BUILDING AN INCLUSIVE INFORMATION SOCIETY

KHALFAN H. KHALFAN
DISABLED PEOPLES' INTERNATIONAL (DPI)
http://www.dpi.org/

Introduction

The human race is in the midst of a profound transition in the way in which we produce material to satisfy our needs. The 19th Century saw another profound transition through the industrial revolution, but today we are in the midst of the "knowledge revolution".

The trends are clear and irreversible: fewer and fewer people are needed to ensure the production, distribution and marketing of the goods and services that all of us require; but more and more people are needed to produce, distribute and market the information that is becoming our most important commodity.

One of the consequence of the change taking place in society is that it may provide new hope and opportunities for those among us who, through disability, are unable or less able to carry out some of the physical tasks that we currently value in our economy.

In earlier generations, disability disqualified individuals from being able to participate fully in society. However, at present there are technological developments that allow people with disabilities (even very severe disabilities) to work successfully in the information and communication industry.

In this 21st Century with the development of adaptive technology which provides means for individuals who are disabled (Physically, visually, hearing impairments etc) to have access to the full range of services and opportunities that are available in this society.

"Accessibility for all for the New Millennium" is a theme with a lot of meanings. At this point it is important to understand how we will continue to build a society for all in the years to come. We understand the meaning of accessibility very well because it is very close to our daily life. We consider lack of accessibility to be equal to exclusion, and exclusion of a society group is a form of discrimination. Information and Telecommunications have a role to play in designing a way that would create an inclusive society in our world.

Disabled Peoples' International (DPI) believes that people with disabilities should achieve full participation in society and equality with other citizens. DPI has over 135 national affiliates, over half of them in developing countries. DPI's development programmes respond to the needs of persons with disabilities, particularly where social services, education and employment may be inaccessible. The aim is to enhance the resources and skills of people with disabilities. We have initiated various development projects, organised consumer meetings and lobbying campaigns, and undertaken many other activities to improve our situation. DPI has consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council, WHO, and UNESCO.

DISABILITY: A GLOBAL PHENOMENON

Disability is a global phenomenon of huge proportions.

Differences in definition and statistical sampling make it difficult to give definitive figure. However, Organisations and Agencies active in this field estimate that there are around 600 million people with disabilities in the world today; 180 million of them are children. At least 400 million people with disabilities live in developing countries, and some 80 million of them in Africa.

In the next 20 years there will be a massive increase in the numbers of people with disabilities. The increase is expected to be 30% by the year 2025. By that year the number of people with disabilities would shoot up to 900 million globally.

In many countries people with disabilities experience discrimination by the society. For many years people with disabilities have received services provided by charities that denied them most of their human rights

The UN World Programme of Action Concerning Disabled people has noted that millions of people with disabilities live in areas where services needed to assist them in overcoming their limitations are not available.

Here we are today in the World Summit on the Information Society. WSIS means very little for people with disabilities in developing countries. There is very little in the Information technology designed Universally, meaning designing for everybody including people with disabilities.

People with disabilities in the countries of developing economies like Africa would be condemned to underdevelopment if priority were not given to providing them with access to Information and communication technology. There is tremendous development in this area, but the ICT suppliers/operators have thought very little as far as users with disabilities is concerned. So far only countries with developed economies benefit from this technological advancement to some extent. As work proceeds with a view to integration, interoperation and interconnection on a global scale, the needs of people with disabilities should be taken fully into consideration.

The big question that arises is affordability, but this should not be an excuse for failing to meet the needs of people with disabilities in any development such as ICT. This is where the operators and suppliers stand - cost - affordability. But there should be away to sensitise operators and suppliers to subsidise not only the GSM handset costs but also in direct relation with traffic generated per handset.

I am also very sorry to say that very few governments have paid any attention to such a programme, which would benefit persons with disabilities equally to the rest of the population, which ultimately improves the quality and standard of living conditions resulting from social and economic development. In this connection, access to the technological wherewithal is, no doubt, vital.

TELECOMMUNICATION.

Over the past few decades there have been vast improvements in telecommunications technology, network and GSM in particular. These developments hardly touch people with disabilities, and this is particularly so in developing countries such as Africa. Planners, Manufacturers and decision-makers have either not realised or not given serious consideration to the needs of people with disabilities.

As the United Nations World Programme of Action concerning disabled people has affirmed the principle of equal rights for disabled and non-disabled persons implies that the needs of each and every individual are of equal importance. People with disabilities should have access to all community services. The concept of equality implies that people with disabilities have to be provided with remedies as effective as those available to other groups. Declaring their needs as "special" and "extraordinary" violates most of the rights of people with disabilities. This disguises the fact that people with disabilities have been isolated from the mainstream of society through history. Public facilities have been designed to suit non-disabled people only and so are the GSM telecommunications facilities. Its high time GSM operators and suppliers to start thinking about ways and means of supporting people with different disabilities in benefiting from the new technology apart from their commercial aspect of the technology. It is also important to note that people with disabilities are part of the commercial activities.

Many physically disabled persons in many countries especially those in developing countries cannot use public telephones and basic telecommunication services for obvious reasons such as a telephone booth may be inaccessible because of a step or because it is too narrow for a wheelchair. GSM operators can explore these opportunities where basic service providers (PSTN) do not meet these requirements. The receiver may be too high to be easily reached by people on wheelchairs. As for people with hearing impairments or deaf, public telephones may not meet their needs at all, and may be this is also true with most handset. Costs for the installations, activation and use of private telephone or GSM cellular are very high. Most people with disabilities in developing countries cannot afford to use the basic telecommunication services or GSM mobile services. In Tanzania, for example, the costs of an International call for a minimum of three minutes may be more than a person's weekly income.

At this junction, I would like to thank the WSIS to accept us, and people with disabilities to air our views and concerns on the services available and express what are our needs. I am glad to say that we have used this opportunity to let our voice heard. The only factor to look into now is the facilities provided by such handsets to meet the needs of people with disabilities. There are people who do not have arms so there should be telephones that can be operated by using foot or elbow. When handset blinks when the call comes in, a deaf person can recognise that there is a call, and he can read the message on the screen.

ACCESS FOR ALL

High costs have been accepted in serving the needs of non-disabled persons, and there is no excuse for failing to meet the needs of people with disabilities as well. Many developed countries have already taken steps in this direction. The developing or least developed countries look to them for help in providing skills, expertise and resources.

In developed countries videos for disabled people have long been produced with subtitled, sign language with sub titles, and non-subtitles versions. Even persons with multiple sclerosis who cannot use their arms or hands can benefit by means of a loud speaking phone connected to an environmental control computer operated by sucking or blowing through a tube.

In other countries (such as Japan) a range of measures have been taken in the Information and telecommunications fields to meet the needs of the aged and disabled persons. There are facilities within the telephones which allows the aged and people with disabilities living alone to summon for help quickly simply by pressing a button; another type amplifies the caller's voice by as much as 18 times and so helps people with hearing impairments. Another telephone with low frequency signal has been designed for totally deaf people. Vibration within GSM can assist deaf people but currently is only used for non-disabled people during meetings when they do not wish to be disturbed by the ringing. This is one of the facilities that deaf people can use to notify them of an incoming call through vibrations/vibrator.

Therefore, Scientific and technological advances in the ICT industry should be used to give people with disabilities every possible opportunity for personal development in their social and working life. There is great scope for improving the lot of people with disabilities by providing access to modern telecommunications systems such as GSM services, WAP, GPRS etc. In developing countries which Africa's largest percentage falls into, such progress could be encouraged if donor agencies in collaboration with operators stipulated that a certain proportion of their funding should serve this purpose especially during this time whereby the Mobile and the Wireless surpasses the Fixed Networks whereby people with disabilities can take such an opportunity of being mobile specifically considering their impaired conditions. This aspect should enabled people with disabilities to be at the same level of development as others in the community with all other major players using ICT infrastructure and resources as a key towards their basic daily telecommunication needs for their well-being.

In order to foster such progress, donor agencies could stipulate that a certain proportion of the funds provided should be used to serve the needs of people with disabilities. National organisations of people with disabilities should be consulted by their governments on the needs of disabled people in the ICT fields. Few examples of these include exemption on telecommunication facilities for the use of people with disabilities such as handsets etc. There should also be exemptions from local and importation taxes and any other duties, which are currently imposed to such services. The relevant authorities can monitor this by setting up a number allowed to people with disabilities with all facilities and their friends and families' schemes to be attractive in order to create affordability within the disabled community.

Disabled Peoples' International strives to raise awareness at the international level and among multinational companies, and urges consideration of the needs of people with disabilities in ICT in order to bridge the gap between disabled and non-disabled persons.

In conformity with the UN Programme of Action Concerning Disabled Persons and the UN Standard Rules on Equalisation of Opportunities For Persons with Disabilities, International Telecommunication Community in collaboration with Organisations of Disabled People, should urge governments of developing countries to adopt policies and legislation guaranteeing access to ICT facilities for people with disabilities such as GSM services.

A well-developed ICT infrastructure has a great impact on the education and integration of a nation's rural populations. An expressed need exists for data collection, the dissemination of information and the development of guidelines for electronic communications systems. There is a demand for organisational and technical information at all levels in order to achieve equal opportunities.

Reliable communication mechanism that concentrates on the building of a strong sense of cohesiveness, loyalty and community are essential and swift action should be taken to create them. People with disabilities should assume a higher profile on key issues of this nature, and should influence or lobby decision-makers at different levels.

I do hope by this presentation here today, whereby many suppliers and GSM operators, Telecommunication Carriers, Government agencies, Datacom operators, IT providers and suppliers and Internet Service Providers (ISP's) will hear this call from the disabled community and seriously act upon them

Thank you