ICTs for Persons with Disabilities: Introduction
A blind bloke walks into a shop with a guide dog. He picks the dog up and starts swinging it around his head. Alarmed, a shop assistant calls out: “Can I help, sir?” “'No, thanks.” says the blind bloke, “Just looking.”
I came across this quote during an online search for quotations on disability for a class project. It was a humorous take at the negotiation of challenges by a person with disability, which, I must admit, was rather refreshing. The life of a person with disability is, no doubt, a challenging one, and the challenges are diverse and numerous. Interestingly, the fast-emerging solution to problems of access, acceptance and confidence building is turning out to be technology. The guide dog in this quote, though definitely not redundant, has begun to fade away in the wake of increased availability of information and communication technologies.
The question of people with disabilities has always been an important, yet widely unaddressed one. The World Health Organization defined ‘Disability’ in 1976, through a three–fold distinction between impairment, disability and handicap[1]. The importance of ICTs for people with disabilities has been widely discussed in several forums including the UN Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities, G3ICT initiative (Global Initiative for Inclusive Information and Communication Technologies) and back in India, in the latest draft bill for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, submitted in June, 2011. The main questions we need to explore are: What are the challenges faced by PwDs which make the inclusion of ICTs especially important in policy documents at national and international levels? And how differently do ICTs address the issues of PwDs as opposed to other aids that have been available till now?
At the outset, I would like to firmly locate my post within the Indian context. While the WHO definition of disability is understood as extensive, the definition of disability by the Indian State may be termed as fairly narrow. However, the newly proposed bill not only broadens the definition of disability but also enumerates the need for ICTs for PwDs in the segment ‘Access to information and communication technology’ as follows:
1. All appropriate governments and the establishments shall take measures to ensure that:
(i) All content in whichever medium whether audio, print or electronic shall be made available to persons with disabilities in accessible format;
(ii) Persons with disability shall have access to Electronic media by providing for audio description, sign language interpretation and close captioning;
(iii) Accessibility to telecommunication services where telecommunications will include any kind of transmission of information of the user’s choosing without change in form or content of information as sent or received.
(iv) Electronic goods and equipment of everyday use shall follow the principles of universal design;
(v) Schemes are formulated or amended to ensure for affordable access to Information and Communication Technology & Electronics for persons with disabilities in rural as well as urban areas;
(vi) All government websites, and private websites providing consumer services conform to the most updated version of the World Wide Web Consortium web accessibility standards.;
(vii) Incentives and concessions are provided to support existing websites to make them accessible to persons with disabilities;
2. The conversion, reproduction, adaptation and communication of all copyrighted materials into accessible versions for exclusive use of persons with disabilities on ‘not-for-profit’ basis shall be deemed fair dealing;
(Explanation: Accessible version includes any version or form which gives a person with disability access to the work as flexibly and comfortably as a person without a disability, and shall include, but not be limited to, audio recordings, audio –visual works with audio and/or text descriptions, Braille, e-text including DAISY formats, digital copies compatible with assistive technology or refreshable Braille, tactile material, large print, with different type-faces and sizes and sign language)
3. All government websites shall be made accessible within a maximum period of Six months and all private websites shall be made accessible within a maximum period of one year after this Act comes into force.
4. Any contravention of this Section shall be penalized under Section 30D.
The argument for the induction of ICTs into development projects relating to PwDs is to essentially bridge the digital divide between people with and without disabilities. The Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, 2010, ICT Accessibility Progress Report locates its study within the context of the near indispensable and ever growing nature of ICT development projects which almost invariably seem to exclude PwDs. It states that, “Concurrently, an estimated 650 million persons live with disabilities worldwide, whose ability to enjoy fundamental freedoms and full participation to society is increasingly dependent upon their interaction with multiple and pervasive Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) interfaces and applications in their daily lives such as mobile phones, Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), Web sites, television, electronic forms, digital books, computers or voting machines, many of which are not accessible. The number of persons who are excluded from access to ICTs is increasing exponentially…Article 9 defines ICT accessibility as an integral part of Accessibility Rights, on par with accessibility to the physical environment and to transportation. This has immense consequences because many ICT interfaces are inaccessible today. The right to accessibility covers information and communication together with education, health, environment, etc. enabling persons with disabilities to fully enjoy all human rights and fundamental freedoms. It includes the right to seek, receive and impart information and ideas concerning human, civil, social, political, and economic issues in an equitable way.”
The use of ICTs in India is increasing rapidly, and more and more facilities such as banking, health, education, etc. require citizens to use ICT interfaces which are almost necessarily exclusionary for PwDs. The case of the access of persons with disabilities to ICTs in the Indian context, is also complicated by the poverty-disability correspondence (Rakesh Arora) and the vicious cycle that follows thereafter, which makes access to technological devices and information difficult in both, rural and urban areas. The ownership of high-end technology and affluence in India seem to almost complement each other. Hence, the high cost of assistive devices, along with lack of availability of accessible information, designs and formats renders ICT access to PwDs very complex. The key pointers to an effective analysis of ICT initiatives for people with disabilities essentially boil down to accessibility in the form of a universal, accessible design, ease of availability, affordability and equal access to all (C. D. Waddell, J. Doctor). It is on the basis of this that I seek to analyze three ICT initiatives for people with disabilities in India, namely Swaram, Mirakle and Sparshdnyan. The above-mentioned, elaborated context becomes especially important to my analysis of the accessibility and sustainability of the initiatives.
[1] According to the WHO, “an impairment is any loss or abnormality of psychological, physiological or anatomical structure or function, a disability is any restriction or lack (resulting from an impairment) of ability to perform an activity in the manner or within the range considered normal for a human being, and a handicap is a disadvantage for a given individual, resulting from an impairment or a disability, that prevents the fulfillment of a role that is considered normal (depending on age, sex and social and cultural factors) for that individual.”
Waddell, Cynthia D. and Doctor, Juris, Meeting Information and Communications Technology Access and Service Needs for Persons with Disabilities: Major Issues for Development and Implementation of Successful Policies and Strategies, Lusaka (Zambia), 2008
Gould, Martin, Studer, Elsa, Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities2010, ICT Accessibility Progress Report, G3ICT Pubilcations and Reports, 2011
Campos, Simão, A framework on ICTs and people with disabilities: Policies and strategies for meeting ICT needs of persons with disabilities, ITU, 2007
Christine, Mugimba, ICT Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities in Africa Region: Uganda’s Country Report, Uganda Communications Commission and ITU, 2008
Vijaybaskar, M., Gayathri, V., ICT and Indian Development: Processes, Prognoses, Policies, Economic and Political Weekly, 2003
National Institute for the Mentally Handicapped, New (Proposed) Draft Bill - PWD Act (The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2011), 2011
