accessibility of Information and communications systems in
India is critical issue not only for persons with disabilities but also all
others. Persons with disabilities face several challenges
in accessing e-governance services, commercial portals, Banking services, academic
services and other online services as all information is being transferred on
web and mobile devices. India has ratified the United nations conventions
on rights of persons with disabilities in 2007 which recognizes digital
accessibility a basic human rights. Still persons with disabilities are struggling to
access essential online services. In order to make all the services accessible
specially for persons with disabilities,
Government of India is launching nationwide Campaign named accessible India
campaign which covers accessibility of built environment, accessibility of transportation services and accessibility
of information and communication systems. Information and communication or Digital
services accessibility is one of the crucial components of the campaign.
This extended abstract presents a comprehensive model that provides a procedure of complete
execution of accessibility standards and regulations in India at all the levels
in a systematic way which can be refer by concerned authorities to achieve the
objective of one of the components of the campaign.
Following points are the step by steps measures that can be
taken to remove digital accessibility barriers in India by implementing
accessibility standards and regulations.
1.
Constitute the committee:
A committee with the representation of all
the stakeholders such as government officials, scientists and academicians,
Corporate professionals, social entrepreneurs and activists preferably persons with disabilities who have proven
track record in ICT accessibility shall be appointed and appropriate
responsibility shall be given to them. This committee will execute the entire
accessibility implementation.
2.
Setting up a goal:
Sector wise accessibility Requirement shall be
done for various services and appropriate accessibility standard or regulations
with specific priority levels shall be adopted for implementation. Short
term and long term goal shall be set up for adapting different priority levels
of the standards and regulations in phases. Essential services in
each sector and each state shall be given priority followed by other services. Accessibility
Implementation should be planned
uniformly in various geographical areas in stipulated time line for each projects.
3. Building
implementation channel:
Identify partners from
government organizations, Academic and research institutions, corporate and non-government
organizations and individual consultants who have proven track record of
handling accessibility implementation projects. Assign them
responsibility of accessibility implementation as way appropriate. These shall be
the organizations with which access audit, accessibility awareness and
training, accessibility implementation etc will be carry out.
4.
Generate awareness:
Structured awareness
generation programs in the form of workshops for application developers,
Seminars and short talks for policy makers and conferences for researchers shall
be designed and conducted with the identified partners in different
geographical parts of the country. Various
media Channels should be used for
educating people and awareness generation about digital accessibility through
program series.
Accessibility lab
should be set up in Appropriate government organizations like software
development centers and government owned companies, research organizations and
academic institutions and recruit web accessibility professionals there. These labs will insure accessibility of various
services from government side. Enhance facilities of
accessibility research labs of academic and research institutions already
working in the area. These accessibility labs will acts as nodal centers
for accessibility implementation and maintenance in government and public
sector. Accessibility labs can be set up in Collaboration with corporate
organizations working in the area of digital accessibility.
6.
Capacity building:
Short courses on various aspects of digital
accessibility should be designed as per requirement and IT professionals should
be trained for digital accessibility standards and regulations in the
accessibility labs of the recognized nodal centers. Appropriate certification shall
be given after accomplishment of the courses. Conceptual level topic on Digital
accessibility should be made compulsory in the course curriculum of engineering/technology/management
in various academic institutions. Optional or specialization on accessible
computing shall be introduced in the relevant academic degree programs.
compliance of appropriate accessibility standards and regulations shall be considered in all the projects right from the beginning. Accessibility and usability should be factored in all the projects from the initial design phase till deployment. Accessibility of mobile applications, Desktop applications as well as accessibility of embedded systems shall also be considered.
8.
Monitoring accessibility compliance:
Recognized nodal accessibility centers should
be given responsibility for monitoring and maintenance of accessibility
compliance in the organizations as appropriate. Accessibility professionals at
the recognized nodal centers will perform periodic accessibility evaluation and
insure compliance in the organizations in specific sectors. The organization
who fails to comply accessibility standards and regulations shall be penalized as
appropriate.
9.
Budget and control:
Appropriate budget should be allocated for
digital accessibility implementation. Fund shall also be raised through public
private partnership. Appropriate subsidy should be provided to government and
non-government organizations, academic institutions and corporate organizations
to encourage them adaptation and maintenance of digital accessibility
compliance through mutual contribution.
This model is the outcome from the individual
research experience of the author in the field of accessibility research and
implementation practices who have personally experienced the challenges and
difficulties due to inaccessible environment in India. The author
has individually found out solutions to cope up with inaccessible environment
through thousands of trial and errors in every step of his life. This model
could be a road map for the implementation of digital accessibility in India.
Conclusion:
A comprehensive model in the form of step by
step procedure for implementation of accessibility standards and regulations
in the entire digital setting of the country is developed from personal user
and research experiences that can be referred by government authorities. The
model can be applicable to other developing states.
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