[ALAC] Fwd: ALAC and accessibility for people with disability

Salanieta T. Tamanikaiwaimaro salanieta.tamanikaiwaimaro at gmail.com
Thu Oct 18 17:48:41 UTC 2012


Streaming into the Caribbean WCIT Consultations and learning alot:

Also interesting to note the following:

   - There is a United Nations Convention on Rights of Persons with
   Disabilities on this area, see:
   http://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?id=150 (Whilst the US signed,
   it did not ratify the same. Although other countries have)
   - There is a submission by Hungary in the review of the ITRs to add a
   component to enable access for disabled persons and they are proposing 8(b)
   which countries should get behind as it is central to the issue of Access;
   - Whilst there have been other resolutions from the plenipotentiaries,
   where it was resolved that a Fund be created, only Cyprus has been giving
   money into the that Fund


Much awareness still has to be done apparently for access.

On Thu, Oct 18, 2012 at 3:34 PM, Gunela Astbrink <g.astbrink at gsa.com.au>wrote:

> Hi Sala,
>
> Thank you so much for your kind words. It's good to hear that the session
> I organised at PacINET on accessibility made an impact.
>
> Faaolo Utumapu from Samoa demonstrated how her screen reading software
> with speech synthesis works and how she can navigate through accessible
> websites. She also demonstrated how barriers are placed in front of her
> when websites are not accessible. For example, if she were to use the
> myICANN website, she would not be able to know to follow certain image
> links if they do not have an alt tag with a description. Nor would she be
> able to read the large image map about Internet governance as it is a jpg
> with no descriptive text.
>
> Sandra, these are two examples of accessibility errors on the myICANN
> website. The website in itself is user-friendly and I hope that there are
> only a few accessibility issues to fix.
>
> The W3C WCAG 2.0 guidelines may have been overlooked by the web developers
> but I hope that this is now being dealt with, Carlton.
>
> It would be great to get feedback from staff about this issue.
>
> As both Olivier and Sala have intimated, accessibility for people with
> disability will help to make ICANN truly inclusive. It actually goes beyond
> web accessibility of ICANN sites and should be incorporated into wider
> policy and processes even relating to new gTLDs.
>
> Regards,
> Gunela
>
>
> On 17/10/12 8:27 PM, Salanieta T. Tamanikaiwaimaro wrote:
>
>> Dear Olivier,
>>
>> Gunela is an extraordinary advocate and has consistently raised W3C
>> issues in various foras both nationally, regionally and globally. I will
>> never forget when at a PACINET Annual Conference which is an annual
>> meeting organised by the ALS that I subscribe to in American Samoa last
>> year when I saw this blind Samoan girl conduct a demo with her machine
>> and articulate confidently and articulately her desire for
>> accessibility. Our ALS have a number of advocates who despite the
>> numerous physical challenges continue to make an impact in discussions
>> and in running initiatives in their countries in Tonga, Samoa and Fiji.
>>
>> For the ordinary end user there are elements of accessibility that the
>> global community should consider. I would also like to take this time to
>> thank Gunela for reminding us of this important cause.
>>
>> Warm Regards,
>> Sala
>>
>> On Wed, Oct 17, 2012 at 2:43 PM, Carlton Samuels
>> <carlton.samuels at gmail.com <mailto:carlton.samuels at gmail.**com<carlton.samuels at gmail.com>>>
>> wrote:
>>
>>     The simple response is to ask staff to verify if the W3C web
>>     accessibility
>>     guidelines were adopted for the website.  And if not, why not?
>>
>>     Failing, I would ask if any assistive technologies were contemplated
>> at
>>     all? And if not, what are the plans for remediation.
>>
>>     - Carlton
>>
>>     ==============================
>>     Carlton A Samuels
>>     Mobile: 876-818-1799
>>     *Strategy, Planning, Governance, Assessment & Turnaround*
>>     =============================
>>
>>
>>     On Tue, Oct 16, 2012 at 6:12 PM, Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond
>>     <ocl at gih.com <mailto:ocl at gih.com>>wrote:
>>
>>
>>      >
>>      > For your information, please be so kind to find an email sent by
>>     one of
>>      > our members in Australia regarding accessibility, including
>>      > accessibility of the new myICANN.org Web site.
>>      > I believe there is a deeper implication to make ICANN as well as
>> its
>>      > bottom-up policy processes and its communication strategy more
>>      > accessible to everyone. Comments welcome!
>>      > Kind regards,
>>      >
>>      > Olivier
>>      >
>>      > -------- Original Message --------
>>      > Subject:        ALAC and accessibility for people with disability
>>      > Date:   Tue, 16 Oct 2012 12:12:59 +1100
>>      > From:   Gunela Astbrink <g.astbrink@*.au>
>>      > To: ocl at gih.com <mailto:ocl at gih.com>
>>      > CC:     Cheryl Langdon-Orr <langdonorr@*.com>, Save Vocea
>>     <save.vocea@
>>      > *.org>
>>      >
>>      >
>>      >
>>      > Dear Olivier,
>>      >
>>      > Unfortunately, I won't be at the Toronto ICANN meeting.
>>      >
>>      > I remember we have had discussions about accessibility for people
>>     with
>>      > disability in the past.
>>      >
>>      > The new myICANN website has prompted me to contact you.
>>      >
>>      > The ICANN websites have accessibility errors including the brand
>> new
>>      > myICANN. That looks like a great site and is intended for the
>> general
>>      > public. Thus, people with disability who comprise one billion
>>     people in
>>      > the world should have adequate access.
>>      >
>>      > I was invited to participate in the consultation for a new At-Large
>>      > website and hope that it will incorporate accessibility based on
>>     the Web
>>      > Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.0 (WCAG 2.0) right
>>     from the
>>      > start. http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/**wcag.php<http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/wcag.php>
>>      >
>>      > I am very concerned that accessibility should be considered in new
>>      > policy or process.
>>      >
>>      > ISOC are about to launch a policy paper on Internet accessibility
>> for
>>      > people with disability (drafted by me).
>>      >
>>      > I'd like to see ICANN also taking this issue on in a systematic
>>     way. For
>>      > example, mechanisms could be considered on how to encourage new
>>     gTLDs to
>>      > consider accessibility.
>>      >
>>      > Happy to discuss further.
>>      >
>>      > Regards,
>>      > Gunela
>>      >
>>      > --
>>      > Gunela Astbrink
>>      > GSA Information Consultants
>>      > PO Box 600
>>      > Ballina NSW 2478
>>      > Australia
>>      > Mobile: +61 417 715738 <tel:%2B61%20417%20715738>
>>      > Email: g.astbrink at gsa.com.au <mailto:g.astbrink at gsa.com.au>
>>      >
>>      >
>>      >
>>      >
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>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Salanieta Tamanikaiwaimaro aka Sala
>> P.O. Box 17862
>> Suva
>> Fiji
>>
>> Twitter: @SalanietaT
>> Skype:Salanieta.**Tamanikaiwaimaro
>> Fiji Cell: +679 998 2851
>>
>>
>>
>>
> --
> Gunela Astbrink
> GSA Information Consultants
> PO Box 600
> Ballina NSW 2478
> Australia
> Mobile: +61 417 715738
> Email: g.astbrink at gsa.com.au
>



-- 
Salanieta Tamanikaiwaimaro aka Sala
P.O. Box 17862
Suva
Fiji

Twitter: @SalanietaT
Skype:Salanieta.Tamanikaiwaimaro
Fiji Cell: +679 998 2851



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