[Chapter-delegates] ITU Resolution 175- Resolution for the Rights of Disabled Persons

[Gunela Astbrink]

It's great to see that Andrea Saks continues to achieve much for 
accessibility for people with disability particularly in the ITU and IGF.

Resolution 175 (revised in Busan) has a large number of actions for ITU 
to do or continue to do.

One of these was the adoption of an ITU accessibility policy in 2013 to 
work on its own internal practices to make them more accessible. These 
actions are outlined at:
http://www.itu.int/en/action/accessibility/Pages/makingITUaccessible.aspx
and are listed below:
         provide basic training in disability awareness for all staff;
         incorporate a reference to reasonable accommodation in 
registration forms and invitation letters to ITU events and conferences;
         assess the opportunity for improving the efficiency of ITU 
internal processes regarding the provision of captioning services;
         improving the accessibility of Word documents used in ITU 
meetings and conferences;
         defining an action plan for the provision of reasonable 
accommodation during PP14;
         organizing a side-event during PP14 to inform ITU Membership on 
the implementation of the ITU Accessibility Policy
         organizing a showcase-demos on specific areas related to 
accessibility;
         setting a process to systematically collect information on 
needs and preferences of meeting and conference participants concerning 
accessibility;
         inviting ITU Member States to allocate a budget line for the 
implementation of the Accessibility Policy in the Union's budget
         conducting an assessment of the level of accessibility of ITU 
recruitment process;
         adjusting ITU procurement processes to incorporate the 
accessibility requirements (focus on IT equipment);
         mainstreaming accessibility in ITU programmatic activities.


These are practical actions. ITU also works on integrating accessibility 
in policy and general standards development.

ICANN is also developing its accessibility practice through the At-Large 
Accessibility Taskforce.

It's worthwhile revisiting ISOC's Accessibility Issues Paper and its 
suggested actions:
http://www.internetsociety.org/doc/internet-accessibility-internet-use-persons-disabilities-moving-forward

The more people who highlight accessibility issues the better. We can 
all contribute to helping ISOC become a more accessible organisation and 
to work on integrating accessibility into policy and practice. While 
Chapters have a significant role to play in furthering accessibility, 
the Internet Society head office could provide significant leadership in 
this area. Disability awareness training is a good start....

Gunela Astbrink
Director, ISOC Australia

Jane Coffin said the following on 9/11/14 13:11 :
> Hi Glenn,
>
> Andrea Saks has been working on this in the ITU space (and with national
> governments) for many years and started off the first Resolution on the
> road to the PP series of text in 2010 either at the WTSA 2008 or WTDC in
> 2010.  She has done incredible work to move the ball forward.  She is
> largely the person responsible for captioning at events.  If you need
> links to her, many of us have them.
>
> Best,
> Jane
>
> From: Glenn McKnight <mcknight.glenn at gmail.com
> <mailto:mcknight.glenn at gmail.com>>
> Date: Saturday, November 8, 2014 at 22:18
> To: "chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org
> <mailto:chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org>"
> <chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org
> <mailto:chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org>>, Gunela Astbrink
> <g.astbrink at gsa.com.au <mailto:g.astbrink at gsa.com.au>>, Paul Brigner
> <brigner at isoc.org <mailto:brigner at isoc.org>>
> Subject: [Chapter-delegates] ITU Resolution 175- Resolution for the
> Rights of Disabled Persons
>
> Judith Hellerstein   of  ISOC  DC  Chapter  upon return from  a grueling
>   two  weeks in Busan, Korea  at the ITU   shared with me  the document
>   on  rights of the disabled in our  digital space.
>
> http://www.itu.int/en/plenipotentiary/2014/Documents/final-acts/pp14-final-acts-en.pdf
>
> FINAL ACTS*
> OF THE PLENIPOTENTIARY CONFERENCE   Resolution 175  highlighted the need
> to recognize the billion people  with  disabilities, especially those in
> developing countries.
>
> A number of  recommendations  were made in the resolution as to making
> our communication more accessible.
>
> Judith, Gunella and myself  have advocating within  ISOC  these concerns
>   and given this document  we need  to see how this  blueprint call
> assist   ISOC in its policy work to ways and means to implement these
> concepts.
>
> Glenn
>
>
>
>
> mcknight.glenn at gmail.com <mailto:mcknight.glenn at gmail.com>
> skype  gmcknight
> twitter gmcknight
> .

-- 
Gunela Astbrink
GSA InfoComm
PO Box 600
Ballina NSW 2478
Australia
Mobile: +61 417 715738
Email: g.astbrink at gsa.com.au
www.gsa.com.au