[At-Large] [ALAC] Fwd: ALAC and accessibility for people with disability
Gunela Astbrink
g.astbrink at gsa.com.au
Thu Oct 18 21:44:17 UTC 2012
Useful update from Sala.
The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has been
signed by 154 countries with 125 ratifications and as you say, Sala, the
US has not ratified yet.
With regard to WCIT, you might be interested in the ITU-T Resolution 70
on telecommunications/ICT accessibility for people with disabilities
http://www.itu.int/pub/T-RES-T.70-2008
This states that consideration of accessibility should be taken in
standards development. I'd like to see this integrated approach in ICANN
processes too. It's more than web accessibility.
Gunela
On 19/10/12 4:48 AM, Salanieta T. Tamanikaiwaimaro wrote:
> 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
> <mailto: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>
> <mailto: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> <mailto: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> <mailto: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>
>
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