[At-Large] [ALAC] Fwd: ALAC and accessibility for people with disability

Gunela Astbrink g.astbrink at gsa.com.au
Thu Oct 18 03:34:56 UTC 2012


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>> 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
>      >
>      > 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



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