The issue of consumer information access for people who are blind or vision impaired can not be taken in isolation without referring to underlying policies which help to ensure that accessible information provision actually takes place.
To study the underlying policies, it is necessary to take a broad view of what is occurring in the disability field in Australia which might have an effect on accessible information provision. However, there is also a great deal happening in other countries and this activity should be considered for its applicability to the Australian situation.
The important areas to consider are coordination efforts and joint project work, legislative advances, the impact of universal design and accessible document design. Lastly, but importantly, an outline is given of awareness raising mechanisms to assist the general community in understanding the information needs of people who are blind or vision impaired.
The consumer movement is strong in Australia and this is reflected in the activities of consumer organisations such as the Consumers' Telecommunications Network (CTN) and the work undertaken by the Telstra Consumer Consultative Council (TCCC). The Australian telecommunications regulator, AUSTEL has recently established a Consumer Consultative Forum and various consumer working groups including one on consumer information.
However, the focus on research and development with respect to disability and information technology in Australia is not as strong. The majority of products are imported and there has been a limited interest and support of technological advancement in disability-related products and services until very recently.
Universities are undertaking some research work in this area. Other important initiatives include the funding of a number of one-year technology projects in 1996 by the Commonwealth Department of Health and Family Services through the Office of Disability.
ACROD, the national industry association for disability services established a National Technology Committee in 1995 and has developed a National Technology Plan. This is a first step in the coordination of activities in Australia and needs to be supported to avoid duplication of effort.
Conferences such as the Australian Conference on Technology for People with Disabilities will provide a spotlight on Australian activities in the area.
The Disability Discrimination Act is an extremely significant piece of legislation and the development of DDA Standards in areas such as communication and information will lead to improved information access.
Also important in this regard is the Telecommunications Bill 1996 which will
incorporate some disability provisions in its legislation.
6.1.2 Overseas activities
There are a number of organisations both in USA and Europe working on technical and awareness-raising projects to provide better access to information services for blind and vision impaired persons. The working methods in the two continents are, however, considerably different.
In Europe, many countries are working on joint projects which are often centrally funded by the European Union, in particular by TIDE (Technology Initiative for Disabled and Elderly People). There are also a certain number of projects which are funded by individual countries, significantly in the Nordic countries, which are lesser-known outside Europe. There is often a reasonable amount of communication between various countries about current projects through forums such as COST 219 (Telecommunications: Access for Disabled and Elderly People) which is described further under section 6.2.3 and the HEART (Horizontal European Activities in Rehabilitation Technology) study. HEART, now completed, was a joint effort by a consortium of 21 institutions, organisations and companies in twelve European countries to study the assistive technology market for people with disabilities and aged people.
Legislation has been considered much more important in USA than in Europe but this attitude is gradually changing. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Telecommunications Act of 1996 together with other earlier legislation such as sections of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 provides a framework to work towards a more accessible environment. The US federal government has been instrumental in providing more accessible information provision through various government agencies.
However, while there are national funding structures in USA such as the National Science Foundation which supports a wide range of projects and the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) of the Department of Education which funds Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centres, sometimes there is segmentation into state-wide activities. Attempts are being made to develop a more national approach through projects such as the Universal Access Project and Info Curbcuts which will be described in more detail in Section 6.4.3.
It is important to note that the amount of cooperation between USA and Europe has been rather minimal in the past. This was partly due to the fact that the European Union has traditionally felt that it was in market competition with USA. However, this has been changing in the past year with a marked increase in interaction between the two continents. For example, COST 219 bis is aiming to focus more on cooperative activities and information sharing between such countries as USA, Canada and Australia.
There have also been conferences such as the Rank Prize Fund Meeting on
Technology to assist the Blind and Visually Impaired held in the U.K. in
March, 1996 which brought together experts from USA and Europe. In Europe,
there have been conferences organised by COST 219, ECART (European Conference
on the Advancement of Rehabilitation Technology) and TIDE (Technology Initiative
for Disabled and Elderly People). Recurring conferences of relevance are
CSUN (California State University, Northridge), RESNA (Rehabilitation Engineering
Society of North America) and Closing the Gap in USA.
With so many developments in telecommunications which could affect the ability of blind or vision impaired to access consumer information, it is vital to monitor policy as well as research and development on an ongoing basis. This has been achieved by establishing consumer-oriented information sharing and coordinating bodies. These organisations monitor and aim to influence changes for the benefit of people with disabilities and people who are blind or vision impaired in accessing information.
It is important to use scarce resources to best effect so that there is no
duplication of effort in researching and developing new products and services
in Australia.
The Australian telecommunications regulator, AUSTEL has established a Consumer Consultative Forum which had its inaugural meeting in November, 1995. It includes a member from the National Caucus of Disability Consumer Organisations. At the end of May, 1996 AUSTEL announced the formation of a number of consumer working groups, one of which relates to consumer information. Members have been sought for representation on these working groups. As the Australian telecommunications market becomes more competitive, this is one way where AUSTEL can take a more active role in working closely with consumer organisations to ensure that telecommunications companies provide accessible products and services.
The merging of AUSTEL with the Spectrum Management Agency to become the Australian Communications Authority (ACA) in 1997 will hopefully not have any effect on its consumer activities. (See 6.3.2)
The Telstra Consumer Consultative Council (TCCC) was established in 1989
as a process of consultation to bring together representatives of residential
customers and Telstra's senior management. From the start, the Council was
conceived as a forum for a two-way exchange of views. "It was a recognition
that consumer and community groups had a crucial role to play in the development
of one of the most important national services, and in ensuring that the
benefits of today's advanced telecommunications systems and products were
made available on a reasonably accessible basis to all
Australians." (Telstra, 1996) The TCCC's Research Committee funded this Project
and there are other committees and working groups such as the Disability
Services Consultative Committee on which NFBCA is represented. Since its
inception, the Telstra Consumer Councils have considered over 100 issues
of direct relevance to Telstra's residential customers. Consultation on some
issues involves information sharing, and on others direct input to policy
and product/service development.
TCCC funds the Telstra Regional Consumer Councils (TRCC) which meet regularly in every state and territory. The TRCC's roles are to identify and resolve regional issues and refer national policy matters to the TCCC.
The Consumers' Telecommunications Network (CTN) identifies and develops policies based on consumer needs. It does this through consultations, seminars and publications. It is a non-government organisation which represents the community interest, including people with disabilities, in telecommunications policy. CTN has focused on access to and the affordability of the telephone for consumers. However, it is now increasing its focus on information technology services delivered by telecommunications networks.
ACROD, the national industry association for disability services, established a National Technology Committee in 1995 which aims to "provide a focus for lobbying on national technology issues, to foster cooperative approaches by major players, and to maintain links with international organisations." (Seeger, 1996) This Committee has developed a National Technology Plan 1996-1998 which features seven elements. These elements are information, equity, education and training, resources, consumer involvement, research and development and design. The Technology Plan is an important step towards a coordinated approach for technology and disability issues in Australia.
The Australian Rehabilitation and Assistive Technology Association (ARATA)
was formed in 1995 to serve as a national forum on relevant rehabilitation
technology issues. Special Interest Groups have been formed such as Service
Delivery and Government Policy as well as Computer Applications. ARATA is
steadily becoming more active and is hosting the third Australian Conference
on Technology for People with Disabilities to be held in November, 1997.
In USA, the National Council on Disability was established by Congress in 1973 and was transformed into an independent federal government agency in 1984. The fifteen members who are appointed by the President and confirmed by Congress review all laws, programmes and policies of the federal government that affect people with disabilities. The Council then makes recommendations to the President, Congress and federal government agencies on these issues.
The Council holds regular Tech Watch meetings where senior representatives from telecommunications and technology companies are invited to discuss their company's products and services. Members from Tech Watch committees in areas such as education, standards and distance learning are able to exchange views and information on developments.
In March, 1995, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) set up the Disabilities Issues Task Force (DITF). It is an internal, FCC-wide Task Force involving every Bureau and Office of the FCC. The aim is to ensure that people with disabilities will be able to access telecommunications services and equipment to the greatest extent possible. The first year concentrated on bringing the telecommunications industry and people with disabilities closer together so that differing viewpoints could be aired. This created the possibility of forming future strategic alliances. Much of the driving force behind the DITF is through the Disabilities Issues Commissioner who is also the FCC Chairman.
Some of the current work undertaken includes a study to determine whether the Commission's regulations ensure that advances in network services are accessible to and usable by people with disabilities. The DITF also plans to hold an "Access 2000" Summit bringing together people with disabilities, industry leaders and government regulators to develop an agenda for action for the next five years.
An "Accessibility Handbook" will be published by the FCC based on an accessibility survey of Commission offices and facilities. A video will be produced to educate Commission staff about disability access issues and disability-related initiatives which the FCC have undertaken.
In Europe, there is a European Union supported project which specifically deals with telecommunications and disability. This is COST 219 bis (Telecommunications: Access for Disabled and Elderly People) which consists of representatives from research and disability organisations as well as telecommunications companies from the majority of European countries. The main objectives are to study, analyse and propose solutions in order to make services generally accessible to all, make services adaptable when they cannot be made generally accessible and to propose special solutions to meet explicit problems. COST 219 bis will also support cooperation between technical specialists of telecommunications, standardisation, legislation and specialists working with disabled and elderly people. Underpinning this work, is the active dissemination of information and the promotion of appropriate research activities.
On a smaller scale, British Telecom (BT) is sponsoring the formation of an
"Informatics Opportunities Forum" for blind people. It is designed to coordinate
viewpoints on how technology, from a telecommunications perspective, can
be harnessed effectively for people with a vision impairment. The forum will
consist of consumers, service providers, BT specialists, suppliers of goods
and services and researchers. The inaugural meeting was scheduled for
mid-1996.
The initiatives that are under way in Australia are commendable and need to be continued and expanded to link in more with activities in other countries. Australia can thus adopt what is appropriate and relevant for conditions here and develop products and services which enhance consumer access to information for blind or vision impaired people.
However, it requires funding to achieve goals at the same pace with which industry develops products and services. It is also important that there is regular and ongoing interaction between disability organisations, government, telecommunications companies, industry and research organisations so that all parties develop a better understanding of each other's priorities and working methods.
When coordination does not occur, there is duplication of effort. For example, two blindness organisations in the same city have developed different interactive voice response systems. (See 7.3.2)
RECOMMENDATION
That NFBCA initiate discussions with the ACROD National Technology Committee
and ARATA by February, 1997 to form a reference group with representatives
from disability organisations, government, telecommunications companies,
industry and research organisations. The group will monitor activities in
all areas of telecommunications and disability. It should have frequent
interaction with similar groups in USA and Europe such as COST 219 bis. There
should be government support and funding for the ongoing work of such a group.
Legislation provides a framework which clearly delineates the rights and obligations of various parties. Disability discrimination legislation has clearly been extremely important so that people with disabilities are not discriminated against and are able to participate as equitably as possible in the daily life of the community.
With the deregulation of the telecommunications market in the last few years,
it has been necessary to enact legislation to ensure that the provision of
telecommunications services is regulated to some degree.
The Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (DDA) impacts on service providers in the provision of goods, services and facilities to people with disabilities in a non-discriminatory manner. To assist in formulating strategies for change, a service provider may institute an Action Plan. The Action Plan will identify and plan to eliminate discriminatory practices. Telstra is to be applauded for developing an Action Plan.
As part of the Disability Discrimination Act, Standards are being developed to provide guidelines to the requirements set out by the DDA. The Standards relate to areas such as transport and employment but of interest here is the development of the Communication and Information Standard which will provide guidelines on the provision of accessible government information.
The Commonwealth Disability Strategy is also important in this regard. It was initiated by the federal government in 1994 and is a ten year plan of action to remove barriers in Commonwealth policies, programs and services for people with a disability. Action 2.2.3 states: "Each department and authority will, in consultation with people with a disability, develop strategies to make information services and documentation accessible for different groups of people with a disability, taking into account language and cultural needs." The first progress report in 1995 states that very few departments and agencies have made their information accessible with 32% of departments and agencies having made some progress while only 12% have recorded significant action. (Disability Services Program, 1995)
The Telecommunications Act 1996 is in its final draft form and will come
into force on 1st July, 1997 with the deregulation of the Australian
telecommunications industry. Provisions in the Bill currently before Parliament
include disability standards. These standards would be made by the new Australian
Communications Authority, the regulatory body which will be formed on 1st
July, 1997 after the merger of AUSTEL and the Spectrum Management Agency.
Examples of features mentioned are an induction loop designed to assist in
the operation of a hearing aid and the raised dot on the button labelled
"5" on the telephone.
There are two significant pieces of U.S. legislation which can have broad influences both in USA and in other countries.
The Telecommunications Act of 1996 encompasses many areas but two sections (255 and 713) are of special significance.
Section 255 is entitled "Access by persons with disabilities" and requires all manufacturers of telecommunications equipment and providers of telecommunications services to ensure that such equipment and services are designed and developed to be accessible and usable by people with disabilities, if readily achievable. Whenever these requirements are not readily achievable, a manufacturer or provider shall ensure that the equipment or service is compatible with existing peripheral devices (such as TTYs and screen readers) commonly used by people with disabilities, if readily achievable.
Section 713 specifies that video services should be accessible to people with hearing and speech impairments. It also directs the FCC to study the use of video description to ensure accessibility by people with a vision impairment.
The Telecommunications Act directs the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (commonly called the Access Board) to develop guidelines for accessible telecommunications equipment. A Telecommunications Access Advisory Committee has been formed and consists of telecommunications manufacturers, carriers, disability organisations, research organisations such as the Trace Center and Gallaudet University and an adaptive technology company (Arkenstone). It will report its findings and recommendations in early 1997.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is well-known but some other legislation which forms the framework of the ADA may be lesser-known.
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act which was enacted in 1986 and amended in 1992 requires all office electronics in government departments to be accessible to staff with a disability. The guidelines need to be used when the federal government purchases computer systems and as the US government is the world's largest consumer of computers, this can have an impact on the accessibility of computer products and the development of screen readers for graphical user interfaces.
Section 509 which is part of the Rehabilitation Act amendments of 1992 (Public Law 102-569) relates to electronic and information technology accessibility guidelines. It states that guidelines shall be created to ensure that people with disabilities have access to information from federal government agencies comparable to the access to information provided to people without disabilities.
The new UK Disability Discrimination Act was enacted in November, 1995 and
provisions relating to the rights of access by people with disabilities to
goods, services, facilities and premises will come into force in late 1996
or early 1997. This Act will influence access to information. For example,
if a request for information in Braille or audiotape is necessary and reasonable
then the service provider will be expected to meet that demand.
The Disability Discrimination Act establishes a framework in philosophy and
process to make Australia a more accessible society for people with disabilities.
In particular, there are many emerging initiatives concerning better access
to information for people who are blind or vision impaired. It is important
to monitor international developments because many of the responses to disability
rights legislation can be transferred to and applied in Australia.
Universal design can be defined as "the process of creating products (devices, environments, systems, and processes) which are usable by people with the widest possible range of abilities, operating within the widest possible range of situations (environments, conditions, and circumstances)." (Trace Center, 1996)
There are two components to universal design. The first component is to design products which are flexible enough, as is commercially practical, to be directly used by people with the widest range of abilities. The second component is to design products so that they are compatible with the broadest range of assistive technologies for people who can not use or efficiently access the products directly.
The importance of universal design is that the product is designed in a flexible manner to accommodate more people than was previously considered. The typical example is the installation of ramps in buildings. These are not only used by people in wheelchairs, but also by people with shopping trolleys, baby carriages and delivery carts.
Therefore, universal design:
and results in product designs which:
Universal design is not to be considered as a social obligation to assist a less fortunate minority of the population. It does not imply that design should attempt to be stretched to cover every possible functional limitation. What universal design does mean is that there should be more flexibility in thought and implementation when new products and services are developed.
Standards Australia
A draft for the "Design of Hardware and Software for Universal Access" has
been developed by the Open Learning Technology Corporation (OLTC). This draft
will be distributed for community consultation and be considered by the
Information Technology Committee of Standards Australia. It is envisaged
that the draft will later be incorporated into a Handbook of Guidelines for
use by Australian designers. At this early stage, the draft comprises guidelines
on Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), information kiosks and computers. It
uses much material from work which has been done by the Trace Center and
in the U.K.
Information technology research in Australia
Research on disability and information technology in Australia has been quite
limited outside the social policy area. While important studies have been
undertaken with funding from the Telstra Fund for Social and Policy Research
in Telecommunications such as that conducted by the Consumers' Telecommunications
Network (CTN) and the Telecommunications Needs Research Group at RMIT, there
also needs to be more focus on multidisciplinary research regarding emerging
technologies and disability. This will lead to methods of using technologies
to best effect by people with disabilities and to guard against expensive
retrofitting of products. The Commonwealth Department of Health and Family
Services' Office of Disability has funded nine research projects in 1996
on communication and technology issues affecting people with a disability
which is a valuable step in the right direction.
Telstra operates a Product Development Fund which aims to assist Australian entrepreneurs and inventors to design and develop innovative products in the field of telecommunications associated technologies. It is important to ensure that universal design principles are taken into account when products are assessed for support.
Consumer Products Guidelines Project
Some of the current work on universal design can be said to be built upon
previous work undertaken on the guidelines for the design of computers (both
by the Trace Center and the Nordic Committee on Disability) as well as the
accessible design of consumer products undertaken by the Trace Center in
1992 and which is continually being updated. Accessible design can be considered
as a subset of universal design in that it concentrates on the extension
of design features to cover a wider range of human abilities and limitations.
The guidelines cover the functional categories of output/displays, input/controls, manipulations, documentation and safety. Each guideline is phrased as an objective such as "Maximise the number of people who will not miss important information if they can't see" followed by a statement of the problem faced by people with disabilities; "Visual output (e.g., information presented on screens, paper printouts, cuing and warning lights, and dials) may not be seen at all by some users. Examples are given of occurrences and design options and ideas are provided as well as additional information for consideration.
While these guidelines are generic in nature, they provide many useful ideas and examples which designers may wish to consider.
A national conference entitled Inforamps 96 on designing and using an accessible information infrastructure was held on 11th and 12th July, 1996 in Washington DC. There were workshops on market research, accessible information kiosks, the Telecommunications Act of 1996, and the World Wide Web. This conference provided an overview of the work done on bringing about universal design.
Universal Access Project
This project is funded by the National Telecommunications and Information
Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce and run by the World Institute
on Disability, the Trace Research and Development Center and CPB/WGBH National
Center for Accessible Media. The World Institute on Disability is a research,
training and policy development centre which is headed by people with a
disability. The Trace Center is a Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centre,
based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison specialising in communication
and the design of accessible information systems. The CPB/WGBH National Center
for Accessible Media develops strategies and technologies to make all public
media accessible at home, school and in the community.
The project's aim is awareness-raising rather than product or service development. It will bring together people with disabilities, researchers and the information industry to develop a common understanding of the barriers and methods of overcoming them in next generation information and transaction systems.
The main focus is the need to incorporate accessibility features in the early design stages of telecommunications and information systems. This will obviate the need to add more expensive and less workable accessible features after the system is completed. This is an extremely important issue that is stressed by all researchers and policy makers in the field of technology and disability both in USA and Europe.
Info Curbcuts
The Info Curbcuts project which is run by the Trace Center in association
with the World Institute on Disability is described as the development of
human interface protocols and design guidelines to allow access to next
generation information and transaction systems by people with diverse
disabilities.
The information superhighway will impact on many aspects of life from education, through employment to recreation. It is already possible to book theatre tickets, do home shopping and access the local library catalogue from home in certain places in USA. More and more so-called user-friendly devices will be made available to the consumer for accessing information and conducting business. These systems will provide access to banking, information, purchasing and a wide range of government services. It is vital that the design element includes accessibility features. The Info Curbcuts project aims to maximise the access efficiency for users with or without a disability. To do this, a set of compatible interface protocols for cross-disability access to public, shared and mass-marketed information systems and devices will be developed. Also, design guidelines will be developed for public and mass-marketed information and transaction systems.
The project needs to ensure that these design guidelines are developed quickly as the next generation information and transaction systems are already at the production prototype stage.
The Trace Center is developing an on-line design and evaluation tool to provide assistance to product developers in creating more accessible and usable products. The concept revolves around a designer taking their product idea to the Trace Center's Web site on the Internet. The design tool will lead the designer through a set of questions and provide feedback on possible access limitations. Suggestions and strategies will be offered to improve the product's accessibility. Examples together with video and audio clips, references to documents and experts to contact will also be included as well as the opportunity of joining a discussion list on the Internet to get feedback from researchers, other designers and consumers.
A portfolio of universal design examples including illustrations of products will be developed to assist designers. Emphasis will be given to good and bad examples of design as well as the developmental sequence in working towards universal design.
The project's goal is to ensure that disability access is built into the interfaces of phone/modem based information services, cable/broadband home-based information services, Internet applications, public information kiosks and ATMs.
Rehabilitation Engineering and Research Center on Universal
Telecommunications Access
This is a new Center which was established in September, 1995 and is funded
for four years by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation
Research. It is a collaborative project of Gallaudet University's Technology
Assessment Program, the Trace Center and the World Institute on Disability.
The Center will concentrate on six different activities:
The major goal of the Center is to promote accessible telecommunications.
This should have an impact on the universal design of products and services
as well as to create more informed consumers.
Pacific Bell
Pacific Bell is a telephone company based in California. It commissioned
a report by its Advisory Group for People with Disabilities (AGPD) on making
its products and services more accessible. This report represented one year's
work by the Group which reported its findings and recommendations in 1994.
There was a strong emphasis on universal design as well as enhancing existing
products and services as well as creating accessible future products.
The company set up a marketing group to work with product teams and develop a marketing plan. This plan includes the market size of people with disabilities and identifies opportunities and strategies for the company to pursue.
Pacific Bell's marketing data for 1993 indicated that:
"People with disabilities in California represent more total revenue to Pacific Bell than the home office market segment.
People who are blind or have vision impairment spend much more on Pacific Bell products than the general market." (Pacific Bell's Advisory Group for People with Disabilities, 1994)
The company has also considered developing a training course on universal
design for one member of every major product team. It will also draft principles
on universal design for product design teams. Two products will be selected
for the application of universal design principles. Pacific Bell has worked
with Bellcore in its product screening process. Bellcore now includes as
part of its regular assessment, the impact of the product concept on people
with disabilities and the size of the potential market.
There is a need in Australia to undertake more work with the practical issues of universal design so that any new product or service developed here will incorporate universal design features as far as possible. In fact, one of the conclusions from the "Have your say" national seminars where consumers had the opportunity of discussing issues of future communications technology was that "formal and informal consultation processes need to occur at all levels of product development and service provision." (Elix & Lambert, 1994 in G. Goggin & C. Newell, 1996, p. 7)
RECOMMENDATION
That Telstra and banks consider developing mechanisms so that people
with disabilities are included in market testing of new products and
services.
If there is more understanding of universal design issues amongst companies'
research and product development departments, this could lead to the design
and production of more accessible products and services. The changes would
occur from within companies rather than solely being a push from outside
regulatory bodies and advocacy organisations.
RECOMMENDATION
That the ACROD National Technology Committee encourage and advise
large corporations to provide training and professional development for their
research engineers and information technology specialists to give them an
appropriate knowledge of disability issues relevant to their field of expertise.
This will enable them to appreciate universal design principles and to develop
"disability impact statements."
The guidelines being developed by Standards Australia are an excellent basis for NFBCA and other disability organisations to work with product designers in industry and research institutions to increase awareness of universal design features. These guidelines could be used as the basis for "disability impact statements" when a new product or service is designed.
RECOMMENDATIONS
That NFBCA actively participate in the development of universal design
guidelines "Design of hardware and software for universal access" with Standards
Australia by March, 1997.
That NFBCA encourage companies to use the completed
universal design guidelines developed by Standards Australia on an ongoing
basis to incorporate "disability impact statements" in new products and
services.
Telstra could be seen as a leader in the field by marketing its new products and services with a universal design "stamp" based on the Standards Australia guidelines. To achieve this, a multi-disciplinary team could work with various product development sections. Telstra's Product Development Fund could assist by using universal design principles as one of its guidelines for supporting product development. This would act as a method of reinforcing the usefulness of universal design at the early stage of a product's life.
RECOMMENDATIONS
That Telstra consider developing a strategy to
incorporate universal design policies into its product and services development
processes. Goals toward achieving this should be included as part of Telstra's
Disability Action Plan.
That Telstra's Product Development Fund consider
incorporating universal design provision, wherever possible, in the products
it supports.
Research in Australia to underpin this universal design framework in the area of information technology and disability needs to be expanded considerably. Based on the Commonwealth Government's support for Cooperative Research Centres in which universities and industry work together on projects, an application for funding of a new Cooperative Research Centre should be considered. In fact, the Broadband Services Expert Group (see Section 7.4) discusses this in reply to the point made by CTN that "social and consumer requirements need to be explicitly considered in the development of new technologies". The Group suggested that the "Cooperative Research Centres program could be a vehicle to address this by combining social, business and technological development with consumer research." (Broadband Services Expert Group, 1995, p. 86)
A new Cooperative Research Centre could develop products and services based
on universal design principles. This Centre would have project partners from
Telstra, other relevant companies and universities to undertake collaborative
research in conjunction with disability organisations. Suggested projects
include accessible information kiosks and smart card software.
RECOMMENDATION
That NFBCA present a proposal to the ACROD National Technology Committee
by March, 1997 for an application to be developed to the Commonwealth Department
of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs (DEETYA) for the
establishment of a new Cooperative Research Centre. This Centre would undertake
collaborative research between industry including Telstra and universities
in conjunction with disability organisations to speed the development and
uptake of new technology based on universal design principles. Close contact
would be maintained with overseas research and development organisations
in similar areas.
The funding of technology-based projects through the Office of Disability is a valuable start to Australian research in this area. However, much more needs to be done and it is vital that there is funding for continued research.
RECOMMENDATION
That NFBCA write to the Office of Disability (Commonwealth Department
of Health and Family Services) by January, 1997 expressing its support for
the funding of technological research and expressing its wish for this to
continue and be expanded.
With the pervasive growth of technology and its influence on more and more
aspects of our lives, the traditional alternative formats of Braille, audiotape
and large print are being supplemented by electronic means of information
provision. Thus, the methods in which documents are designed and presented
in electronic media are becoming important issues for the access to consumer
information for blind or vision impaired people.
The Round Table on Information Access for People with Print Disabilities has developed four sets of guidelines on the production of Braille and large print documents, documents on disk as well as the production of audio tapes. For example, the guidelines on documents on disk, which is currently being reviewed, cover table of contents, naming conventions, hyphenation, font changes and other relevant areas.
The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission has released for comment
a proposal for guidelines for accessible Web design under the Disability
Discrimination Act. While the guidelines issued by the Commission do not
have direct legal force or substitute for the provisions of the DDA itself,
"failure to provide information in a form equally accessible to people with
a disability could constitute unlawful discrimination under the DDA if access
could reasonably have been provided." (HREOC, 1996, p. 4)
International Committee for Accessible Document Design
(ICADD)
ICADD is an international consortium of representatives from industry, education
and disability organisations working to ensure that information in
electronically-based printed materials is accessible to persons who are blind
or vision impaired. Tim Noonan of the Royal Blind Society in New South Wales
is the Australian representative. ICADD has developed an SGML-based document
standard for accessibility (ISO 12083). SGML is the Standard Generalised
Markup Language which is widely used in the publishing industry of which
HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is a subset generally used on the World
Wide Web. SGML separates the structure from the contents of the document.
The structure is designated by tags indicating, for example, a new paragraph.
SGML documents can easily be converted to a wide range of other formats including
the ICADD format for information dissemination.
ICADD, through UCLA in California, has provided an HTML to ICADD transformation service on the Internet. This means that a person with a print disability can input the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of an HTML document and this will be converted to ICADD format and then to Braille. This is one way for people with a print disability to have access to print documents which are stored electronically in SGML or HTML format.
InfoUCLA
UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) has used this system for InfoUCLA
(Access for people with a print impairment). In a joint project of the UCLA
Library and the UCLA Disabilities and Computing Program, InfoUCLA documents
are converted to ICADD format to allow the entire university community access
to relevant information.
General Services Administration
The General Services Administration (GSA) is an important US government
department in terms of this Project.
Especially significant is GSA's Center for IT Accommodation (CITA). This Center was formed in 1984 as the Clearinghouse on Computer Accommodation (COCA) and has served as a model demonstration centre for accessible information environments and services. This has been of assistance in meeting the government's legal requirements to ensure an accessible environment for its goods and services especially since the implementation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The centre provides training, support and technical consultation to federal government agencies. It also acts as a demonstration site in Washington DC for accessible information systems.
CITA has developed a network of federal government employees with disabilities together with support staff to provide early consumer feedback on new service delivery technologies. CITA, for example, advises on accessible information kiosk services to customer agencies. A CITA handbook called Managing Information Resources for Accessibility was updated in December, 1995 and provides guidance to federal government managers who are unfamiliar with policy and practice of information accessibility. Current projects include cooperation with the Government Printing Office, the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Internal Revenue Service to ensure that accessible document design is achieved. CITA also provides guidance on the development of accessible CD-ROMs and is developing a tutorial for blind users to become oriented with Windows. Finally, CITA has evaluated Internet browsers such as Mosaic and Lynx (a text-based browser) and produced guidelines on the design of accessible HTML documents.
CAPS
The CAPS (Communication and Access to information for Persons with Special
Needs) project which was funded under the European Union's TIDE programme
has adopted the ICADD format in the development of a pilot system which tests
the concepts of an information access model for people with a print disability.
This system has been tested with the provision of a digital newspaper, some
books as well as shorter documents. There have been some additions made to
the ICADD standard to take into account the interactive nature of some of
the CAPS applications. These include interactive voice response used in the
Telephone Access System.
HARMONY
The CAPS project was completed towards the end of 1994 and has now been extended
into the HARMONY project (Horizontal action for the harmonisation of accessible
structured documents). HARMONY will promote the use of structured documents
within the publishing community in order to increase the quality and quantity
of accessible documents. A workshop on Accessible Structured Electronic Documents
was held in June, 1996 in Belgium to bring together experts in accessible
document delivery and to provide information on projects about this area.
The Internet
Over the last three years, the Internet has developed from a primarily academic
tool to take a pivotal position in all areas of communication and information
exchange. Individuals and large corporations have similar opportunities to
publicise their activities or interests to the rest of the world through
the World Wide Web. The World Wide Web (WWW) is an Internet application which
provides hypertext linking from one document on the Internet to another document,
file, image or piece of information on different computers on the Internet.
While, initially, the Internet was purely text-based, it was an ideal method of information access for people with a vision impairment. For the first time, blind and vision impaired people using speech reading software and a voice synthesiser or a refreshable Braille display had the same opportunities of accessing material as anyone else. However, with the growing popularity of the Internet, browsing software for the World Wide Web is now Windows-based and Web pages are increasingly based on images, even when linking from one document to another. There are HTML tags to describe images but not all Web designers use these alternate tags.
Guidelines to accessible Web design have been developed by a number of organisations and it is important that awareness-raising continues to ensure that designers use these guidelines. In USA, CPB/WGBH National Center for Accessible Media has designed a special symbol for inclusion on accessible Web pages to assist in the awareness-raising program.
Special browsing software called pwWebSpeak has been developed in USA. This
browser is entirely speech-based so that a person with a vision impairment
does not need any additional speech reading software to access Web pages
as long as the PC has a suitable sound card installed. The browser provides,
in speech output, a thumbnail sketch of each Web page indicating such features
as the number of lines of text and the number of links.
Java
Events move extremely rapidly with regards to the Internet. For example,
many browsers now have Java interpreters. Java is a programming environment
which facilitates the expedient transfer of multimedia electronic documents
across various platforms and enables programs to be executed on the user's
own Internet browser. Java is an important extension to HTML but there are
no accessibility standards considered for Java applications at this stage.
6.5.4 Conclusion
With the amount of activity overseas in accessible document design, it is important that Australian disability organisations monitor these activities and develop links with projects in other countries. This would have benefits for blind or vision impaired consumers in Australia to provide them with a wider choice in accessing information. For example, the ICADD service, where HTML documents are converted to Braille, could be tested for its applicability to Australia.
RECOMMENDATIONS
That NFBCA commence to monitor the developments occurring overseas in accessible
document design by May, 1997 and continue to develop closer links with projects
working in this area.
That NFBCA investigate the ICADD service and its
applicability to Australia by March, 1997.
The Internet is becoming an integral part of information provision and in the near future, it will be used by broader sections of the community to the extent that many believe that there will be divisions in society between the "information rich" and the "information poor". Therefore, it is vital to ensure that the information provided on the Internet is accessible. Testing new Internet products such as the pwWebSpeak browser is one way to ascertain whether people who are blind or vision impaired in Australia would find the products useful for their needs.
RECOMMENDATION
That NFBCA arrange to test the usefulness of the pwWebSpeak browser
by January, 1997 and continue to test new Internet applications for people
who are blind or vision impaired as they become
available.
To further strengthen the role of accessible Internet information, it is
important to formally include these concepts in any guidelines or standards
which may be applicable. For example, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity
Commission is developing guidelines for Web access under the Disability
Discrimination Act. It may also be included in the document by Standards
Australia on "Design of hardware and software for universal access".
RECOMMENDATION
That NFBCA participate in discussions by February, 1997 with Standards Australia
on the feasibility of incorporating Australian accessible Web design in the
guidelines for "Design of hardware and software for universal access".
To achieve more support and understanding in the community of the information
needs of people who are blind or vision impaired, it is vital that the public
are educated about these needs. Often it is ignorance which is the major
barrier to making, in some cases, minor adjustments or accommodations to
achieve better accessibility. However, most often these accommodations need
to be incorporated at the design stage of a product or service.
The set of guidelines on the production of documents in alternative formats developed by the Round Table on Information Access for People with Print Disabilities has been sold to schools and government agencies but need further promotion to achieve a broader market.
To the best of the author's knowledge, there are no other specific awareness-raising programs taking place in Australia in the area of accessible consumer information for people who are blind or vision impaired.
However, an example of a step in the right direction is Telstra's use of
phonecards as a method of illustrating various aspects of community life.
In September, 1996, Telstra launched a phonecard on behalf of the Western
Australian School of the Deaf with sign language depicted on the phonecard.
The card was also an avenue of fundraising for the School and is expected
to become a collector's item.
The RNIB See It Right Awards were launched by the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) in the U.K. in September, 1995. They are designed to act as an incentive for companies and information providers to provide accessible information to blind or vision impaired people. One of the winners in 1996 was British Telecom (BT).
BT takes the view that disability directed programmes can open up new market opportunities and become profit generators. It also considers that the employment of people with disabilities can provide talented employees who can contribute to the company's profitability. Finally, BT believes that "these more enlightened companies are reaping the real marketing benefit to their core business from being seen to be balancing human need against the commercial imperative." (Perrett, 1995)
It is estimated that BT's annual income from the residential sector in the U.K. is approximately 5.4 billion pounds which is derived from 20 million households. Data provided by the non-profit organisation Aged Concern indicate that there are 6 million households where at least one resident is over the age of 65, has a disability or perhaps both. BT estimates that this market is worth 1.6 billion pounds. (Perrett, 1995)
The See it Right campaign has produced booklets for information providers on the various methods of providing accessible information as part of its Access to Information Policy which RNIB hopes will be adopted by other organisations. The policy objectives are to ensure that print materials are clear and legible to maximise the number of people who can read them: to communicate with people in their preferred format without undue delay or additional charge and to produce publications in alternative media when the target audience includes people with vision impairment.
Pacific Bell has featured people with disabilities in some of its advertising campaigns such as the "Good enough isn't" video series showing a person using a wheelchair and an autistic girl. Another series called "It's real California" showed a background shot of a person using a wheelchair.
A number of U.S. federal government departments have accessibility programmes
principally for their staff. For example, the Department of Defence and the
Internal Revenue Service run CAP programs. In the case of the Department
of Defence, this stands for Computer/Electronic Accommodations Program and
provides technical, educational and financial support to assist employees,
supervisors and managers identify and procure appropriate technology. The
Internal Revenue Service with its Computer/Telecommunications Accessibility
Program attempts to ensure that their electronic information is accessible
to people with disabilities. Programmes are also run by the Department of
Agriculture (TARGET), Department of Commerce (CREATE) and the National Security
Agency (CCAT). The Job Accommodation Network (JAN) claims to be an international
toll-free consulting service providing information on employment opportunities
for people with disabilities. JAN also provides information on the Americans
with Disabilities Act (ADA).
There seems to be very few specific Australian activities in awareness-raising for accessible information provision for people who are blind or vision impaired.
The DDA Standard on Communication and Information, when completed, may contain a number of complex guidelines which need detailed understanding for compliance. An excellent way of achieving this is through a Commonwealth Government funded centre showcasing information and communication accessibility. Examples could be demonstrated of methods of producing clear, legible documents through to Web design on the Internet to examples of accessible computer hardware and software. This centre could also provide training and awareness-raising programs in the development of such services.
RECOMMENDATION
That NFBCA recommend to the appropriate Commonwealth government department
by May, 1997 to establish a federally-funded information and demonstration
centre on accessibility. This would provide guidance for the government
departments and agencies and companies to meet their obligations under the
Disability Discrimination Act's Communication and Information Standard. It
would also provide training, support and technical consultation to federal
government departments and agencies.
Partnering this thrust could be the development of a consumer action guide. This would assist blind or vision impaired consumers to explain their requirements for information in accessible formats in a manner which will produce positive results.
RECOMMENDATION
That NFBCA produce a consumer information action guide by July, 1997.
It will give guidelines to consumers on methods of alerting public utilities
and corporations regarding the need to provide their information in alternative
formats.
There also needs to be a more focused campaign of awareness raising directed
at the business and research sector in various areas. Banks which are
increasingly moving towards a self-service customer model, need to be made
aware that a proportion of their market is less able to access their current
services. In particular, Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) and smart card
readers (See 7.2) could be made more accessible by the provision of alternative
methods of screen output. The ATMs could be angled to assist people wearing
bifocals and to prevent sunlight obscuring the screen. Voice output through
an earphone is also a possibility.
RECOMMENDATION
That NFBCA hold discussions with the banking industry by March, 1997 to establish
increased awareness of information access in banking terminals such as ATMs
and smart card readers for people who are blind or vision
impaired.
Large companies like Telstra and banks could include people with disabilities in their advertising campaigns to present an image of a caring company that reflects Australia as an inclusive society. This should be considered as a good company marketing strategy rather than merely as assisting a disadvantaged community sector. CTN (1995, p. 174) states that "lack of understanding of the sector inhibits carrier capacity to recognise the business potential for new products and services in the sector, even in obvious areas such as mobile services."
RECOMMENDATION
That Telstra and banks consider including in their advertising campaigns
a focus on Australia as an inclusive society and demonstrate use of services
by people with disabilities.
An important way to ensure that more researchers and policy-makers become familiar with the multi-faceted requirements for accessible information for people who are blind or vision impaired is to actively participate at conferences and seminars. The conferences to be targeted can range from disability conferences to more general conferences on communication and telecommunications. For example, papers could be presented at the third Australian Conference on Technology for People with Disabilities to be held in Canberra in November, 1997. Other conferences to target include CTN's annual conference which brings together Australian telecommunication policy-makers. The Communications Research Forum held annually would also be a useful conference to raise relevant issues.
RECOMMENDATION
That NFBCA actively encourages an increased focus on information accessibility
and vision impairment at telecommunications and disability conferences. Examples
are the Australian Conference on Technology for People with Disabilities
to be held in Canberra in November, 1997, CTN's annual conference and the
annual Communications Research Forum.
There is much work to be done in many areas of consumer information access for people who are blind or vision impaired. Many of these tasks naturally fall to NFBCA as the peak advocacy body in Australia for people with a vision impairment. Substantial resources in time are required to achieve results from the recommendations made in this report. Therefore, an information technology project should be established with funding to employ a project officer.
RECOMMENDATION
That NFBCA seek funding by April, 1997 to establish an Information Technology
project managed by a project officer. This will ensure that recommendations
in this report relating to NFBCA activities can be
pursued.
International events are often an ideal opportunity to present the best a country has to offer in many different arenas. With the staging of the Olympic Games and the Paralympics in Sydney in the year 2000, huge resources will be directed towards showcasing Australian innovation and excellence. This type of event needs a huge array of information provided about the Games itself, about Sydney and Australia as well as information about telephone and banking services. Australia thus has an opportunity of showing how consumer information can be made accessible to a wide variety of people.
While this is a one-off event, the spinoff will be that once systems and services have been developed, they can be put into place on a more permanent basis.
RECOMMENDATION
That NFBCA have discussions with other peak disability organisations
to develop and present a strategy to the Sydney Organising Committee for
the Olympic Games by August, 1997 for the provision of accessible consumer
information through the availability of accessible touchscreens, ATMs and
Web pages at the Sydney Olympic Games.
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Forward to Chapter 7 - Underlying Technologies
for Information Provision