1. No category

ICT ACCESSIBILITY FOR
PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES
Areas of Opportunities for ICT
accessibility
Axel Leblois
Executive Director
G3ict
Kampala, Uganda
6 May 2010
Areas of Opportunities
 Wireless
 TV
Services
Broadcasting
 e-government
 Internet
access
 Assistive
Slide 2
web sites
cafés and community
Technologies in schools
Connectivity in Africa: Mobile Phones
Leadership
Slide 3
Example of Mobile Phones Accessibility
Features for Persons with Disabilities
Accessible hardware and software is available addressing various
types of impairments: visual, cognitive, hearing, speech, physical.
For example:

Blind and visually impaired people can adjust display settings such as
font size or color contrast;

Persons unable to use a keypad can use voice recognition software

Blind or visually impaired people can use text to speech to access
menus, receive audio feedback and have text, such as SMS, read aloud;

Pictorial address books (containing an image of the person beside
their name and phone number) has considerably empowered persons
with cognitive disabilities to use cell phones;

Deaf persons can use a range of services including:
 SMS text messages
 sign language via video calls (on 3G networks)
 other services such a text message to Avatar for deaf illiterate persons

And many more!
Slide 4
Mobile Manufacturers Forum
http://www.mobileaccessibility.info/
Slide 5
Wireless Services Accessibility
Innovations


Basic accessibility features are easy to
implement, exist today
New handset based technology includes:





Remote services





Slide 6
Text to Speech, voice recognition
Scanner capability
GPS – triangulation positioning
Bone sound conduction
Emergency services
Digital libraries
E-Government services
Blue tooth proximity services
A Glimpse into the Future Now… (Video)
Mobile Phones Accessibility Policy
Making: Three Case Studies
1. Market driven operator
strategy (Japan)
2. Consensus building among
stakeholders (France)
3. Regulatory policy (Canada)
Slide 7
1. Market Driven Strategy: Japan
The Raku Raku Story 2001-2009

NTT DoCoMo Market Situation in 2001
 Overall penetration of cell phones in Japan: 82.6%
 NTT DoCoMo market share: 51%
 Opportunity: rate of utilization decreases significantly
with age (90+% aged 20 to 50; less than 30% above
70)

Decision to tackle issue across
organization, products and services
 Adoption of Universal Design principles
 Cell phone handsets, stores & services
Slide 8
Source: NTT DoCoMo presentation at
ITU – UNESCAP meeting in Bangkok, August 26, 2009
Slide 9
Example of “Raku Raku” Accessible
and Assistive Features and Services

A large screen with large characters

Dedicated buttons to call certain pre-recorded
numbers automatically

“Read aloud” menus and text

Voice input text messages and email

Access to a network of talking books (Bibulionet, 12,395 titles as of March 2009) with an
integrated DAISY player

An optional bone conductor receiver to
transmit sound waves directly from bone to
nerve
Slide 10
Initiative Launched September 2001
 How
many Raku-Raku phones have
been sold by NTT DoCoMo in Japan
since then?
Slide 11
Initiative Launched September 2001
 How
many Raku-Raku phones have
been sold by NTT DoCoMo in Japan
since then?
15 Million!
Slide 12
As African Market Matures, Operators May
Benefit from a “Raku Raku” Strategy
Source: African Mobile Factbook
Published by AfricanTelcom News
Slide 13
2 – Consensus building strategy
Accessibility – France Case Study

Government, users, operators sign charter in
2005

Voluntary program with milestones for
implementing features with defined
priorities:
1. Necessary features
2. Comfort features
3. Desirable new features and evolution
 Comprehensive and detailed analysis
 Marketing codification of accessibility features
Slide 14
Mobile Operators Association Drives
National Campaign

Results:
 Each operator offers between 10 and 20 accessible
handsets in 2009
 Specialized point of sales with trained personnel
 New services launched (News in sign language,
accessible city and accessible tourism web sites etc.)
Slide 15
3 – Regulatory Path: Mandates –
Canada Case Study
Slide 16
Regulatory Policy of Canadian RT
Commission (21 July 2009):

Initiates further investigation into possible
improvements to emergency 9-1-1 service, including
text messaging to 9-1-1.

Requests that wireless service providers, in consultation
with persons with disabilities, offer at least one type of
wireless mobile handset to serve the needs of people
who are blind and/or have moderate-to-severe mobility
or cognitive disabilities, noting that it will consider
imposing such a requirement in the future if necessary.

Requires telecommunications service providers and
broadcasting distribution undertakings to improve the
accessibility of the information, service and support they
offer to Canadians.
Slide 17
TV Broadcasting
Slide 18
Television Accessibility Resources
www.e-accessibilitytoolkit.org

Closed captioning, sub-titling and sign language
—Definitions / process
—Features most desired by persons with disabilities
—Applicable standards
—Sample of regulations

Video Description Services
—Definitions / process
—Features most desired by persons with disabilities
—Applicable standards
—Sample of regulations

Transition to Digital Television: IPTV and Convergent
Media
—IPTV and Web video accessibility
—DTV / IPTV equipment, interface and controls
—IPTV and Web video accessibility standards
—Sample of regulations
Slide 19
TV Broadcasting – U.S.

1990 Television Decoder Act, in effect since 1993,
requires all televisions 13 inches or larger manufactured
for sale in the United States to have built-in decoder
circuitry.

Captions now reach millions of viewers:
 Deaf and hard-of-hearing
 Persons learning to read or learning English as a second language
 Educational benefits of captioned television are being realized as families
"read" TV together.
 Captions are visible in public places, such as airports or bars, where the
audio is often difficult to hear.

Currently, all programs airing in prime time (daily 811pm) on the commercial networks and PBS are
captioned

Some daytime, cable and syndicated programs remain
uncaptioned.
Slide 20
Japan

NHK started closed-captioning and audio description
services in the 1980s by developing teletext and soundmultiplex broadcast adapted to the analog TV system

Digital TV has standard slots for closed-captioning and
audio description.

Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Japan
(MIC) guidelines:
By the end of 2017, followings should be accomplished,
 100% of closed-caption including live programs
(excluding technically impossible programs)
 10% of audio description for applicable programs
Slide 21
Japan: Innovative Processes

Large proportion of automated speech
to text conversion

Speed Rate conversion offered:
 Radio and TV receiver equipped with Speed Rate
Conversion Chip
 Listeners can slow down the rate of speech in a
program.
 Speeding up speech may be also useful
for visually impaired person.
Slide 22
Canada: Regulatory Policy of CRT
Commission (21 July 2009):

Directs television broadcasters to improve and control
the quality of closed captioning, including in digital
formats. It intends to impose conditions of licence in
these areas at the broadcasters' licence renewals.

Intends to require additional television broadcasters
to provide described video through conditions of
licence imposed at their licence renewals. The
Commission also sets out various measures designed
to increase the awareness and accessibility of
described video.

Intends to require television broadcasters to provide
high-quality audio description through conditions of
licence to be imposed at the time of their licence
renewals.
Slide 23
Australia – Outsourced Services

The government of Australia provided seed funding
in 1981 for the establishment of the Australian
Caption Centre (ACC) and the purchase of
equipment.

Captioning by the ACC commenced in 1982 and a
further grant from the Australian government
enabled the ACC to achieve and maintain financial
self-sufficiency.

The ACC, now known as Media Access Australia,
sold its commercial captioning division to Red Bee
Media in December 2005. Red Bee Media continues
to provide captioning services to Australia today.
Slide 24
e-Government Accessibility
Slide 25
E-Government Web Sites Policies &
W3C – WAI Guidelines

W3C – WAI guidelines a solid
foundation for e-government
accessibility policies and programs

Benefits for Governments:
 eliminating conflicting requirements
 providing proven & free authoring tools
 enabling sharing of training and
implementation resources
 enabling improved conformance testing
Slide 26
Considerations for Implementation

Accessible web sites are not more expensive to produce
than inaccessible web sites

Large overlap (80%) of WAI Guidelines with Mobile
Guidelines

Great benefits in Africa to pursue Mobile and eGovernment accessibility strategies simultaneously

Important for governments to commit to web
accessibility and to promote awareness of the W3C-WAI
guidelines and tools among web masters at major
government agencies

See Case Study of City of Chicago:
http://www.e-accessibilitytoolkit.org/toolkit/local_government
Slide 27
Tunisia
Slide 28

All e-Government web sites to be
accessible by the end of 2009

2007 Presidential Order

Tunisian government issued RFP for
consulting services funded by the
World Bank

High visibility of initiative
Korea: e-Government Web Accessibility
Performance as Measured by Annual Survey
Exhibit: Web accessibility Annual Survey(2008)
Unit : 100 Scale
※ Source : Ministry of Public Administration and Security & Korea Agency for Digital Opportunity
and promotion, 2008 Web Accessibility Annual Survey
Presented at the 2009 ITU=UNESCAP Asia Pacific Workshop on ICT Accessibility
Slide 29
Making Community Centers and
Internet Cafés Accessible
Slide 30
Internet Cafes and Community
Centers: Market Driven e-Inclusion
Slide 31
Benchmark Country: Brazil
Total number of
connections at
Internet Cafés greater
than all other types of
access combined in
Brazil in 2007
Slide 32
Benchmark: Socio-Demographic
Analysis of Internet Usage in Brazil
%
Source: Survey on the Use of Information and Communication
Technologies in Brazil 2007,
COMITÊ GESTOR DA INTERNET NO BRASIL
Slide 33
Promoting Accessibility of Internet
Cafés and Community Centers

Physical access to centers

Computer accessibility

User support for assistive technologies
 Few examples of programs and policies
 Good potential for public-private cooperation to
reach out to many users leveraging existing
infrastructure
Slide 34
Promoting Assistive Technologies
In Education
Slide 35
Assistive Technology: It’s All About
Individual Needs
“An assistive device opens doors to learning,
employment and social participation. There
is always a possibility of viewing people with
disabilities as a homogeneous group, all
requiring the same kind of intervention and
the same type of device. The reality is that
people with disabilities are as diverse as
society itself, each with their own unique
contributions and requirements”
Manto Tshabalala-Msimang,
Minister of Health, South Africa
Slide 36
Assistive Technologies, Key Steps
 Identification
 Evaluation
solutions
 User
of need
and testing
training
 Environment
accommodation
(family, school, workplace)
 Continuous
Slide 37
assessment
Assistive Technology: a Continuum of
Tools, Strategies, and Services
Example: how educators match a
student’s needs, abilities and
tasks with a variety of tools
Low Tech Tools
Mid Tech Tools
High Tech Tools
Pencil grips
Color coding
Highlighters
Slanted surfaces
Reading and writing guides
Enlarged worksheets
Books on tape
Talking spell checker, dictionary
Word processor
Tape recorder
Adaptive eating utensils
Switch controlled toy, light,
blender
Text readers
Voice recognition
Environmental control devices
Augmentative communication device
Software for manipulation of objects
Electronic books
Example cited by Michigan
Department of Education
report on AT
Slide 38
Assistive Technologies in Education

Assistive Technologies require training
and support

Education ministries best organized to
implement such programs

Successful case studies emerging from
around the world

Opportunity to support transition to
the work place
Slide 39
Thank You
www.e-accessibilitytoolkit.org
PUBLICATIONS SPONSORS
www.g3ict.com
CO-HOSTS
Slide 40
Request for information:
[email protected]
+1 (404) 641 5661
Annexes
Resources for Assistive Technologies
Slide 41
ICT Tools: Computer Based Assistive
Technologies
Common computer based solutions
for education, workplace and home
applications by types of impairments:
• Visual
• Auditory
• Motor
• Cognitive
Slide 42
Visual Impairments: Solutions
for Computer Interaction

Severe visual impairments, including complete blindness
 Screen reader software, with either voice or braille output or a
combination of the two.
 Free Solutions: Fire Vox, Thunder, System Access To Go,
NVDA

Low vision
 Possible use of screen readers, screen magnification, highcontrast settings, in-browser/program font enlarging.
 Free Solutions: CLC STAR, iZoom Web, System Access To Go

Forms of color blindness/color vision deficiencies (redgreen being the most common (5% of males))
 Need for information to not be conveyed solely by color
differences.
 Free Solutions: Users of Windows or Mac may alter contrast.
For the web, CLC STAR may be useful.
Source: Ohio State University
Slide 43
Auditory Impairments: Solutions for
Interaction with Computers

Typical accommodations:
 On the web or with video content, synchronized
captioning of audio and video
 Text transcripts for audio-only
presentations/podcasts.
 Text messaging systems
 TTY devices and software for text
communication via telephone
Source: Ohio State University
Slide 44
Motor Impairments: Solutions for
Interaction with Computers
Free Solution:
Click-n-Type
Slide 45

Mobility and motor control disabilities
caused by injury (nerve, nerve
stress, or loss of limbs)
 Switches, pointing devices, such as
head-mounted or eye-controlled
pointers, or trackballs that do not
require fine limb movement

Mobility and motor control disabilities
caused by disease or genetic
conditions
 Issue: tremors and loss of ability to
control hand movement
 Track balls, switches, tremorcompensating mice, etc.
 Voice recognition software to perform
input, including scrolling, clicking, and
moving the mouse.
Slide 46
Cognitive Impairments: Solutions for
Interaction with Computers

Conditions ranging from reading and linguistic
disabilities to attention deficits to problemsolving and memory conditions to various
forms of learning disabilities

Largest category of disability affecting the
most people.

Solutions:
• Programs that offer word prediction when writing
and that can read aloud and highlight text are
useful for mild to moderate cognitive disabilities.
• Visual markup, word lookup, and electronic
bookmarking facilities offered by high end
programs such as Freedom Scientific WYNN and
TextHELP Read and Write Gold

Free Solutions: CLiCk, Speak, WordTalk, LetMeType,
Power Talk
Source: Ohio State University
Slide 47
Control Panel in Windows includes both
Voice Recognition and Text to Speech settings,
which, combined with free or inexpensive software,
allows for effective, inexpensive solutions
Slide 48
Basic Hearing Accessibility Features

Visual alerts to notify the user of incoming
calls/messages

Adjustable volume control

Display of missed, received or dialed calls through
call logs

Visual or tactile indicators showing what has been
pressed on the keypad, and visual display of text

Text based messaging options

SMS to Avatar translation for deaf illiterate (Tunisia)

One on one video for sign language communications
Slide 49
Vision – Basic Accessibility Features

Tactile markers to help orient fingers on the
keypad

Audible or tactile feedback to confirm a
button has been pressed

Adjustable font sizes

Audible cues for low battery, caller waiting
or ending a call and volume level

Adjustable brightness/contrast controls for
the display

The size of the main display

Backlit display
Slide 50
Speech – Basic Accessibility Features
Slide 51

Text Messaging/SMS

Email

Instant Messaging

Multi-media Messaging

Predictive Text

Re-use of personalized SMS messages

Video one on one for sign language
Dexterity

Ability to use the phone in 'hands-free' mode

Predictive text input

Call answered by pressing any key

Voice recognition for dialing or accessing features
within the phone

No pinching, twisting or rotation of the wrist
needed

Candy bar design to avoid extra movements (that
a phone with a folding or sliding design requires)

Flat back on the phone to allow for operation on a
table top rather than having to be held

Optional accessories such as a Bluetooth headset
or keyboard making texting and talking much
easier
Slide 52
Cognition

Menus and instructions clear and simple to understand

Providing simple instructions when something is required from the
user

Providing enough time for people to enter the required information

Ability to associate photos with telephone numbers
Other features that may be useful include:

Having a choice between audio, visual or vibrating alerts to let users
know when they're receiving a call

Keys provide audio, visual and tactile feedback when pressed

Popular functions such as placing a call controlled by repeating prerecorded voice commands

Help menus designed to anticipate the information being sought

Keypad shortcuts to make every step quick and efficient
Slide 53
Features Available on Mobile Devices

Audio/Voice only (18%)
Small display and voice (< 40
character)(49%)
Text messaging with disambiguation
(52%)
Camera (34%) (2D barcode capability)
Mobile browser (26%)

Kenyan study, 2009, 2 major carriers




Slide 54
AccessForAll Rendering for Mobile
Devices
 Simple
audio stream
 Audio
file with navigation keys
(e.g., navigating the document
object model tree - next header,
next chapter, etc.)
 Text
messages with text
message query and control
 Web
application for small
displays
Slide 55
Simple Audio Stream
 For
small sections of text or
continuous narrative, e.g. a novel
 Play,
 Call
pause and stop control only
in codes for specific topics
 Interactive
menus
 Using
audio
Slide 56
voice and dial tone
text-to-speech and recorded
Audio File with Navigation
 Using
Daisy document structure
 Navigating
the document object
model tree using numeric keys or
voice
 Either
text-to-speech or recorded
speech
 Local
caching capability where
possible (memory on device)
Slide 57