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Accessibility : A need for Society and Industry

Accessibility : A need for Society and Industry. BrailleNet Conference 28-29 April 2003 Paris (France) “New Technologies for a More Accessible Society“. Figures on disability. 14,5 % of the Euro15 population suffer from disability

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Accessibility : A need for Society and Industry

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  1. Accessibility : A need for Society and Industry BrailleNet Conference 28-29 April 2003 Paris (France) “New Technologiesfor a More Accessible Society“

  2. Figures on disability • 14,5 % of the Euro15 population suffer from disability • 2001 Eurostat report on Disability and Social Participation in Europe • 25 % and higher in the EU candidate countries • "In the entirely of the Candidate Countries, one quarter of the population suffers from some long-standing illness or disability that limits their activities. In this aspect Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic, where this ratio is 30-32%, are among the countries that seem to be in a situation worse than the average". • Social Situation in the countries applying for EU membership • EU barometer 2002 – August 2002 • … And a recent study shows that 25% of the french population has declared suffering of some kind of disability, activity limitation or handicap. • “Handicap-Incapacités-Dépendances“ - INSEE 2002

  3. Figures on ageing • In 2000, there were 61 million elderly people aged 65+ in the EU • Today, these elderly people represent 16% of the total population The social situation in the European Union - Eurostat report 2002 Europe : Population by age groups, 1970-2050International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) - calculations based on the 1998 UN World Population Prospects • By 2025, one out of 5 european citizen will be over 65 • By 2050, more than ¼ of the european population will be over 65

  4. Figures on children • 65 million children between 2 and 17 in Europe and US have access to the Internet at home. • 78% of US children live in homes in which they or their parents use the Internet from home (70% growth rate from 2000). • 35% of 2 to 5 year olds in the US go online from some location, up from 6% in 2000. The largest increase of anyage or demographic group. • Time use : Children are spending more time using ICT services and products. • Digital media use (US children 6 – 17) is approaching parity with television viewing: 2.9 and 3.1 hours a day, respectively. • Reliance on ICT : Children – like adults – are increasingly dependent for : • Education • Entertainment • Contact and communication with family and friends • Shopping • Childhood is a temporary ‘impairment’ that will go away as the body and mind mature Source : Per Helmersen - Senior Research Psychologist / Telenor R&D (Norway) – CEN/CENELEC/ETSI "Accessibility for All" Conference – Nice 27th March 2003

  5. A global social challenge • Disabled people, elderly people and children are amongst the groups that could get the greatest benefits of ICT and especially Internet. • There is a high risk that IT will cause greater difficulties for these groups, rather than promoting new opportunities • Personal service is rapidly being replaced by IT and web-based services, both in public and private sectors • Many new and complex online services are being and will be offered through a range of devices, including PC’s, mobile phones, PDA’s, kiosks…. • Nearly all these systems make considerable demands on users in terms of their ability to read and write, interpret information quickly and make decisions. Public and private services should be delivered in such a way that • they are accessible and relevant for each individual citizen. • they provide equal rights and opportunity for participation for all. • Accessibility is key for the development of a more inclusive Society. And disabled people is a group where any of us could fall into, at any time, for a limited period or more…

  6. Solution • Design for All • Designing mainstream products or services to be accessible by as broad a range of users as possible. • suitable for most of the potential users without any modification • easily adaptable to different users (adaptable/customizable interface) • through standardized interfaces, capable of being accessed by specialized user interaction devices(1) • Empowering Technologies • intelligent assistive devices and systems for persons with disabilities It is estimated that in Europe this market is worth 10 billion Euro and growing (2) (1) Source : EDeAN ( European Design for All e-Accessibility Network) home page (2) Commissionner Anna Diamantopoulou speech – Magdeburg 21/02/2003

  7. Motivation • Public Sector • Equal rights for citizens • Non discrimination • Social inclusion We All are CITIZENS Private sector • Social responsibility • Customer base increase • Better service for customers and employees • Competitive advantage • ROI We All are CONSUMERS

  8. What is it all about ? • Culture • Technology • Usability • Standards • Legislation • Services • Information and education • Collaboration & networking • Commitment

  9. Culture IBM has a 50+ years history serving the needs of people with disabilities 50’s Remote control Keyboard 60’s Shoebox Calculator 60’s Talking typewriter 70’s 1403 Braille printer 80’s DOS Screen Reader 1990 and beyond 1990 IBM Published a National Bulletin identifying the need for providing accessibility features in products and identifying simple accessibility requirements. 1990IBM Voice Type Dictation was introduced 1994IBM Screen Magnifier was launched 1995 IBM launches the Special Needs Web site, now part of the Accessibility Center 1995 IBM announces the first version of Home Page Reader 1997 Development of the Java Accessibility API jointly with Sun Microsystems 1999Corporate Instruction 162 : IBM integrates accessibility requirements into development process 2000 Launch of the IBM Accessibility Centers in USA, Europe and Japan 2001IBM Home Page Reader 3.0 received the Engineering Society’s ESD 2001 deVinci Award for assistive technology 2002IBM Web Adaptation Technology has been named Product of the Year for 2002 by the National Business and Disability Council (NBDC)

  10. Technology and Innovation • Leading-edge technologies must be used for enabling users • to live independent lives, • to achieve self-fulfilment • to realise their full potential. IBM has a strong Research and Development • For the tenth year running, IBM has been named as the company generating the highest number of patents. That reflects IBM's commitment to innovation and dedication to solving customer problems, including people with disabilities. • Total number of IBM patents to date 38 000 • Number of new patents for IBM in 2002 3 000 • Number of patents originating in EMEA 500 • Number of technical professionals worldwide 170 000 • Number of Nobel Prize winning IBM scientists 5

  11. IBM 7th annual Conference www.ibm.com/easy/makeITeasy Usability Usability focuses on making websites or applications easy for people to use. Accessibility focuses on making them equally easy for everyone to use, including people with disabilities. Do you want delighted customers ? Offer them what they want in a form that they find intuitive ! If your user can't use it, it doesn't work ! There is a very strong correlation between customer satisfaction and loyalty IBM has strong involvement, skills and experience in Usability A worldwide IBM competency network, “Ease of Use”, addresses Usability issues since years An IBM Usability Laboratory, located in Hursley (UK) conduct usability studies using proven “User Engineering”, “User Centered Design” methodologies, techniques and tools and can propose Usability planning, design, testing and training service offerings.

  12. Standards IBM is an original sponsor and active member of the WAI advisory council. IBM supports the WAI standards for protocols, content, tools and browsers with a view to enabling it to become a worldwide compatible superset of the US Section 508 standard. More than 50 IBM engineers are participating in the W3C working groups. IBM is also active in the different European standardization bodies. Including the Design for All group IBM also helped write the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) accessibility standard and was the editor of the International Standards Organization accessibility technical report

  13. Standards cont… Web Content Accessibility Guidelines User Agent Accessibility Guidelines Authoring Tools Accessibility Guidelines XML Accessibility Guidelines Happy Birthday MOSAIC for your 10 years !!!

  14. Legislation In 1997, the federal government put together a committee to design an amendment to the Rehabilitation Act. IBM was chair of the original committee designing US Section 508 software requirements. “The European Year is about moving forward in disability policy. It is about the fundamental values of equality, respect and diversity. And above all, it is about examining whether these core values are truly reflected in our societies. We are striving for a Europe where every citizen's needs are met.” Anna Diamantopoulou, European Commissioner responsible for Employment and Social Affairs – Magdeburg 21/02/2003 “There is a clear political will in Europe to continue to improve accessibility to the Information Society.eEurope 2005 Action Plan overall objective is to increase effective use of the Internet for which it is necessary to ensure the access of all citizens to the information society services. E-accessibility can be described, very concisely, as "online access ramps" or "ramps to the Internet". This reflects the need to ensure disabled people's access to information society services” Erkki Liikanen, European Commissioner responsible for Enterprise and Information Society – Nice 28/03/2003 "Disabled people want legislation that eliminates existing barriers in society and prevents new ones. The legal base for such a Directive exists. Disabled people and EDF, as the representative voice of 50 million disabled people in Europe, call upon the EU institutions to commit to this draft EU Directive this year, 2003, the European Year of People with Disabilities."Yannis Vardakastanis, President of the European Disability Forum – Strasbourg 12/03/2003

  15. Services In 2002, IBM has made worldwide web accessibility services announcements • Web mining • Evaluate customer web sites • Identify non-compliant pages - Generate results / reports • Consulting Assessment • Explain current compliance gaps from Web to enterprise applications • Assess development and production • Provide one time or ongoing assessment designed to ensure compliance is maintained • Design assessment • Design ongoing & future state of IT infrastructure – technology, tools and environment • Create a strategy that encompasses entire life-cycle approach • Consulting Remediation • Fix, test and run (re-architect, redesign, redeploy) code on web sites • Re-architect infrastructure environment and roll out • Geo-specific offerings • Home Page Reader Lite offering for EMEA

  16. Information and education IBM has launched Accessibility Centers in the US, Europe and Japan • Team generates accessibility awareness • Promote the business value of accessibility in the market place • Procure corporate commitment to accessibility • Focus attention on accessibility as a vital issue within IBM • Promote accessibility education internally and externally • Applies technologies to solve problems experienced by people with disabilities • Evaluate technologies and prototypes from IBM Research • Merge into mainstream products when possible • Convert into working products for disabled people • Ensures awareness of accessibility requirements among IBM product developers • Establish a checklist of requirements for hardware, software, Java , Web and applications • Work with development teams to facilitate the building of accessibility features into their products • Chair IBM Accessibility Architecture Review Board

  17. Collaboration & Networking Coordinated efforts on Design for All through Collaboration & Networking

  18. Commitment IBM integrates accessibility requirements into development process Since 1999, worldwide accessibility enablement of all IBM mainstream products • To comply with Corporate Standards, all operational IBM organizations are responsible for making their products or applications directly accessible or at least compatible with existing assistive technology • The product or application is required to meet all the checkpoints • All failing checkpoints must include a summary of the accessibility issues, an explanation of why the required item cannot be met, and a schedule indicating when those requirements will be implemented • Applies to: • Hardware products, options and systems • Software products and applications • Services • Internet systems and Web sites • Output of tool and code generators • Product documentation

  19. Commitment cont.. IBM commitment on accessibilitycontinues • IBM is corporate partner of the EYPD and has developed an action plan (*) • “Web Accessibility for All” Campaign • Employment • Product design • Education & training (*)http://www.eypd2003.org/eypd/about/ibm.jsp

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