Recommendations on Policy/Legislative Guidelines
Concerning Information and Communication
Technology (ICT) Accessibility for Persons with
Disabilities in the Asian and Pacific Region

The following recommendations were made on 21 June 2002, in Bangkok, Thailand

Introduction

1. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has been the engine of economic growth and continues to spur the globalization of the economy. However, the development of ICT has been uneven and has increased the disparity between the haves and the have-nots and between developed and developing countries.
2. The effects of ICT upon persons with disabilities have been both positive and negative. The rapid ICT development has given rise to unanticipated problems for persons with certain disabilities. For example, the transformation of the Internet from a textbased medium to a multimedia environment has widened the digital divide for persons with visual and/or auditory impairments. Also, online processes for registration, banking or shopping transactions may not be accessible to persons with cognitive, physical, or visual disabilities.
3. On the other hand, many disabled persons benefit from ICT development, as the technologies are opening up opportunities for employment at all skill levels and opportunities to live independently in the community. For example, the development of speech synthesizers and computer screen readers, and of text magnifier programmes, jobs in computer programming, desk-top publishing, clerical occupations and general administration are now available for people with visual impairments. However, benefits are still largely limited to disabled persons in industrialized countries. The majority of disabled persons in the developing countries in the Asian and Pacific region are poor and have been excluded from such benefits.
4. Although the Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons, 1993-2002, has had significant impact on the lives of many disabled persons in the region, their access to and use of ICT has been marginal, due to lack of affordability of hardware and software as well as inaccessibility of technologies due to various disabilities.
5. To address the digital divide faced by persons with disabilities in the Asian and Pacific region and to promote the digital opportunities of persons with disabilities, the participants in the ICT Accessibility Seminar for persons with disabilities, held in Bangkok from 20 to 22 June 2002, have adopted the following recommendations:

   Definitions

   In this document:

   "Persons with Disabilities" mean persons who have limited access to and usage of information and communication technology due to their visual, auditory, physical, cognitive/intellectual, neurological, psychiatric or other types of disabilities.

   "Information and Communication Technology" (ICT) means all digital as well as analog technology and services that supports human communication, creation, collection and dissemination of knowledge, and other activities for manipulation of information.

   "Accessibility" means the measure or condition of things and services that can readily be reached or used (at the physical, visual, auditory and/or cognitive levels) by people including those with disabilities, which could be achieved through design and/or adaptation irrespective of any types of disabilities.

   Global and Regional Mandates

6. The World Summit for Social Development, in its Copenhagen Declaration and Social Development in March 1995 noted that persons with disabilities, as one of the world's largest minorities, are often forced into poverty, unemployment and social isolation. It recommended that Governments should promote the United Nations Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities of Persons with Disabilities, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1993.
7. The Standards Rules are non-binding but imply a strong moral and political commitment on behalf of States to take action to remove obstacles that prevent persons with disabilities from participating fully in the activities of their societies. Rule 5(b) "Access to information and communication" of the Standard Rules states that "States should encourage the media, especially television, radio and newspapers to make their services accessible. States should ensure that new computerized information and service systems offered to the general public are either made initially accessible or are adapted to be made accessible to persons with disabilities".

   However, Experience has proven that incorporating accessible design at the earliest stage is more cost-effective and yields greater accessibility for all.

8. The Tokyo Declaration adopted by the Asia-Pacific Summit on the Information Society (November 2000) declared that people in the Asia-Pacific region should have access to the Internet by the year 2005 to the extent possible. It also recognized physical disability, as one of the causes of the digital divide, along with income, age and gender. The World Summit on the Information Society will meet in 2003 and 2005. In the Summit, issues concerning disabled persons, and other disadvantaged groups will be considered.
9. In the information society, access to information should be considered a basic human right. Copyright holders and distributors of content should bear the responsibility for ensuring that content is accessible for all including persons with disabilities. Any anti-piracy or digital rights management technology should not prevent Persons with disabilities from access to information and communication. The right to access information also implies that access to information by persons with disabilities should be at no additional cost. The right to information and communication should include but not limited to disabled persons' access to:
   1. Computer hardware/software and related accessory devices purchased and used by State agencies or purchased and owned by private agencies for public use;
   2. Public communication facilities;
   3. Broadcasting system, including community radio, video content and digital television;
   4. Telecommunication system, including telephone service;
   5. The Internet including web, multimedia content, internet telephony and software used to create web content;
   6. Other consumer electronic/communication devices, including mobile communication devices;
   7. Interactive Transaction Machine (ITM), including kiosk machines;
   8. Services provided through electronic information system;
   9. Instructional materials, including textbooks, teachers edition and electronic learning environments;
   10. Spoken language through sign language interpretation and vice versa;
   11. Information and communication in the individuals' mother tongue, including indigenous languages which may not written scripts;
   12. Any print materials through all means, such as computer screen reader, Braille, other augmentative and alternative methods;
   13. Any future ICT intended for public use.

   When, for whatever reasons, direct access by persons with disabilities to the items listed above cannot be readily achieved, ICT developers should ensure effective interoperability of their products and services with assistive technology used by Persons with disabilities.

10. To ensure the right of persons with disabilities to ICT, Governments should take the following measures:
    1. Promulgate and enforce laws, policies and programmes to monitor and protect the right of persons with disabilities to information and communication; for instance, legislation providing copyright exemptions to organizations which make information content accessible to persons with disabilities;
    2. Various forms of incentives, including exemption of duties for ICT devises used by persons with disabilities and provision of subsidy for assistive technology equipment;
    3. Awareness raising training for ICT policy-makers, regulatory agencies, representatives as well as technical personnel of private ICT companies concerning disability issues, including disabled persons' accessibility needs, capability and aspirations to be productive members of society;
    4. Other social measures, including recognition of efforts of private companies/ organizations to promote ICT access and use for persons with disabilities, through presentation of awards;
    5. Support for improved localization of assistive technologies, including the resources and specific technologies needed to support effective operation of those assistive technologies. Examples: speech engines for local languages needed for effective operation of screen readers; electronic lexicons for local sign languages needed for rendering audio or textual content into sign language for display in electronic media; and voice recognition algorithms for local languages;
    6. Policy and programmes to ensure that ICT accessible devices are affordable for disabled persons in need. The policy may include local pricing policy.
11. Governments should take initiatives to encourage and promote collaboration with private sector and civil society, including organization of persons with disabilities with a view to promoting disabled persons' access to ICT, through the following measures:
    1. Establishment of ICT Accessibility Unit within the Ministry/Regulatory Agency, private ICT companies to coordinate activities within and outside agencies/companies;
    2. Computer literacy training and capacity building for persons with disabilities;
    3. Maintenance of Assistive Technology and sustainable ICT accessibility development through staff training and research and development projects;
    4. Training for persons with disabilities on industry/agricultural processes including how to communicate with software and hardware developers and standards organizations to address their needs;
    5. Research and development of assistive technology which would enhance ICT accessibility for persons with disabilities with special attention to those with severe/multiple disabilities, such as deaf-blindness.
12. To ensure the long-term commitment to ICT accessibility for persons with disabilities among all sectors, Governments should adopt and support ICT development based on international standards which are universal/open/non-proprietary, with special attention for standards that have accessibility components and features with a proven record of effectiveness. (Examples: World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI); Digital Accessible Information System (DAISY). Governments should require that local language applications and content use standard character encoding and modeling, and should encourage dialog on accessibility requirements of character encoding and modeling.
13. Governments should support participation of civil society organizations representing and reflecting the requirements of persons with disabilities in regional and international standards discussions, towards a goal of increased international standards harmonization supporting the requirements of persons with disabilities. Where such international standards are lacking, governments should support alternative initiatives to address those needs, with attention to compatibility and interoperability with international standards.
14. Governments should support the creation and strengthening of networks, including cooperatives, of consumers with disabilities at the national, regional, and international levels, in order to increase the bargaining and buying power for ICT products and services, which are generally expensive to buy individually.
15. Bilateral and multi-lateral donor agencies and international funding agencies should adopt award criteria based on social responsibility of the receiving agencies/organizations, including their obligation to the promotion of ICT accessibility for persons with disabilities.
16. Governments should take all necessary steps to ensure, in the development of measures and standards relating to ICT accessibility, that organizations of persons with disabilities are involved in all stages of the process.