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

Salanieta T. Tamanikaiwaimaro salanieta.tamanikaiwaimaro at gmail.com
Thu Oct 18 21:50:05 UTC 2012


Thanks Gunela, the Hungary proposal that I had mentioned was their proposal
in terms of the review of the ITRs in WCIT 12.

Best Regards,


On Fri, Oct 19, 2012 at 9:44 AM, Gunela Astbrink <g.astbrink at gsa.com.au>wrote:

> 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<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<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<carlton.samuels at gmail.com>
>> >
>>         <mailto: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> <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>
>>
>>         <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>
>>
>>


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

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



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