The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in partnership with Uganda Communication Commission (UCC) organized a workshop for persons with disability called “ICT Accessibility”. The workshop which took place on 6th May 2010 at the Commonwealth Hotel Speke,  Munyonyo in Kampala, Uganda was intended to mainly discuss the challenges faced by PWDs globally in accessing ICTs and share knowledge of how a number of ICTs used for electronic accesssibility (e-accessibility) have and can still bridge the gap between the disabled persons and the non-disabled ones.

The workshop covered the following areas:

* The new frontiers of Accessibility ICT: A review of the latest technology advances.  An analysis of the past, present and future of Accessibility and e-inclusion.

* ITU Toolkit for policy makers on e-Accessibility and service Needs for Person with Disabilities: e-accessibility basics for an inclusive Information Society.

 * Technology and Standards in promoting accessible ICT service and products.

* Web without barriers: Web Accessibility standards.

* Areas of Opportunities for ICT accessibility for Persons With disabilities 

BACKGROUND

The convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPF) was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 13 December 2006. A major milestone for all persons living with disabilities around the world, it is the 8th Universal Convention on Human Rights. The majority of ITU Member States are signatories to the convention.

Article 9 of the CRPD defines ICT accessibility as an integral part of accessibility rights on par with transportation and physical environment for PWDs. There are indeed so many challenges for PWDs to realize their fundamental Human Right of access to information especially in the developing world.

These challenges include but are not limited to; Low education levels of  PWDs especially in the developing countries, absence of assistive technologies to help even the educated PWDs, the absence of clear intervention strategies by governments, local disability leadership and other stakeholders to save the situation, the fact that majority PWDs live in the most rural parts of Africa and therefore can't be covered by the avaliable ICTs.

And although the Mobile telephone technology is greatly improving accessibility to information in Africa, its applicability for use by people with disabilities is still highly wanting. There are barriers to accessibility mainly because of the different designs of  ICT tools used by people in the mainstream which are not adaptable for use by the PWDs.

Why the need to improve web/ICT accessibility for PWDs

Since time immemorial, PWDs all over the word are faced with the problem of exclusion and Isolation. This has contributed to their low levels of education therefore exclusion from majority of social services. During this one day event, it was noted that there is need to improve ICT accessibility for PWDs and this could be done through the following suggested ways:

·     The web which can be used for news, information, commerce and entertainment among others though aiding devices like the Brail, and speech software.

·       Adopting new technologies like real time captioning which is very relevant for the deaf.

·        Using other assistive technologies like mobile phones.

Proposals and plans of actions Identified in the workshop to address these challenges;

a) As a means of inclusion of persons with disabilities in the development of infrastructure; it was proposed that a universal access fund for Infrastructure especially geared to underprivileged areas, and disadvantaged groups including women, youth and persons with disabilities be established;

b) Governments in partnership with civil society should  increase opportunities for training of women and persons with disabilities through education, training and human resource development taking into account special consideration of underprivileged areas;

c) As part of policy development process , the participation of women and other disadvantaged groups should be facilitated and encouraged in the ICT policy development and implementation process.

Conclusion

Uganda has taken the initial important steps in addressing the issues of ICT accessibility for persons with disabilities (PWDs) and ensuring that issues related to this subject are addressed within ICT policies;

However, there is a lot to be done in terms of  continually addressing the socio- economic challenges of low literacy levels with specific attention on persons with disabilities and the in depth assessment of the extent of which existing ICT initiatives are addressing the needs of PWDs.

In partnership with the National Union of Women with Disability (NOWUDU), a WOUGNET member, WOUGNET was able to mobilise participation of a number of organisations working on improving the lives of PWDs. Participants were drawn from Bahai Uganda, Disabled Women in Development (DIWODA), Nakaseke Women's Development Association (NAWODA), Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development (MoGLSD), Reach Out to Women of Soldiers (ROWOSA), Entebbe Women's Association (EWA) and National Union of Persons with Disability (NUDIPU).

Written By  Maureen Agena and Danny Gotto Devito who represented WOUGNET at the Workshop.