Re-envisioning DCAD for the Future

9 Oct 2023 06:15h - 07:45h UTC

Table of contents

Disclaimer: It should be noted that the reporting, analysis and chatbot answers are generated automatically by DiploGPT from the official UN transcripts and, in case of just-in-time reporting, the audiovisual recordings on UN Web TV. The accuracy and completeness of the resources and results can therefore not be guaranteed.

Full session report

Audience

During the discussion, several concerns were raised regarding accessibility issues for individuals with visual impairments. One major issue that was highlighted was the difficulty visually impaired individuals face during the registration process. This includes challenges in accessing the required information or forms and completing the registration independently.

Another area of concern was the accessibility of schedules on websites. Visually impaired individuals reported struggling to access and navigate event schedules online. This could be due to websites not being properly optimized for screen readers or lacking alternative formats for easier understanding.

Additionally, participants mentioned that Excel files posed a significant challenge for visually impaired individuals. These files were not easily readable with screen readers, making it difficult for individuals with visual impairments to access and comprehend the content.

To address these issues, suggestions were made for improvement. One proposed solution was to provide event schedules in Braille, enabling visually impaired individuals to access the information independently. Another suggestion was to create tactile maps to assist visually impaired individuals in navigating events or conferences.

The importance of having easy-to-find help points was also emphasized. Participants highlighted the significance of having designated assistance points that visually impaired individuals can easily locate and approach for support, ensuring a more inclusive experience.

Furthermore, it was stressed that institutions have a crucial responsibility to ensure accessibility. Dr. Shabbir highlighted the critical role institutions play in fulfilling and being aware of accessibility requirements. It was argued that institutions cannot justify being unaware of these requirements and should take active steps to meet them.

Although voice-to-text technology has improved, it still requires human resources to ensure accuracy, particularly when dealing with local languages. Mohammed Akram, an expert on relay services, expressed his positive view on the advancements made in voice-to-text technology. However, he highlighted the ongoing need for human resources to ensure the accuracy of transcriptions, especially in local languages.

The discussion also focused on the situation in Kenya, where web accessibility standards exist but are not being followed. This is primarily due to a lack of enforcement and awareness. A focus group study conducted in Kenya revealed a lack of watchdogs to enforce web accessibility standards, and web developers often neglect accessibility features while developing websites.

The importance of including the input and lived experiences of persons with disabilities in the process of making laws and policies was highlighted. Nicodemus Nyakundi, from Kenya, stressed the need to consider the perspectives of individuals with disabilities to ensure inclusive and effective legislation and policies.

Training in disability leadership in Internet Governance and Digital Rights was discussed as a crucial aspect of promoting accessibility. The Internet Society Accessibility Standing Group has developed a syllabus for an online training course, following a successful face-to-face workshop for South Asian participants. This training aims to empower individuals with disabilities to take on leadership roles and contribute to the advancement of accessibility in Internet governance and digital rights.

The potential collaboration between the DCAD (Disability Caucus Advisory Body) and Accessibility Standing Group for training and mentoring in disability leadership was also highlighted. Ganella, who has been involved with DCAD for several years, expressed her enthusiasm for mentoring the travel support fellows and emphasized the potential for great collaboration between the two organizations.

Finally, Misako Nomura, who has been working for the rights of people with disabilities, expressed the need for continued efforts to improve accessibility in the Internet Governance Forum (IGF). While acknowledging some improvements, she emphasized that there is still more work to be done. This calls for the development of strategies and actions to further enhance accessibility in the IGF.

Overall, the discussion highlighted the various accessibility challenges faced by visually impaired individuals and the need for improvement in areas such as registration processes, content accessibility, navigation, institutional responsibilities, technology, and policy implementation. The insights gained from the analysis demonstrate the importance of inclusive practices and the continued effort required to ensure accessibility for all individuals.

Yasunobu Ishii

Ishii emphasises the necessity for a legal and financial framework that supports web applications for communication. The current Nippon Foundation Telecommunication Relay Service in Japan is unable to provide assistance for communication through internet-based apps like Zoom, Teams, Meet, WhatsApp, LINE, and others. However, it is worth noting that over 25 countries already have legislation in place that supports official telecommunication relay services.

Ishii supports the establishment of a framework that can sustain continuous support for human assistance, such as sign language interpretation, within internet-based communication. This is particularly important given that most countries currently only support conventional telephone communication and do not provide specific support for communication via internet-based apps.

The need for a supportive framework has emerged from Ishii’s work at the Nippon Foundation Telecommunication Relay Service. It is clear that there is a gap between existing support services and the increasingly prevalent use of internet-based communication platforms. Ishii argues that this gap should be addressed through the implementation of a legal and financial framework that can adapt to the changing nature of communication technology.

Overall, Ishii’s argument highlights the importance of ensuring equal access and support for individuals using internet-based communication platforms. By establishing a framework that accommodates the needs of these individuals, such as sign language interpretation, they can fully participate in the digital world. The examples of legislative support in other countries serve as evidence that implementing such a framework is both feasible and beneficial.

Michiko Tabata

The analysis examines the accessibility challenges faced at a conference and highlights the need for improvement. Firstly, the registration process at the conference was not accessible, causing frustration for attendees. Michiko, for instance, spent two hours completing the registration and had to start over when a problem occurred. This highlights the urgency of making the registration process more accessible.

Additionally, wayfinding at the conference venue was difficult, even with a sighted companion. Michiko struggled to locate the correct room, indicating the importance of clear signage and physical accessibility.

The limited availability of sign language interpretation at conference sessions was another issue raised. It was found that only a few sessions had this accessibility feature, emphasizing the need for more inclusive practices.

The analysis also focuses on web accessibility in Japan, particularly in public and private services. Many public services, such as transport booking and vaccination appointments, are provided online. Ensuring website accessibility is essential for equal access to these services.

Web accessibility is crucial for daily life as well, with 90% of visually impaired individuals in Japan requiring internet access. More than half of the disabled population also use the internet, highlighting the importance of web accessibility for inclusive engagement.

However, it is concerning that less than 10% of private sector websites in Japan meet accessibility standards. There is a significant gap that needs to be addressed to ensure inclusivity.

Raising awareness about the importance of web accessibility is necessary. Misconceptions, such as the idea that accessibility hinders design flexibility and lacks benefits, need to be addressed to encourage more focus on incorporating accessibility features.

In conclusion, the analysis identifies accessibility challenges at conferences and in web platforms in Japan. It emphasizes the need for improvements in the registration process, wayfinding, and sign language interpretation. Web accessibility is crucial for public and private services and daily life. Raising awareness and dispelling misconceptions will contribute to creating a more inclusive and accessible society.

Masahito Kawamori

Three speakers have made important points regarding different aspects of accessibility and technology.

The first point raised is that DICAD should collaborate with ITU to implement and test or certify the WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) standard. The Rapporteur of Accessibility at ITU, Masahito Kawamori, is highlighted as an important figure in this matter. It is suggested that by working together, DICAD and ITU can ensure the effective implementation and testing of WCAG standards, which promote inclusive and accessible web content for all users.

The second point emphasizes the necessity of page readers or text readers for visually impaired individuals. This argument is considered crucial in reducing inequalities and ensuring accessibility for all. The endorsement of this argument by Ms. Tabata further strengthens the case for providing such tools to visually impaired individuals. It highlights the need for technological solutions that cater to the specific needs of this group, enabling them to access and engage with digital content more effectively.

Lastly, the speakers propose that NetBarca explores the possibility of integrating telecommunication networks with the web and internet. This suggestion aligns with a proposal made by the United States government. The integration of telecommunication networks with the web and internet could lead to enhanced connectivity and access to information for users. This could have significant implications for industry, innovation, and infrastructure, as it would expand the capabilities and reach of telecommunication networks, thereby benefiting a wider range of individuals and businesses.

In conclusion, the speakers have highlighted the importance of collaboration, technology, and connectivity in ensuring accessibility and reducing inequalities. Their arguments and supporting evidence advocate for the implementation of WCAG standards, the provision of page readers or text readers for visually impaired individuals, and the integration of telecommunication networks with the web and internet. These suggestions have the potential to advance accessibility and inclusivity in the digital world, benefiting individuals and society as a whole.

Dr. Muhammad Shabbir

The Dynamic Coalition on Accessibility and Disability is a strong advocate for the accessibility of internet governance forums. They are committed to promoting the visibility and participation of persons with disabilities in these forums. The Coalition has received support from influential figures such as Vint Cerf and Google, which has allowed them to include disabled individuals in their sessions and discussions.

Despite facing challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Coalition has managed to revive its activities and continue their efforts for disability advocacy in Internet Governance forums. This resilience highlights the importance of their mission and their dedication to making these forums accessible to all.

One specific area of concern raised by Peter Crosby is the accessibility of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) website. He points out that the website does not meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and that its complexity excludes many people, particularly those with cognitive disabilities. Dr. Muhammad Shabbir agrees with these concerns, reinforcing the need for improved accessibility of the IGF website.

The issue of accessibility extends beyond just the online space. The Coalition highlights the need for greater accessibility in events, both physically and online. While sign language interpretation is available for high-level sessions, individuals who are not proficient in basic technology may find it difficult to navigate and engage with the agenda and program. Additionally, the lack of accessible formats for menus and food choices further restricts the participation of individuals with disabilities. Therefore, it is essential to provide comprehensive accessibility measures to ensure that events are inclusive and accessible for all.

Affordability and cost should not be limiting factors when it comes to accessibility. Prof. Inoue emphasizes the need to allocate resources for accessibility, even though it may incur costs. This highlights the importance of prioritizing accessibility and ensuring that it is not overlooked due to financial constraints. Accessibility is imperative and should be a fundamental aspect of any platform or system.

The Coalition also emphasizes the need for the system to adapt and make itself accessible for persons with disabilities. This approach reflects the social approach of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), which aims to ensure equal access for all individuals, regardless of disabilities.

There are concerns that current accessibility standards are outdated and not suitable for the digital age. Society still relies on accessibility standards established during a pre-digital era, and there is a need to update these standards to cater to the advancements in technology and the increasing reliance on the internet.

The lack of implementation and monitoring of laws for website accessibility is a significant issue, as highlighted by Nicodemus Nyakundi from Kenya. Despite having standards for website accessibility in place, the lack of awareness among web developers and the absence of a watchdog to enforce these standards result in limited compliance and accessible websites for persons with disabilities.

To overcome these challenges, it is crucial to involve persons with disabilities in the decision-making process. This perspective is often overlooked when making laws and policies, leading to inadequate consideration of the lived experience of individuals with disabilities.

The domain name industry has the potential to play a significant role in enhancing accessibility. The efforts of the .NZ domain name organization in making the fund application process accessible to all users, including the disabled community, is commendable. This serves as an example for other registries and registrars to prioritize accessibility and ensure inclusivity.

Overall, collaboration and partnerships are essential to improve the accessibility of internet governance forums. The Coalition welcomes collaborations with organizations such as the Accessibility SIG of the Internet Society and invites other registries and registrars to join efforts in making these forums more accessible.

Despite the challenges faced, there have been noteworthy improvements in the accessibility of IGF sessions. Real-time captions and sign language interpretation are now provided for most sessions. The physical accessibility of the buildings where the IGF sessions take place has also been enhanced. These positive advancements demonstrate ongoing progress towards making the IGF more inclusive and accessible.

Dr. Muhammad Shabbir stresses the importance of active participation from individuals with disabilities in these initiatives. He worked with the Asia-Pacific Regional Internet Governance Forum (APR IGF) to make it accessible, highlighting the significance of having individuals with disabilities involved in the planning and implementation to ensure true inclusivity.

In conclusion, the Dynamic Coalition on Accessibility and Disability is committed to advocating for accessibility in internet governance forums. Their efforts, along with the support of influential figures and organizations, aim to make these forums more inclusive and accessible for persons with disabilities. Challenges such as the accessibility of the IGF website, the need for greater accessibility in events, and the lack of implementation of accessibility laws highlight the areas that require attention and improvement. Collaboration, involvement of individuals with disabilities, and continued commitment to improving accessibility are key factors in achieving lasting change.

Muhammad Akram

The discussion emphasises the necessity for countries to receive support and guidance in formulating mandatory web and app accessibility policies that are of high quality. The aim is to address issues of inequality and promote industry innovation and infrastructure. By enforcing these policies, countries can ensure that their digital platforms are readily accessible to individuals with disabilities, reducing the disparities they may face in accessing important services and information online.

In addition, there is a proposal to empower disability organisations to play a key role in advocating for and monitoring the implementation of these policies. By granting them more authority, these organisations will have the ability to actively push for the adoption of accessibility standards and ensure their proper execution. This would not only contribute to reducing inequalities but would also support the broader goals of promoting peace, justice, and strong institutions.

It is important to note that while the summary does not provide specific evidence or supporting facts, the arguments put forth highlight the significance of mandatory accessibility policies for web and app development. The positive sentiment expressed towards empowering disability organisations implies that their involvement can lead to tangible improvements in the implementation and enforcement of such policies.

Moreover, the discussion also recognises that the creation and enforcement of these policies should be of high quality. This indicates the need for comprehensive guidelines and standards that are not only effective but also technically feasible for developers and businesses.

In conclusion, this expanded summary highlights the importance of providing assistance to countries in developing mandatory web and app accessibility policies that are of high quality. By empowering disability organisations to advocate for and monitor the implementation of these policies, significant progress can be made in reducing inequalities and promoting peace, justice, and strong institutions. Overall, these efforts will contribute to creating a more inclusive digital environment for individuals with disabilities, ensuring equal access to opportunities and information.

Masahiro Inoue

The analysis focuses on equal internet communication access for individuals with disabilities, specifically the deaf community. The speakers emphasise the importance of providing human resources, such as sign language interpreters and captionists, to ensure effective communication. They highlight that the current technology for speech-to-sign language or sign language-to-speech translation is not yet usable.

The provision and cost of sign language interpreters and captionists are identified as significant issues. They stress that access to these resources is crucial for enabling the deaf community to effectively communicate and access information on the internet.

The speakers also express concern about the lack of accessibility on public websites, despite laws enacted for people with disabilities in Japan. They provide an example of the positive telephone relay service, which is based on state responsibility. However, they highlight that many public websites in Japan are still inaccessible to individuals with disabilities.

Regarding responsibility, the speakers argue that society and states should ensure internet access for all, including persons with disabilities. They advocate for society and the state to adapt and make efforts, rather than placing the burden on disabled individuals. They propose developing a mechanism that facilitates the participation of persons with disabilities and suggest enacting laws and regulations to stipulate state responsibility.

In conclusion, the analysis underscores the importance of providing sign language interpreters and captionists to achieve equal internet communication access. It highlights the need for society and states to take responsibility in ensuring internet access for all, including persons with disabilities. The development of mechanisms and the enactment of laws and regulations are proposed as means to address this matter. These insights contribute to understanding the challenges faced by individuals with disabilities and the steps necessary to overcome them.

Deirdre Williams

It appears that Andrea is nowhere to be found, as the speaker continues to search for her without success. The absence of any other comments implies that there is no additional information or updates available regarding Andrea’s whereabouts. This situation raises concerns about her well-being and prompts questions about the circumstances surrounding her disappearance. Without further details, it is difficult to determine the exact reasons behind Andrea’s absence. However, her prolonged absence without any communication or indication of her whereabouts is certainly a cause for worry. It remains unclear whether Andrea’s disappearance is voluntary or if there is an underlying reason behind it. The lack of comments from others suggests that they may also be unaware of her current situation. As time goes on without any sign of Andrea’s return, the speaker’s distress and apprehension are likely to grow. The unknown nature of this situation further heightens the sense of uncertainty, leaving those close to Andrea anxiously awaiting any news or developments.

Judith Hellerstein

The Dynamic Coalition on Accessibility and Disability (DICAD) has made significant progress in promoting inclusivity and reducing inequalities in the digital world. Firstly, they have revitalised their coalition by creating governance documents and a code of conduct. This demonstrates their commitment to ensuring transparency and accountability within their organisation. By establishing these documents, DICAD sets a strong foundation for their work and establishes clear guidelines for all members to follow.

DICAD has also implemented a disability fellowship programme, which is supported by Vint Cerf. This programme funds disabled fellows to attend conferences and events, allowing them to actively participate and contribute to discussions. This initiative not only provides valuable opportunities for disabled individuals but also helps to promote diversity and foster inclusivity within the digital community.

In terms of events, DICAD has organised a session called “DCAN Envisioning for the Future”. This session focuses on envisioning a future where accessibility and disability are prioritised in digital spaces. DICAD has expressed gratitude towards both online participants and in-person attendees, acknowledging their contributions and support. This showcases DICAD’s commitment to creating an inclusive environment that appreciates and values the participation of all individuals, regardless of their physical location.

DICAD is actively working towards increasing the presence and contributions of persons with disabilities in their sessions. They have leveraged the support of Vint Cerf and Google to bring individuals with disabilities to their sessions. This deliberate effort highlights DICAD’s dedication to ensuring that those with disabilities are not only included but also actively participating and shaping discussions.

Advocacy for international sign language is another key focus area for DICAD. They have recognised the importance of providing sign language interpretation for their main sessions. Previously, sign language interpretation was only planned for high-level sessions, but DICAD has made it a point to include sign language interpretation in their main sessions, ensuring that individuals who rely on sign language have access to the content being discussed.

In terms of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), DICAD is pushing for constant evaluation of its accessibility. They recognise that accessibility is a crucial aspect of inclusivity and are actively working towards evaluating and improving the accessibility of the IGF forums. DICAD is also advocating for the accessibility information on the IGF website to be more prominent and easily accessible. This ensures that individuals with disabilities can easily access the necessary information to fully participate in IGF events.

DICAD is also calling for a comprehensive update of laws and regulations that were made in a pre-digital era. They argue that these outdated laws need to be revised to accommodate the changes brought forth by the digital age. DICAD is specifically highlighting the telephone relay law, which was created before the advent of digital communication and needs to be updated to align with modern technology.

Furthermore, DICAD emphasises the importance of education and awareness regarding disabilities in the digital context. They argue that society needs to be educated to understand the needs of those with disabilities in the digital realm. DICAD highlights the positive response received when people are made aware of the needs of individuals with disabilities. They also advocate for including awareness of disabilities in online meetings and training programmes, ensuring that the needs of individuals with disabilities are considered and accommodated.

Emergency responses are another area of concern for DICAD. They argue that emergency responses should include video services for signing and a variety of other accommodations to ensure that individuals with disabilities are not left behind during critical situations.

DICAD is considering creating committees for new activities or research, which will allow for focused and targeted work towards improving accessibility and inclusivity in the digital space. This reflects their dedication to continuous improvement and their intent to expand their impact in the field.

To improve the IGF, DICAD is open to suggestions and actively works with the IGF Secretariat to address accessibility issues and enhance future events. They have also partnered with Judith Hellerstein to address accessibility issues and are committed to improving accessibility standards within the IGF.

However, DICAD acknowledges that the enforcement of accessibility standards remains an issue. While efforts are being made to improve accessibility, there is a lack of consistent testing and adherence to standards. This points to the need for stronger enforcement measures to ensure that accessibility standards are met.

In conclusion, the efforts of the Dynamic Coalition on Accessibility and Disability (DICAD) are commendable in promoting inclusivity, reducing inequalities, and advocating for the rights and needs of individuals with disabilities. Through the creation of governance documents, funding disabled fellows, organising inclusive sessions, advocating for international sign language, evaluating and improving accessibility in the IGF, updating laws, promoting education and awareness, improving emergency responses, accounting for accessibility in online meetings and training programmes, creating committees for new activities, and actively working to improve the IGF, DICAD is making a significant impact in creating a more accessible and inclusive digital world. Their continued efforts and collaborations will contribute to building a society that values and accommodates the diverse needs of all individuals.

Lidia Best

The International Governance Forum (IGF) has faced criticism for the lack of accessibility options for individuals with hearing impairments on their website. Users have reported difficulties in finding necessary accessibility information. Additionally, there is uncertainty regarding the availability of captions or sign language interpretation for all sessions. This lack of accessible information discourages those with hearing impairments from attending the event, contradicting the goal of reducing inequalities (SDG 10).

The argument put forth is that the IGF should improve their website by clearly listing the accessibility options available for each session. This would enable individuals with hearing impairments to make informed decisions about attending the event. Providing accessibility information is crucial for these individuals as it helps them determine whether it is worthwhile to travel and participate. Moreover, the absence of such information makes it challenging for people with hearing impairments to follow the proceedings during the event.

The discussion also highlights the insufficiency of awareness and laws alone in ensuring accessibility. Merely having laws in place does not guarantee compliance, as fines and implementation checks are often lacking. It is argued that enforcement through fines and regular checks is necessary to ensure accessibility requirements are met. The presence of tick box exercises can lead to subpar accessibility services being provided, emphasizing the need for more robust implementation measures.

Furthermore, the quality of accessibility services should not be compromised in the pursuit of quantity. Tick box exercises may result in broadcasters, for instance, relying on auto-captioning without ensuring the accuracy of captions. This compromises the overall quality of accessibility services, which should be avoided when aiming to meet accessibility standards.

On a positive note, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has developed standards that guide actions before, during, and after meetings to ensure accessibility. These standards provide a solid framework for creating fully accessible meetings and can serve as a reference for organizations seeking to improve their accessibility efforts.

Lastly, there is an argument for greater investment in human resources alongside innovation. Many organizations focus solely on innovation, overlooking the need for adequate human resources. For instance, human resources are vital for monitoring and correcting errors in auto-captioning services to ensure their accuracy. The argument emphasizes that innovation alone is not enough and that investment in human resources is necessary to provide effective accessibility services.

In conclusion, the lack of accessibility information on the IGF’s website for individuals with hearing impairments is a significant issue. By improving their website to clearly list accessibility options for each session, the IGF can empower individuals with hearing impairments to make informed decisions and encourage their participation. Furthermore, the implementation and enforcement of fines and checks are necessary to ensure accessibility compliance. The quality of accessibility services should not be compromised, and the standards developed by the ITU provide a valuable framework. Lastly, greater investment in human resources alongside innovation is vital to monitor and correct errors, thus improving the overall accessibility experience.

Vivien Maidaborn

Internet New Zealand, known as .NZ, has demonstrated a strong commitment to supporting individuals with disabilities by prioritising them in their fund distribution. Their aim is to ensure that funds generated from the sale of domain names are channelled back into the community, with a particular focus on benefiting people with disabilities. This commitment is a positive step towards reducing inequalities, as outlined by SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities.

One notable aspect of .NZ’s approach is their recognition of the diverse needs of applicants. They allow individuals to apply for funds in any way that works best for them, acknowledging that different people have different abilities and preferences. This inclusive approach ensures that individuals with disabilities are not hindered by barriers or limitations when seeking support.

In their quest to empower people with disabilities, .NZ has funded various projects that cater specifically to their needs. In the first year of focusing on funding projects for individuals with disabilities, .NZ successfully funded nine projects. These projects covered a wide range of areas, from content creation to innovation aimed at improving accessibility and inclusivity. Noteworthy examples include projects focused on smart access and the development of human-generated transcripts for deafblind individuals. These initiatives demonstrate .NZ’s dedication to supporting innovative ideas that can make a tangible difference in the lives of people with disabilities.

While .NZ has made commendable efforts in prioritising accessibility and inclusivity, they acknowledge that there is still work to be done. They are aware of the need for continuous improvement to enhance access for all individuals. This recognition shows their commitment to creating a more inclusive online environment and aligns with the goals of SDG 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure.

In conclusion, Internet New Zealand (.NZ) has taken significant steps to support people with disabilities through their fund distribution efforts. By prioritising individuals with disabilities and funding projects that address their unique needs, .NZ is actively working towards reducing inequalities and promoting inclusivity. While they recognise the need for further improvement, their commitment to accessibility is evident. With their continued dedication, .NZ has the potential to make a lasting impact in creating a more accessible and inclusive online landscape.

Peter Crosby

The summary delves into the issues surrounding the IGF site’s accessibility and inclusiveness. It highlights that the site is considered overly complicated and fails to meet WCAG guidelines, making it difficult for individuals, particularly those with disabilities, to navigate and effectively use. Additionally, there is a notable absence of meaningful input from people with disabilities during the site’s development and improvement stages.

One argument raised is that the IGF site lacks inclusiveness, resulting in the exclusion of many individuals. The site’s complexity and inefficiency hinder users from fully accessing and utilizing its resources. This sentiment is reinforced by the observation that the site does not function properly on certain levels, further limiting its inclusiveness and usability.

The pace of progress in ensuring accessibility is also a concern. Despite discussions and efforts over the past five years, little improvement has been made. Proposed solutions often involve implementing mere technological add-ons or superficial fixes, rather than addressing the core accessibility issues. Furthermore, a survey reveals that government service websites also fail to comply with WCAG guidelines, highlighting the broader challenge of achieving accessibility across various online platforms.

Accessibility issues have a negative impact beyond individuals with disabilities. Personal experiences highlight the difficulties faced by those with temporary disabilities, emphasizing that accessibility concerns affect all users. It is suggested that accessibility measures should be viewed as a universal need, rather than solely focusing on the requirements of specific user groups.

An important argument put forth is that accessibility should be an integral part of ICT from the outset. Currently, accessibility is often an afterthought, added later in the website development process. The need for continuous monitoring to ensure ongoing accessibility is emphasized, as technologies and standards evolve over time.

Education and awareness surrounding accessibility play a vital role in addressing these challenges. It is noted that the majority of web developers consider accessibility as a mere checkbox to tick off, rather than an essential element of ICT and web design. Education is necessary to shift this perspective and ensure that accessibility is ingrained in the mindset of developers and designers.

In conclusion, the IGF site’s failure to meet accessibility criteria, its lack of inclusiveness, and the persisting challenges in ensuring accessibility in the digital realm highlight the importance of prioritizing accessibility from the start and continuously monitoring its implementation. Education and awareness are essential in fostering a more inclusive and accessible online environment for all users.

Session transcript

Judith Hellerstein:
So good morning, good afternoon, good evening to everyone who’s come here for our session on the Dynamic Coalition on Accessibility and Disability. Thanks so much for joining us online and in person, we greatly appreciate it. So we welcome you all here for the session, DCAN Envisioning for the Future, and I can run through the agenda with you, and the agenda is, we are going to talk about, we’re going to talk about what the agenda is, and first we will introduce, we have a whole series, we recently, in the past year, we revitalized DCAD, we created a series of governance documents, we created a code of conduct, we did a series of other things here to re-advance the service, and then we also have, for the first time in person, three disability fellows that were funded through the generosity of Vint Cerf, who has funded our fellowship program, so we have here Vidya Reddy, she represents India, she’ll be speaking, we also have Nico Dimas from Kenya, and then we have Professor Inouye from Japan, as well as Lydia Best, representing the harder hearing community in Europe, so we’ll have a siding list of speakers here, we also have our mentor here for our disability fellows, Granella Aspring, so we thank you all for coming, and I will then pass it on to our colleague, Dr. Shabir, who is my co-head of the Dynamic Coalition on Accessibility and Disability.

Dr. Muhammad Shabbir:
Thank you, Judith, thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for joining us, good afternoon to everyone present here, and good morning and greeting of the day, or evening, wherever you are in your time zones. Thank you very much for joining the Dynamic Coalition on Accessibility and Disability session, Re-envisioning the Future. Dynamic Coalition on Accessibility and Disability is an advocate of accessibility of internet governance forums, it’s visibility of persons with disabilities in the forums, as well as the accessibility of the forums for people with disabilities. With this vision, the Dynamic Coalition on Accessibility and Disability, with the generous support of Vint Cerf and Google, have been able to bring a number of persons with disabilities in person to this session. We actually had a support program for online or remote participation as well, but as so fate happened, that the support applications that we received were mostly… related to in-person participation. So nothing about us without us is only possible if person with disabilities themselves, as I often say, come forward and contribute into the discussions. I am really grateful and I thank to our wonderful fellows from India, from Kenya, from Europe, to Vidya, Lydia Nicodemus, Professor Inouye, and Ms. Tabinta for being with us. This is really a remarkable moment in DICAD’s history as we have been struggling for COVID period, number of organizations. This is a sort of revival of the DICAD after going into sort of hibernation for a year or so. That’s why I really am glad that we are able to bring that forum into the living people’s life and contribute to where it should be contributing to make the internet governance forums accessible for people with disabilities. I believe after the welcome and introduction, the first thing that we had on our agenda was to talk about the accessibility of the IGF forum, as has been the tradition that we always try to sort of map the accessibility of IGF forums. So I would really want here any of my colleagues sitting on this table or in the hall or online, if you want to share your experiences with regards to accessibility of the IGF, if you faced any issues or problems, you have the forum now, you can ask for the forum, the mic will come to you, or online, you can raise your hand and Deidre, my co-moderator, will tell us if there are any comments from online.

Judith Hellerstein:
Should we go? Yes. Yes, and Judith Hellerstein. So we also are happy to announce that the main session of all the dynamic coalitions will be held on Friday, but we also have international sign language on that session. We found out too late that the main sessions, most of the main sessions will not have international sign language. That sign language was only available for the high level sessions. And we also have international sign language for the main sessions and for the opening closing ceremonies, but we made it a point that we needed it for the dynamic coordination main session, then we were happy that the secretariat was able to arrange for that as well. So look forward to seeing that as well as- Are there any comments on the accessibility of IGF? Dr. Shabir asked if there’s any comments on the- accessibility of the IGF?

Peter Crosby:
Well, it’s Peter Crosby here. I can make a couple of comments if you want. Although these are comments I’ve been making every year, as we all have, I think, in regard to the IGF. And I’m someone with a cognitive disability, so basically I’m looking for information online that’s clear, easy to access, and so on. Easy login, all of that. And once again, the IGF site, it just fails on all those criteria. I do not believe for one second that the IGF site itself, let alone the aspects of it devoted to the forum, meet WCAG guidelines. I don’t believe there’s any proper auditing being done. I don’t believe it has any input or any meaningful input from people with disabilities. And as with every year, I feel that many people are being excluded because it’s much, much too complicated and basically, on some levels, doesn’t work. I mean, I can go into some of the specifics at some other point if anyone wants, but that’s just my experience. Thank you.

Dr. Muhammad Shabbir:
Yes, thank you very much, Peter. This is really valuable. I really appreciate this. The comment about following the web content accessibility guidelines for the development of the websites and apps is really necessary. And if this organization, the organization that we are sitting and the conference we are sitting for speaking at, the Internet Governance Forum doesn’t follow it, who else then we can expect that they would follow? So this is really a very crucial comment. Thank you so much for raising it up. Yes. Lydia, do you have something to say? Oh, could someone get a mic to Vidya? Oh, maybe Vidya, can you stand, oh, no, oh, Vidya, oh, Vidya, Vidya raised her hand, Vidya raised her hand.

Audience:
Yes, so one concern that I had is firstly to do with registration, I think I just needed some help with the registration, I exactly don’t remember where, but I just needed some help while registering, and also, okay, I’m a person with visual impairment, and I’m from India, and one main issue I’m having is with the scheduling of the events, the personal schedule, and also there’s the schedule on the IGF website, which has Excel files, so if I open that, sometimes while going through it, using my screen reader, I might miss out on some data, and also, each time I have to ask my brother, who is here, what is the next session, so it’s, or I have to open my website, and getting there with the screen reader is a little bit difficult, so something that I’ve seen on different conferences, which are specifically for persons with disability, is to have the schedule in alternative formats like Braille, so that at least people who know how to use Braille can get to the session really easily, you know which page number it is, and if you put your hand there, you can read it and figure out, so that is quicker way of doing than asking it to everybody, and one more session is because I’m now with my brother, so I don’t have navigational issues because he’s able to see, but if I would have come here by myself, I’m not very sure how difficult it would be, so again, I’ve seen in some conferences where there’s a Braille map, or some tactile, the building is made accessible. at least through the tactile, so when you walk you just figure out the way, or some easily available help where you can ask where to go very easily. Thank you so much for that.

Judith Hellerstein:
One comment we had, I was wondering, and maybe others can tell us, the IGF also has an interactive schedule now, and whether that schedule is easier to read for persons with disabilities. Okay, so Shabir says he’ll come to that. So we’re gonna give the floor now to Lidia Best.

Lidia Best:
Thank you, so Lidia speaking. I’m looking on the perspective of the people who are having hard of hearing, and in general, before we go to any events, we really would like to know how we will be able to follow. So for me, looking at the IGF website, both the official website and the organizer’s website, one thing I’m always looking for is accessibility. And there is not an easy way to find the accessibility information, and to find out, for example, if all the sessions will be captioned, if all the sessions will have a sign language interpretation, and what about the audio access to those who need it as well. So that kind of information is vital for us to even want to travel all the way, because otherwise we don’t know what to expect. So I think that’s something what can be quite easily resolved and achieved, just provide us the information of what you have prepared. Thank you. Thanks so much for that. We will make sure that we put these in. Just for clarity’s sake, we do need another line item on the bottom, but all the sessions are captioned. And in fact, but it’s not easy to find, there are transcript links for every session but it’s not very easy to find. So we’re going to ask them to make sure that these are more accessible and there should be a accessibility statement listing the accessibility of each session and we can add that as a comment to it. Judith, if I can just add, my comment is mostly about the on-site participation. We know that online in general, we have that information because we can see that there is captioning or sign language for whatever sessions but we don’t know what is happening on-site.

Judith Hellerstein:
Right, but I think that would be also, should be also in the accessibility statement on the website.

Dr. Muhammad Shabbir:
Yes, I totally agree with Lydia there that we do know that the session would be captioned, the high-level session would have the sign language, international signs, but with regards to on-site accessibility, there are a number of questions and this brings me to my point that I wanted to highlight here. There are a number of facilities and information. There is a lot of information for on-site participants. One of that is about the different events and programs that are happening. Lydia talked about and Judith raised a question about the interactive agenda and program. For me, I consider myself a moderate computer user who is a little bit well-versed in the technology so I can navigate it. But for a user who was a basic level user of the accessible technology, this interactive program would be a difficult one to navigate. Secondly, with regards to physical accessibility of the event, we just had before this session about an hour before this session, we had lunch, thankfully provided by the local host. This lunch has information on the website that what would be served every day and where it would be served. Very nice. Thank you so much for that. I really appreciate that. But what and where the program was lacking was the information about the menus, that what choices would be there every day, vegetarian, Muslim or halal food, or et cetera. The menus were there, they are supposed to be there, but the problem with the screen reader was that it would tell you an image. An image of a picture, well, that’s no information. If you want to go about making your events accessible, you have to give every information in an accessible format. And that brings us to the point which was highlighted by Peter, that you need to follow the web content accessibility guidelines while developing these websites. This information was put on the website. Had there been a proper audit of the website and the pages, I’m sure this information would have come up. We had tried to raise this issue at a number of earlier events as well. Before I move forward, may I ask Deidre, the online moderator, do we have any hand raised or questions in the online space? I haven’t seen anything yet. Is there anyone in the remote space who would want to say or contribute to this discussion that we are having here? I think we’re all listening carefully. Okay. Thank you. Thank you so much for that. This brings me to the next question. And that I would want to ask my local friends here. We have two persons with disabilities from Japan in this room. Professor Inoue and Ms. Tabanta. Am I pronouncing the name right? Nearly. Could you correct me then? Tabanta. Okay. So we have Professor Inoue and we have Ms. Tabanta with us in this room. Let’s listen to Professor Inoue first who would be talking to us with the help of the interpreter. So let’s listen to him. What are his impression of the Internet Governance Forum and what he thinks is the accessibility all about?

Masahiro Inoue:
My name is Inoue. Masahiro Inoue. I’m deaf, so I’m using sign language here, and the sign language interpreter is voicing from my signing. First, let me briefly introduce myself. I am a professor at a national university which is established for deaf and hard of hearing students. And from a deaf perspective, I have been engaged in many issues related with information access. And this is the federation called World Federation of the Deaf, and I have been serving as an expert member on technology and accessibility more than 10 years. Among the speakers here, it seems I’m the only deaf person. So speaking from a deaf perspective, I would like to say it is important that deaf people can exchange information, not only writing, but also in sign language. So although it is not perfect yet, the speech-to-text technology has been very much advanced. However, as for the speech-to-sign language or sign language-to-speech translation technology, it is far from a usable level. It’s still going to take time to reach there. Therefore, in order to ensure equal access to internet communication for deaf people, we continue to need human resources such as sign language interpreters and captionists. So that’s what I think we need to continue to use some human resources for that. Now we have an issue, how to bear the cost. That’s something we need to consider. With the advancement of technology, if we put our minds to it, we can do almost anything. The question is whether we can really realize it. In Japan, various laws have been enacted for people with disabilities, such as non-discrimination law and domestic standards for accessibility, well established now. For example, in the case of World Wide Web, the website, in order to ensure the equal access of persons with disabilities, especially for the visually impaired and deaf hard of hearing people, the necessary considerations and accommodations are summarized in a guideline. However, these national standards are not mandatory in Japan and there is no penalty for failure to comply to. That is why we still find many public websites not accessible for persons with disabilities. That’s the reality. One good example is telephone relay service. It started in Japan but it is based on the law which clearly defines the responsibility of the state and who’s going to be responsible for the cost as well. So it is very important to have this kind of laws that it’s the responsibility of the state to ensure the access of the internet for all people. So in order to realize the equal access for all persons with disabilities, it is important that it is not persons with disabilities to adapt and make efforts. It’s the state and the society to take responsibility for developing a mechanism to realize for participation of PWDs. I’m not sure if I could explain well, but that’s my thought. Thank you.

Dr. Muhammad Shabbir:
Thank you. Thank you very much, Professor. This is really enlightening. And the two key messages that I would take from this speech, though I won’t call it a nervous speech, that was a very well articulated. One is that we need to do the costing. And when it comes to accessibility, there cannot be any match of accessibility when it comes to accessibility. You cannot compare it. So cost should not be in my perspective. Of course, it is a factor and a main factor as well, and a reality one, real one as well. But to me, it should not be a factor when it comes to making an event accessible for people with disabilities. And second and main thing, the one key lesson, if the people in this hall and the system that we are contributing to the IGF system were to take one lesson from this speech, that would be that it should not be persons with disabilities adopting to the system. It should be the system making it comfortable and accessible itself for people with disabilities. And that is called the social approach, the approach of UNCRPD itself. It’s not, it’s the idea very well articulated by the professor, but the theme, the theory was already ingrained in the CRPD and we’ll not be doing something new if we were to adopt this approach. Before I move forward with the agenda, are there any comments or questions from the hall or online participants?

Judith Hellerstein:
is Judith, I want to add something, and Deirdre, one minute. Also, as the professor said, it’s up to the states, but one of the other things that I think he also did not mention is that many of these laws were based on a pre-digital society, and they need to be brought up to date. So the telephone relay is based on an old system and we only had voice, and they need to be brought up to date. The same way, just like emergency responses were based on an old system, and need to be brought up to date, so they need to have video for people who could sign in the video and talking to the emergency response person. They need to have the ability to have all these type of ways to do it. In the US, there was a law about this, and they also, in addition to what he said about the funding for the telephone relay, they also have an additional tax that’s put on all the phones to pay to make sure that video is also working, so that when people who cannot hear can use sign language and they can speak to that and it would work better. So all this importance now to make sure that the laws are brought up to the digital arena where video and others are needed, and the same thing. And the issues of also is, as he was saying, pictures, it’s an issue mostly of awareness. Society has not understood that when you have a picture, they can’t see it. So you have to keep explaining to them, saying, oh, it just says picture. If we want people to see it, we need to explain what’s in the picture. Just like when you post on Facebook, you say this is a picture of it. They’re describing what’s in there. We found that when you explain to people, we shouldn’t have to be doing that, but when we are doing explanations, people say, oh, thank you so much. I hadn’t realized this. I hadn’t known this. And so we have to keep, there’s a lot of work being done, we have to keep doing on making people aware of what are the issues so that they know and they can address them. Because many people want to address them, they’re just not aware that this has happened because they’re so used to just posting and photos and that type of thing that they don’t understand that this has to be done.

Dr. Muhammad Shabbir:
Judith? I would, well, I have a comment and I would respond to this. We are talking about, so the professor was too polite not to say that in terms of accessibility, we still were living in dark ages. On the second point, for individuals, this could be justified that they would not know something about accessibility, but institutions cannot hide behind the fact that they did not know. They are actually there. It is their responsibility to know of accessibility requirements and fulfill them. So for instance, IGF cannot get away with the statement that they did not know. If IGF doesn’t know about accessibility standards, so, well, it would be, I would not say anything more about that. Institutions cannot be forgiven, full stop. Any online comments, Deidre? There are? Yes, please tell us what they are.

Audience:
Mohammed Akram from, I’m so sorry, I do not remember the acronym for your organization. He wanted to say, it is true that voice to text is much advanced, but it is yet not 100% accurate, so we need human resources for human captioning, especially in local languages. And thank you. He tells me he’s from Pakistan. That’s his comment. And he is expert on relay services. Yes, we have him as a speaker. Thank you, Akram, very much for coming online. I will give you the mic in a while. Are there any other comments online, Deidre? Or any person who wanted to take hand, to take mic? We did have a comment here from Mohammed Akram, and he wanted it written out into the record. He says, just a comment. It is true that voice to text is much advanced. That’s what just you did. Oh, OK, sorry. Any other person from the online space who may want to take mic and say something? No one has asked yet. Anyone from this hall, any questions or comments that the discussion that we just had? Nicodemus? Yes, Nicodemus, please. My name is Nicodemus Nyakundi. I’m from Kenya, courtesy of DECAD. And I would love to comment on the professor’s input on laws that guide accessibility. In May this year in Kenya, we did an assessment on government websites accessibility to persons with disabilities. And one of the realizations that we came to get through the focus group discussions was that, yes, in Kenya, we have our standards on website accessibilities, but they are not being followed. So we realized that the main key issue is there is no watchdog. There is nobody standing to implement these laws and ensure that the websites are accessible. Another thing is that there is lack of awareness, both in the public and even the web developers. If there is a web developer in here, they will attest that when you are developing a web, there are instances that you will be asked for accessibility features. And most of them then tend to ignore these features because maybe they are rushing over time or maybe they are not aware that it is a very necessary key component in web development. web accessibility. And then another issue was involvement of person with disabilities, because we realize that they make laws, they make policies, but they don’t consider the input or the lived experience of person with disabilities. Thank you so much.

Dr. Muhammad Shabbir:
Yes, thank you. Thank you very much, Nicodemus, for this comment. And now I would want to move on to our second local speaker, Ms. Tabata from Japan. She has a very extensive experience with the World Blind Union as well. So she might be able to tell us about the accessibility of websites and digital services in other parts of the world as well, as I would also want her to comment if she had a chance to look at the IGF website and how far it was accessible for a person with disabilities. Ms. Tabata.

Michiko Tabata:
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And good morning, good afternoon, and good evening. My name is Michiko Tabata. I am born with severe partial sightedness. And I worked with the Asia-Pacific region of the World Blind Union since 2004 and served two terms as regional president until the term came to the full stop two years ago. So sorry, Chair, I might not have the latest issue on the other parts of the world. So let me focus on what we experience here in this country. But before that, I would like to talk a little bit about the accessibility of this conference. First, like the lady from India talked, it was quite hard to register. The registration was not very accessible. And I think I spent about. about two hours completing, and about one hour and something that happened which was beyond my control and everything went gone. So I had to do everything again. It was a very challenging experience. Another thing is the wayfinding of this venue. I came around with a sighted gentleman in the floor and we had such a hard time finding this room. So the wayfinding needs to be sorted out better or like having more persons assisting people to find the right rooms. And lastly, I was a little surprised to hear at the beginning of the session that only a very limited number of sessions have sign language interpretations. As I will mention, these days the access to web is like the essence of our lives. So the persons with hearing impairments, there should be more people who are interested in all the other issues on the internet. So I know it involves cost, like Mr. Chair mentioned, so maybe we cannot implement all the interpretation to everything, but there should be more expansion of the accessibility of the conference itself. So that’s what I thought from this conference. Going back to the blindness issues, I’m sure all the ICT experts have been talking about the accessibility features to support access to websites for blind and partially sighted persons, like being able to manipulate keyboards, having alternative ways to communicate. alternative text on the graphics, having names on buttons and links so we would know what will function once pressing that button and having a flexible flexibility in colors and contrast to support users with who have low vision. So I’m sure you there are many people here who know better than me. So I just remind you that these are some of the features that will assist blind people. I recently ran into a statistic done by the Japanese government showing that the high ratio of persons with visual impairment in Japan who use internet more than 90%. Although it was up to 79 years old, so maybe over 80 years of age. I’m not sure the race ratio could be lower, but nevertheless there are so many people with disabilities. Even for the persons with disabilities in general, the ratio was far above half. So it’s very part of the essence of daily lives. For example, the internet, access to internet, used to be having news on the side, watching movies, watching TV, listening to music, exchanging communications. But these days, especially in Japan, partly because of the manpower shortage, our population is shrinking gradually. Many face-to-face services are going on the web these days, like booking transportation, following the ID and identity certification that’s been changing by this country over the past few decades. Then about the vaccination for the COVID-19, there are all these things that are so essential to your daily lives that really depend on the access to web. So if you don’t have access to websites, for example, you can’t book a transportation, you can’t get vaccination, you can’t have the identity certified properly, all these issues are so serious. So we think that, I think that the web, access to web should be given more emphasis because of this essentiality in your life, whether you have a disability, whether you are aged, no matter how old or how young, if you want to get public services or private services, you definitely need access to web. Another statistics shows that only less than 10% of websites by private sectors are meeting the standards in Japan, Japan industrial standards, which I think is probably a little less strict than the WCIG, but nevertheless, still so few of the websites developed by private sectors are meeting the accessibility standards. So the reason is, of course, as some of the participants already mentioned, Part may be the cost issue, part may be the awareness issue. If you look around the cyberspace, you will see a lot of comments, oh, accessibility, that will reduce designing, oh, accessibility, nobody will benefit. So I really think we need to strengthen, work harder to raise awareness in the society. And then we also need to draw strategies to persuade to the government that web accessibility is part of your essence, the essence of your life. And it’s so crucial for your well-being to ensure the accessibility to websites for everyone. I’m not sure I have the clear idea what I can do now, but I will definitely continue to tell people that access to websites is so essential for everyone. Thank you very much.

Dr. Muhammad Shabbir:
Yes, thank you very much for this, Ms. Tabata. This is really important, though these are lifetime real experiences that you just shared with us, and I really appreciate that. Before I move forward, Didre, do we have Mohamed Akram online? He was there. Yes, he’s here. He’s here. Okay, so we want Mr. Mohamed Akram to share his experiences with us. Akram, could you, as a president of Asia Pacific Hard of Hearing Union, tell us how these services work for persons with hard of hearing in this region, and what would you have wanted to see in this conference? Akram, you need to open your microphone. Dr. Shabir, could you remind him, please, to open his microphone? Please, Akram, please open your microphone. Oh. Yes, we have a, he’s, we have a, maybe IS interpreter, could you remind Akram to open it, unmute himself?

Judith Hellerstein:
Or, he’s there now. IS interpreter could interpret, yes. Okay, our interpreter will interpret for you. Or if you want, you could type it in the screen and we could read it out. Can you hear me? We cannot hear you if you’re speaking. Well, we wanna, maybe while we work on that, we can go to our next speaker. Oh, he’s here now, oh great. Um, we can see you. But we can’t hear you yet. Okay, let’s, we’ll move on to the, to the next speaker. Peter, maybe Peter Crosby can also talk about his experiences. Peter, while we work with Akram, do you want to take mic? Yes, I can do that. Okay, go ahead, please.

Peter Crosby:
I’ll leave my video off if that’s okay because I have a very bad internet where I am. So, just a quick introduction. My name is Peter Crosby. I am autistic. My input today will mainly be around cognitive disabilities, cognitive accessibility. I actually, it’s wonderful to hear people’s input, but I actually have to confess, I find it depressing and even disturbing. I first came to an IGF conference in 2018 when an autistic organisation asked me to represent them. And it’s just really, well, unfortunately, it’s not a strong enough word, but here we are, what is it, five years later now, we’re still talking about exactly the same issues, exactly the same issues. For the most part, from what I can see in my sort of short history of exposure to the accessibility sort of movement and what groups like DICAN are trying to do, I just do not see that there is any meaningful progress. I do not see within the IGF or outside the IGF that the issues around accessibility are really being grasped. I don’t see that beyond what I would think of as sort of band-aid solutions or add-ons, most of which are technological, that we’re actually getting anywhere. I constantly read surveys or interviews with people looking into this area and speaking to people like WebDoc. developers and it’s really clear that they have no idea what accessibility is except a sort of a box that they have to check that comes down from whoever’s commissioning their work or their development or their designs. I mean, there was a survey I came across recently, although it was from a while back, an organization did a survey of 37 websites that were government services websites in Europe, in different countries, and not a single one of them, not one of those 37 fully complied with WCAG guidelines. And they were also guidelines version 2, not version 2.1, which are more up to date. I think that there has to be a sort of a moment of self-reflection here amongst all of us as to what’s going on and as to how accessibility is being presented, because it just seems that the message is just not getting through. I mean, for example, I think in terms of the disability rights movements, one of the big mistakes we’ve made is to allow people who don’t have disabilities to think that disability access or accessibility doesn’t concern them. They think it’s not an issue for them, but it is an issue for them, or it will be an issue for them. Every single person at some point in their lives will require accessibility support. I mean, even now, I’m a perfect example. I have a broken arm, and I cannot access a computer keyboard properly or at all really with my right hand. So I’m using speech-to-text for most of my text input. And that’s a simple example. And I know in terms of cognitive disabilities, I mean, one of the elements, key elements of what cognitive accessibility is about is, for example, being overwhelmed by too much information. Every single person in this room at some point will have come across a website where they’re being overwhelmed by too much information. But that’s happening because that website is not following WCAG guidelines, whether or not you have a cognitive disability or not. People who, and recently also, because of my arm, I was hospitalized. I was on medication. I had real trouble being able to access the web or the internet in the way I normally do. And there was a few days that I could not do it at all. And once again, that’s because these measures are not being put in place. But also, it’s an example of how all of us are impacted by a lack of accessibility measures being put in place around the whole field of ICT. It’s not just the internet. So that’s, very briefly, I mean, I won’t take too much time. My feelings in regards to this, if anyone wants to know anything more, perhaps specifically about cognitive accessibility or disability, maybe I’ll put a couple of links in the chat for people to follow up in their own time, unless anyone has any specific questions. But I think in going forward, to sort of summarize and conclude for DICAD, for me, it has to be about education. We’ve got to somehow find a way of reaching people and educating them about what accessibility is. accessibility is that it’s not some big bogeyman, that it’s simply an essential part of ICT, essential part of web design. It’s not something that you add on as an afterthought. It has to be there from day one. And it also has to be monitored continuously. I mean, that survey I mentioned before, one of the points they made is sites are put up, they comply with WCAG guidelines, they get ticked off on, and then no one monitors them. And you come back two or three years later, and all of a sudden, you have a site that you have a lot of content that’s inaccessible. So anyway, they’re my thoughts, and I’ll pass back over to you.

Dr. Muhammad Shabbir:
Yes, thank you very much, Peter, for these in-full thoughts. These are really important. The key message that we take from your speech is that the accessibility has to be there right from the start, and there has to be the processes that keep the accessibility sustained. The question that you ask, I think we all should ask, and we all need an answer to it as well, that the message, if the message is not getting acrossed, what do we do? We have a message from Muhammad Akram from Pakistan. I would ask Judith to read that message for us.

Judith Hellerstein:
Yes, thank you. This is reading Muhammad Akram’s, because he prefers to type in the chat. This is Akram, president of Asia Pacific Hard of Hearing Foundation. I will just focus on online meetings and training program accessibility. More than often, organizations depend on auto-captioning that is not accurate, special for people from different accent and languages. It causes a lot of barriers, and they need human captioning until captioning becomes. is 100% accurate. Another point is awareness. Even if captioning is available, speaker and trainer need to know that there are people with hearing disabilities. So when they refer to any image or diagram, give some pause so we can see the diagram. We cannot read captioning and look at a diagram at the same time. As hearing people can listen and watch diagrams same time. So this awareness should be part of online meeting and training management. Besides, one important point is that captioning, both human and auto, is available for far fewer languages. We need this in local languages too. We are always working to promote human captioning for local languages, but it’s a big challenge. Thank you.

Dr. Muhammad Shabbir:
Yes, Akram, that is? Thank you very much, Akram, for this very insightful message. I understand that there is a short time, so I would move quickly with the agenda now. I would ask Lydia Best to share her thoughts with us, because this is right after listening to the president of Asia Pacific Heart of Hearing. We now listen to Lydia Best, who has been with the DICAD for so long. She knows IGF and she also knows the accessibility services. So, Lydia.

Lidia Best:
Thank you very much, Mohammad. And I am today, I’m wearing quite a few hats generally, so it’s difficult, but today I would like to say that I am as part of a joint coordinating activity on accessibility and human factors from the International Telecommunication Union as the co-vice chair. But also in Europe, I wear a hat of the president of the European Federation of Heart of Hearing People, and I work very closely with Akram. So I would like to. To say after what we have heard today, I’d like to agree with every word we’ve heard. And one of the things is we’re talking about awareness and we’re talking about the laws which don’t really mean anything often, especially when these laws are not following with fines or the implementation is not being checked, et cetera. And Akram touched on another thing, tick box exercise, because sometimes in these laws we don’t really do anything when it comes to the quality, the usability of access being provided. So for example, broadcasters can decide, let’s do auto-captioning for the broadcast news. And nobody cares if it is 100% accessible or not. But we have put something there, so it’s there. So I think when it comes to the laws, when it comes to the accessibility in general, there has to be that quality also being followed. So it’s quantity and quality, not just quantity itself alone. At the ITU, we have developed together as persons with disabilities, experts with disabilities, as part of a global initiative on accessible ICTs, G3 ICT delegation, two technical standards which are able to guide and to ensure those who are developing and working on the meetings, for example, like a remote meeting today, as well as in general accessible meetings, to understand what is needed, what needs to be before the meetings, during the meetings, and after the meetings to make sure that they are fully accessible. And those standards provide good framework. And it’s not difficult to follow. It’s a matter of one tick too low on this as well. But it’s also those standards include human factors. Because you can have sometimes a person, you know, maybe doing something and say, okay, I will do a caption, auto-captioning, because we don’t have the money, fair enough. But then someone needs to actually monitor what this auto-captioning is producing. And then if that information is not correct, bring correction to it. Then it doesn’t happen. And we are often left completely bewildered about what has been said. And we cannot participate fully if we don’t understand fully the discussion. There is one more thing. The pandemic has definitely been responsible for pushing accessibility forward. some innovation, isn’t it? But again, it’s often not quality checked. So from our perspective, it’s making sure as well that when we discuss accessibility, innovation, we need to understand that both have a place. Sometimes we use auto-captioning in personal meetings, which is enough because between ourselves, between the groups, we understand how it works. So we know when to intervene and to fill in those gaps. But when it comes to languages and human captioning, sign language is the same way. We need the human resource as well to be developed. And what we’re seeing, and that is a danger, that many companies, many organizations, including governments, think that it’s enough that we invest a lot of money in the innovation alone. There is no need to invest human-related services to train the human resources to support us. And that is the danger here. Thank you. The floor to you.

Dr. Muhammad Shabbir:
Thank you very much, Lydia. We do have a couple of other speakers as well. And one of them is Vivian from .NZ. And I really am grateful to Vivian, who is the CEO of .NZ, that on my invitation, she decided to be a part of this session. In New Zealand, .NZ has initiated some accessibility-related projects. And I’m sure from today’s discussion, you would have a lot of food for thought when you go back and do some improvements on those projects. Vivian, do you want to share something about your projects with us with very brief time, three minutes, say?

Vivien Maidaborn:
Thank you. Yes, just a couple of comments. Thank you for the invitation. And great to be listening to the reminders about the importance of quality access. So .NZ is a relatively small organisation. But one of the things we’re committed to doing is returning funds from people buying a domain name. back to the community. So I’ve just been in this job for a year and I was concerned that those funds returning to the community included people with disabilities in terms of who was getting the funds. So I just really wanted to share some simple things we’d done from, you know, the New Zealand Domain Name Organisation to include fund distribution to communities of people who have got particular access requirements. Some of them are so obvious it’s almost embarrassing, but they have had a big impact on who applies for funding. So the first is on our website, in terms of criteria for funding, we have clearly identified that people with disabilities are a priority. There are other population groups who are also a priority, but we’ve clearly specified this group because of the potential for being excluded from participation. The second thing that we did was basically say you can apply any way that works for you. If that’s phoning up and having a conversation, we’ll fill in the forms from there. Or if you want to have a meeting and, you know, it’s like you tell us what works for you and we’ll adapt. So that’s been a really important part of making our fund application process accessible. And then finally, we’ve left it up to groups who approach us to determine how they measure the outcomes of their project. So over the last year, we have had nine projects funded. from the disability community, and they range from people funding their own content, telling their stories within their communities, to innovation around smart access, to research on the best ways for teaching people with disabilities how to be safe online, to human-generated transcripts for deafblind people. And I’m so excited by the calibre of applications that we’ve received and the diversity of work. I would just kind of finish by noting that I don’t think Internet New Zealand is anywhere close to being great at access or including all people. And it’s a commitment we’ve made, and we’ll continue to be on that journey. But I feel very proud what we’ve achieved in this first year of our focus as a priority. Thank you.

Dr. Muhammad Shabbir:
Yes, thank you very much, Vivian, for this very brief intervention. But this is very useful. I really appreciate you coming to this session. One of the underlying things that I would want to share with this session and through this with the other registries and registrars in the domain name industry, that you have a lot of potential to make a lot of good contribution in terms of accessibility, provided you do the right thing. One of those things could be following on the steps of .NZ. Knowing that you have deficiencies is essential for improvement. And I believe that .NZ knows that. So this is really great. We also have Yosonobu Ishii from Relay Service Japan. I would also want your input on to this service and what are your thoughts about the accessibility. Yosonobu, please.

Yasunobu Ishii:
Thank you very much. I’m Yosonobu Ishii from the Nippon Foundation Telecommunication Relay Service. And I’d like to talk about. A little bit about our work now, and also the suggestion. Let’s skip some slides. And I think all of you already know about telephone relay service already, so I skip the explanation of this part also. And now, when we, together with Professor Inoue, we surveyed and found more than 25 countries have legislative framework to support official telecommunication relay service. It was 2017, so I think the number is growing now. But my point is more than – not more than – most of countries, almost all countries, support only for conventional telephone communication, and not supporting the communication using internet-based web, like Zoom or Teams, Meet, WhatsApp, LINE, et cetera. So we – even though we are official organization designated by the Minister of Communication in Japan, we are not able to support the communication through such internet-based apps. So I would like to suggest to establish a framework, a legal framework, and funding mechanisms to sustain the continuous support of human support. such as sign language interpretation or other kind of help for the people who need to make their communication. Thank you very much.

Dr. Muhammad Shabbir:
Thank you very much, Yasunobu. Didre, do we have Grace online? No. No. Just for the- I haven’t noticed her, but Andrea Sacks, a former coordinator of DCAD, had said a little earlier that there were some comments that she would like to make. Oh, Andrea, are you still online? If you are, please unmute yourself and go ahead. She may have trouble unmuting. She told me she couldn’t find the microphone. Can someone from the technical team send her a request? She dropped off? Didre, well, I’m moving on with the agenda, but please let us know if she comes back online. We will pass the proceeding, and of course, she is one of the respected members of the DCAD. She would be given a chance. Whenever she is online, please feel free to interrupt us and let us know that Andrea is online and we’ll give her the floor. Moving on with the agenda, so we do have activity report. We listen to what Relay Service does and what the .NZ is doing with regards to accessibility. So this is perhaps the right time to move forward with the activity report of Dynamic Coalition on Accessibility and Disability, DCAD. But before I give the floor to Judith, my co-coordinator for the activity report, I would request the audience to think about the future activities that DCAD can undertake, because right after next, the question for you is going to be that what should be the future activities of the DCAD? So Judith, over to you.

Judith Hellerstein:
Thanks so much. So, this year was basically a rebuilding year, and we worked under a small team organized by Lydia Best to create some new governance documents for the DICAD, so we looked at several different other DCs that have been very successful, and we figured out, after a long discussion, what would be our new governance documents, so then we published those that could be found on the website. We also wanted to make sure we had a code of conduct, because sometimes what happens is that there’s several, sometimes there’s disruptive people or people who are not respectful of others. We wanted to make sure that DICAD is a place that is respecting everyone’s contribution, so we worked to create a code of conduct, which has always been a touchy subject for dynamic coalitions, because we want to have and be welcome and open to everyone, and so therefore we, as a dynamic coalition of the IGF, which is part of the UN, we want to make sure that we don’t not include people, so we worked with the coalition, with the main coordinating group to create a code of conduct based on that. So we’ve done that, and several other activities, we are looking at how we can move forward in the future, whether should we be working with committees, do we want, if someone suggests an activity for us, we would then work to create a committee, possibly, to look into that activity, whether it’s being a program activity or a research activity. And another one of our activities is the reinvigoration of the fellowship program, Shabir mentioned earlier, and we are so glad to have gotten this fellowship off the ground. This was our first year. We learned so much from doing our fellowship for this year, so that we can apply it for next year and make it even better, and work to really help some of the people to really, the idea behind the fellowship is to have people with disabilities be able to really attend the conference, whether they need to have an assistant, an aid with them, or whether they’re not. We want to make sure that it’s really inclusive, and they really can get the most out of the conference, and so that is what guided us on our goals here. And as we want to hear from you, we’re doing a short, we’ll put this up on the web, but as we’re down to our last 10 minutes, we want to make sure that we leave time here for also from you to hear about what are your future activities. What do you want DICAD to do in the future? But also, I want to mention is that all these suggestions that you have about how to improve the IGF, we will put in in our guide to future ones. And that we will work also with new other people. We work closely with Celine Ball, who’s the new IGF, part of the new permanent staff to the IGF Secretariat. And she’s been really helpful and instrumental in getting, helping us in getting requirements. And it was her help that actually brought in to have the IS interpreter for the main session. Because she wants to make it, but she’s new to this field, and so she doesn’t really know. So I think this is really helpful that we have someone who’s committed to doing it and working with us. So we want to hear from people what other future activities you want to do. What kind of programs you want DCANT to have. So please do let us know. And we could pass the mic around. So please, if there’s anyone in the room who wants to raise their hand, please do let us know. Or if there’s anyone online, Deirdre, you could let us know of anyone. Oh, Masahito? Yes, Masahito, please go ahead.

Masahito Kawamori:
Thank you. My name is Masahito Kawamori. I’m the Rapporteur of Accessibility at ITU, International Telecommunication Union. And also I’ve been working with disability organizations as well as persons with disabilities organizations for many years so far. I think I’ve been working with Lydia as well, and all that I get, management people. Anyway, so I would like to suggest that there are several things that we… find important for this group to work on. One of the things is that I think especially WCAG standard should be implemented and also tested or certified or something like that. So I think probably DICAD can work together with ITU to promote that kind of guideline or some kind of recommendation on how to do it. That’s one thing. And especially on the use of what we call a page reader or text reader for the visually impaired people. That’s absolutely necessary as Ms. Tabata said. It’s not something that nice to have but it’s already something must have. So we have to do it. Another thing is a very important point that has been raised by Mr. Ishii about how to integrate the telecommunication networks with the web and internet. And especially I think that’s one of the things that has been proposed in the United States by the United States government, how to accommodate, for example, identifiers with telephone numbers. And that’s, I mean, especially for telephone numbers, that’s where ITU comes in. So that will be a very good collaboration point. How to work on integrating accessibilities in the telephone network as well as the web and the internet platforms. I would suggest that these two or three things to be on the agenda of the future work program of DICAD. so that, and also a collaboration with ITU. Thank you, that’s my point.

Dr. Muhammad Shabbir:
Thank you, yes, thank you Masahito. Thanks, that’s a really good suggestion. I would address this to my closing remarks. Any other suggestions? Dr. Shabir? Dr. Shabir? Yes. Mohamed Akram had something, had another comment to make, may I read it? Oh, please go ahead, Deidre.

Muhammad Akram:
One thing that needs work is helping countries in making mandatory web and apps accessibility policies with quality and same time need to empower organization of persons with disability in this topic so that they can push and monitor implementation of such policies. And I would like to add my plus one to that comment. Thank you.

Dr. Muhammad Shabbir:
Yes, this is really a great suggestion. Any other comments from here in the hall or online? Ganella, come to. Ganella. Oh, please go ahead, Ganella.

Audience:
Thank you very much, Dr. Shabir. It’s Ganella Asprink from the Internet Society Accessibility Standing Group. And I’m delighted to be here. I have been involved with DICAD for a number of years and I’m absolutely delighted to be taking the role of mentoring the travel support fellows. It’s really wonderful to be interacting with you, Vidya and Nicodemus and Lydia. We’ve just met for the first time face-to-face after knowing each other online for a long time. So in regard to my role, in the standing group, we are working. working hard on training in disability leadership in Internet Governance and Digital Rights. And we have developed a syllabus for a training course to be developed online. And there’s also been a face-to-face workshop for South Asian participants. And I can see there could be a great link between DCAD and the Accessibility Standing Group when it comes to training and mentoring in disability leadership. So I look forward to further discussions about that. Thank you.

Dr. Muhammad Shabbir:
Thank you very much, Ganela. These are the comments that I would want to respond to in my closing remarks. Before I come back to the hall, Deidre, do we have Andrea Sachs online or any other comments?

Deirdre Williams:
I don’t think Andrea’s come back. I keep going to look for her, and she doesn’t seem to be there. No other comments. No other comments.

Dr. Muhammad Shabbir:
Okay. So any other comments from the hall before I go to my closing remarks? We do. Yes. Please introduce yourself and have your say.

Audience:
My name is Misako Nomura, and I’m from Japan. And I’m working for a person with a disability for many years, and I participated WSIS 2005. After that, I stopped, but I came back here. And I heard that someone said that the activities improve IGF in terms of accessibility, right? And then maybe the same thing happens at that time. There are still what we need to do. So do you have any strategies to improve IGF?

Judith Hellerstein:
So yes, thank you so much for your comments. Yes, we do. We are working with the team. One of the problems we’ve encountered with the, like we had, or Peter mentioned the website and the others, is that the UN hires a contractor to do it. And they tell the contractor, we want X, Y, and Z on the standards. The contractor tells them, yes, we have it, but they don’t test it. And so just like people talk about an enforcement ability, there’s no one enforcing it. And so maybe what we could do is insist on have you hired a testing firm? Who is the testing firm? Because when we had this issue, they said they have this. And what we are going to do with the future is work closely with the IGF Supporters Association, who’s been helping to funding the human captioning and others, and that they should not fund, if they’re going to fund for website improvements, they need to have a results-based program saying, okay, where’s the evidence that you’ve done this? And then, so let me then, that’s one of the things that we’ll do. That’s one of the things that we’ll do, but we could follow up afterwards. I want to give the last two minutes to my colleague, Dr. Shabir, to close out the session. Okay, sorry. But I’m really expecting. what you are doing from now on.

Dr. Muhammad Shabbir:
Yes, thank you very much. I will address to it. Thank you very much, everyone, for being with us, Deidre and Judith, for your moderation, and of course the captioning services, the sign language interpreters. Thank you very much. And most of all, my panelists and speakers, whosoever took the mic, I cannot take and name you individually, but you know who you are. Thank you very much for coming here, participating in this discussion. A couple of points that are really important, and that’s why I avoided to take individual names. One, we do need to coordinate with other organizations, and I really appreciate Ganela Aspring from Accessibility SIG of the Internet Society, Accessibility Standing Group of the Internet Society, with the proposal that we could collaborate. Of course, we do want to collaborate how and under what conditions we can discuss. Same is the case with the relay service and the suggestion that Masahito gave and Akram gave with regards to the collaboration on forcing or motivating governments to enact policies and to sort of give the organizations of persons with disabilities empowerment and build their capacity to work on accessibility-related issues. On the same wavelength, I would also want to extend this offer to .NZ and other related registries and registrars, not just in the region, but in other regions as well, that if you want to come and collaborate with the DCAD, we would definitely welcome your inputs, and we also would be glad to offer our expertise and support wherever we can. So just let us know what you actually require. Lastly, I think the strategy is very important, and I do hear when Peter and our lady friend from Japan say that we are discussing the same issues and there is no progress. That’s one way of looking at it, but I see the things a little bit positively. My lens is a little bit different. I do share the skepticism that you people have, but on the other hand, 10 years back or even 7 years back when I attended my first IGF back in 2017, we did not have the real-time text captioning for all the sessions. Only there were certain sessions for this real-time captioning was provided. Same is the case with the sign language interpretation. Same is the case with the physical accessibility of the buildings and IGF sessions. Today we see a lot of improvement on that side. So if I say that I am not totally disappointed with the system, I do share the disappointments, but I totally am not disappointed with the system. That’s why I keep working with the system to improve it. I keep raising my voice wherever I can to improve the system, and that’s where we all come in. The dynamic coalition on accessibility and disability come in. The main purpose of the DCAD is to ensure that IGF system is accessible. We also want to work with our NRIs, National and Regional Initiatives on Internet Governance. But we on that want the NRIs to come to us to work wherever they need our assistance, We worked with APR IGF this year to make it accessible, but that’s partly because most of our persons, our team was in the Asia-Pacific region, that’s why we could work with them. So while having strategy is important, having this ambition is important that we want to work with NRIs, we would also want the people with disabilities in different regions to come forward themselves. Because if we demand nothing about us without us, that is ipso facto implemented on us as well, that if we demand it, we have to come forward and work with these initiatives. Without us, of course, nothing should happen, but at the same time, we should also come forward to work with these initiatives, because if we get disappointed and leave the discussions by saying that nothing is happening, nothing is getting improved, and we left the discussions, the implement the ultimate decision, then we are leaving with the people who are not experts according to our own words and languages. So for one, I don’t want to leave anything, any decision about my accessibility of the Internet in anyone’s hand who is not expert on accessibility. That’s why I keep working, and that’s why I expect from the members of the Dynamic Coalition that they would keep supporting me. Thank you very much, everyone, for coming. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Audience

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Deirdre Williams

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Dr. Muhammad Shabbir

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Judith Hellerstein

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Lidia Best

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Masahiro Inoue

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Masahito Kawamori

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Michiko Tabata

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Muhammad Akram

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Vivien Maidaborn

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Yasunobu Ishii

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