai, made a submission to amend the Indian Copyright to the Ministry of Human Resource Development, researched on accessible mobile handsets in India, analysed the Working Draft of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, and published a policy handbook on e-accessibility and a book on universal service for persons with disabilities.

Key Research

Publications

National Compendium of Laws, Policies, Programmes for Persons with Disabilities (CIS and the Office of the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, Department of Disability Affairs, Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Government of India; January 3, 2016).
Enabling Elections (CIS and the Centre for Law and Policy Research; March 24, 2014).
Accessibility of Government Websites in India: A Report (CIS and Hans Foundation; September 26, 2012).
Web Accessibility Policy Making: An International Perspective (G3ict and CIS; February 28, 2012).
Universal Service for Persons with Disabilities: A Global Survey of Policy Interventions and Good Practices (Axel Leblois, Nirmita Narasimhan and Deepti Bharthur; G3ict and CIS, December 27, 2011).
e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities (Russian) (November 4, 2011).
e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities (CIS, ITU and G3ict with support from Hans Foundation; October 27, 2010).

Submissions

Inclusive Disaster and Emergency Management for Persons with Disabilities (Deepti Samant Raja and Nirmita Narasimhan, submitted to the the National Disaster Management Authority of India, September 17, 2013).

Accessibility in the New Telecom Policy 2011 (submitted to the Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Government of India, December 9, 2011)
Right to Knowledge for Persons with Print Impairment: A Proposal to Amend the Indian Copyright Regime (submitted jointly by CIS and Inclusive Planet and Alternative Law Forum to the Ministry of HRD, November 2009).

Other Research

Accessibility of Political Parties Websites in India ( Nirmita Narasimhan; March 24, 2014).
The ICT Opportunity for a Disability-Inclusive Development Framework (Broadband Commission for Digital Development, G3ict, International Disability Alliance, International Telecommunication Union, Microsoft, Telecentre.org Foundation, and UNESCO; September 30, 2013).
Opening New Avenues for Empowerment: ICTs to Access Information and Knowledge for Persons with Disabilities (UNESCO; August 31, 2013).
Accessible Broadcasting in India (Srividya Vaidyanathan; January 11, 2013).
Making Mobile Phones and Services Accessible for Persons with Disabilities (Axel Leblois and Nirmita Narasimhan; ITU and G3ict, September 2, 2012).
The Working Draft of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2010: Does it exceed its Mandate in Including Provisions Relating to Other Disability Legislations? (CIS, Inclusive Planet and the Centre for Law and Policy Research; February 24, 2011).

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/front-page

Access to Knowledge: Barriers and Solutions for Persons with Disabilities in India

praskrishna — 2012-03-13T10:43:17Z

Consumers International, Kuala Lumpur and Consumers Association of India in association with Madras Library Association organised a seminar on Access to Knowledge on 31st July, 2010 at the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Auditorium in Guindy, Chennai. The Principal Secretary to the Government of Tamil Nadu Department of Information Technology was the chief guest. Former Central Vigilance Commissioner N. Vittal gave the keynote address. Prof Subbiah Arunachalam, Nirmita Narasimhan and Pranesh Prakash participated in the seminar. Nirmita and Pranesh made presentations on access to knowledge.

Access to Knowledge

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/barriers-and-solutions

Access India Meet-Up, May 2009

sachia — 2011-08-31T10:50:37Z

Meet-up of members of Access India mailing list (open to invitees only)

Access India is an informal mailing list for the visually impaired community in India, in which subscribers primarily discuss technology and various aspects of its accessibility. Although the Access India mailing list, originally started in 2002, was intended to be a forum for discussing technology-related issues for the blind, it has over the years expanded to cover a whole range of social, educational, cultural, political and other issues of significance to the visually impaired community in India. It is one of the largest mailing lists of blind persons in India and has roughly 500 members from all over the country. Members of the Access India community in various cities hold informal gatherings from time to time. An annual national meeting of Access India members is also held, where various issues affecting the community are discussed in detail.

Agenda

2 PM: Welcome address by CIS, hosts of the meet.

2:05 PM: A round of introduction by participants.

2:30 PM: Presentation by representatives from AreaPal, a Bangalore-based social networking group founded by students. areapal allows users to locate and connect with people on the basis of their area and neighborhood. It is a genuine neighbourhood networking service. Apart from that, they also provide user-generated news, events and marketplace based information about a user’s area. For further information, please visit www.areapal.com.

2:40 PM: Question time.

2:50 PM: Presentation by representatives from 3I Infotech, a company which recently launched e-Mudhra, an initiative to roll out digital signatures. The main focus of the discussion will be the accessibility of their product. For additional information, please visit http://www.e-mudhra.com/

3:00 PM: Question time.

5. 3:10 PM: Presentation by representatives from iVolunteer, an organization that matches volunteers seeking volunteering opportunities
with organizations and individuals looking for volunteers in Bangalore. To learn more about the organization, please visit www.ivolunteer.in

3:20 PM: Question time.

6. 3:30 PM: Introduction to Inclusive planet. Inclusive Planet is in the process of building the largest online portal for disabled persons in India. It is intended to be a comprehensive portal containing various resources including employment resources, educational resources, a match-making
channel, accessible books section, discussion boards, resources for medical facilities, sports and entertainment center, etc. We hope to have a
representative from Inclusive Planet demonstrate the site for us, inform us about its scope and expansion plans, and tell us about how we can contribute toward making the site totally accessible. Please visit http://www.inclusiveplanet.org/

3:50 PM: Question time.

4:00 PM: Tea followed by open discussion on technology.

4:45 PM: Vote of thanks and conclusion.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/events/access-india-meet-up-may-2009

A world apart

praskrishna — 2016-12-01T15:24:12Z

On the eve of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, we look at their legal rights relating to financial matters.

The article by Meera Siva was published in the Hindu Businessline on November 27, 2016.

Be it the right to education, rights in the work place, legal entitlements or fair compensation, people with disabilities are often left holding the short end of the stick. Sometimes, there are no specific rules or policies as in the case of providing insurance coverage. But more often, even though guidelines are laid out, they remain only in theory.

Take the case of Nagarjuna Akula, a Chartered Accountant working in a public sector company in Maharashtra. “I applied for a home loan in 2014 and it was approved. They wanted me to take a standard insurance with a one-time premium of about ₹38,000. But it was rejected by SBI Life Insurance. I did not protest this issue, but often think about the repercussions to the family in the long term, in case of an eventuality,” he says.

Akula also had to battle to get special conveyance allowance given to disabled people. “I have been working here for nearly four years but was not given the higher rate of conveyance allowance. The reason given was that I do not require physical assistance,” he says. The issue is finally sorted out now, but he lost the allowance for earlier periods.

Akula says that in some cases rules may need to be changed to accommodate persons with disabilities. “The CA Institute exempts members with disabilities from meeting continuing education credit requirements. But I wish the ICWA Institute would also consider the issue, as classes may be held in higher floors without lift facility in some places,” he says. He notes, happily, that the Institute heeded his request to give additional time during exams for persons with disability.

Compensation, an uphill battle

Fighting cases in courts, not easy for anyone, is particularly daunting for those with disabilities. And often, due to lack of rules, they end up having to fight long legal battles to get any form of compensation to cover their huge medical expenses. Ketna Mehta, Management editor, educationalist and Founder Trustee of Nina Foundation, Mumbai, gives many examples. “Many spinal injuries happen due to accidents. One young person we helped was having food after college at a small eatery under a tree. The tree branch broke and hit his head and he suffered spinal cord injury. There is no way for the victim to get any payment from the Brihanmumbai Metropolitan Corporation for the surgery and rehabilitation,” she laments.

Likewise with Martin Tharail, a 25-year old from Kerala who worked at a BPO in Mumbai. He met with a bike accident and become a quadriplegic; his parents were retired and the family was unable to get the ₹15-20 lakh compensation from the truck owner. “The case is still pending, though he is no more,” says Mehta. She also narrates the woes of a 26-year old paraplegic girl who lost her parents and lives with her younger brother who is in college. She is fighting a court battle to inherit her parent’s property. “She goes to the court for the hearings with support from our volunteers. There are no proper wash-rooms for the disabled and it costs money to make travel arrangements, get a helper to be with her in the court,” says Mehta.

Triple whammy

The state of women with disability needs special attention as they suffer from discrimination due to three reasons — gender, disability and poverty. Abha Khetarpal, President, Cross the Hurdles, a non-profit that works for rights of persons with disabilities, notes that most Indians consider disability as “karma of past life.” She says that women with disabilities need provisions with regard

to their rights over their own bodies. “They are at much greater risk of violence, often by their caregivers; provisions are needed to ensure ways to seek redressal without fear,” she says.

“Sometimes women are cheated in marriages — an already married man marries a woman with disability. He abandons her due to fear of punishment for bigamy and adultery when the truth comes to light,” she explains. Since the second marriage is considered null and void by law, the woman is left all alone and faces society’s stigma; she has to survive without much support. Khetarpal suggests that the law should consider the whole scenario before giving any judgement.

Mehta notes that persons with disabilities, mainly women, are divorced after an accident that leads to a permanent disability. “The reason is not stated explicitly and the disabled person often accepts the fate without fighting. The sad part is that they are not given fair financial compensation, given the extra expenses they have to incur throughout their life,” she notes.

Need changes

Initiatives such as the “Accessible India” campaign do not deliver impactful results. The “Persons with Disability Act” of 1995 does not have punitive measures if there is failure in compliance. The National Trust Act of 1999 and The Mental Health Act of 1987 have not been able to bring about meaningful sensitisation. A new Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill has been pending for many years now.

A study conducted by the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), a Bengaluru based non-profit think tank, found that 97 per cent of over 5,800 government websites tested have at least one known accessibility issue and can be said to be inaccessible. Government schemes, even when they exist, are for name-sake only, says Mehta. “The government provides a disability pension of ₹800 per month, which is not given in a timely way. In Mumbai, what can you cover with this amount?” she asks.

Mehta suggests that there must be a separate department to handle all aspects — education, scholarship, loans, insurance and availing benefits — rather than having to run helter-skelter to many departments. “There must be one agency and one file for a person with disability,” she insists. Also, the disabled are not aware of what they are entitled to. “Why not give information in a simple format when someone gets a disability certificate?” she suggests.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/news/hindu-businessline-november-27-2016-meera-siva-a-world-apart

Centre for Internet and Society

Accessible Broadcasting in India

Executive Summary

Accessibility Test Results: Government and Other Popular Websites

TEST DETAILS

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

Accessibility of Political Parties Websites in India

Introduction

Highlights

Accessibility of Government Websites in India: A Report

Executive Summary

Table of Contents

Accessibility of Government Websites in India — Test Results

Accessibility of Government Websites in India

Accessibility of Banks and Financial Services Institutions: A Global Survey

Aim

Survey

Contact

Organizers

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

Accessibility in Telecommunications

Accessibility at CIS – Looking back at 2010

The Copyright Challenge

Accessibility

Key Research

Publications

Submissions

Other Research

Access to Knowledge: Barriers and Solutions for Persons with Disabilities in India

Access India Meet-Up, May 2009

Agenda

A world apart

Compensation, an uphill battle

Triple whammy

Need changes