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

[Gunela Astbrink]

In this field, I have to remain an eternal optimist.

I wrote that Issues Paper for ISOC back in 2012
http://www.internetsociety.org/doc/internet-accessibility-internet-use-persons-disabilities-moving-forward
and suggested a number of specific activities for ISOC to move on.

Unfortunately, apart from support from the Asia Pacific Bureau to run 
disability workshops as part of PacINET, nothing has happened. BTW, 
these workshops were very successful with participation of 
representatives of five different government ministries as well as 
community organisations resulting in concrete outcomes and actions.

I am hopeful that ISOC will include accessibility for people with 
disability in its 2015 work plan. This is an organisation-wide issue and 
broader than web accessibility.

Gunela Astbrink
Director, ISOC-Australia

Klaus Birkenbihl said the following on 12/11/14 01:21 :
> Sofie Maddens wrote on 10.11.2014 08:05:
>> Yes, it was good to see such outcomes. Copying Nicolas and Karen.
>>
>> Sofie
>
> Indeed. After all the good news from ITUs I wonder about ourselves.
> Me and a few others made some noise wrt to accessibility issues on
> our own precious website back in 2011. Beside an article where
> we educate the world upon it (maybe it was read by the ITU folks
> ;-) ) not much follow-up.
>
> Various folks in management agreed that this topic should have
> more attention ... but neither did we introduce tools that would
> help us to track issues nor did I see much action except
> an external study that confirmed the issues and some announcements
> of plans. If there was a real plan or even fulfillment I missed it
> - or it was -modest guys we are- not communicated. (I admit I
> stopped polling the web site myself finding more or less
> the same issues again and again with no option to get them
> acknowledged or even fixed).
>
> But maybe with ITU as an example ...
>
> Lets dream on, Klaus
>
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>>>> On Nov 10, 2014, at 7:07 AM, Gunela Astbrink <g.astbrink at gsa.com.au> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> 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
>>>>
>
>
>
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-- 
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