1. Estonia: an uneven journey towards inclusive society Kaido Kikkas Tallinn University Estonian Union of People with Mobility Impairments Estonian Society for Information Technology kaido.kikkas@kakupesa.nethttp://www.kakupesa.net HYVITE symposium, Tampere 25.04.07

2. Back to the society

People with disabilities: a long way from ancient Sparta to today's integration

Segregation vs integration

Former Eastern bloc 'society of universal happiness', no sub-standard people

Gradual return to society during the nineties

NB! At first, both sides were unprepared

The road goes on

3. Splendours and miseries

Estonia: widely praised for transition success

Rapid leapfrogging upwards

Liberal economy, good standing in technology BUT

Seriously neglected social security during the first years of independence

Still evident lack of disability access, giving way to other related problems

4. The circle Kikkas 1999 Low level of education Low level of employment Low social status Limited role in society, neglect Limited access to different parts of society 5. The circle revisited Low level of education Low level of employment Low social status Limited role in society, neglect Limited access to different parts of society @ Extra means of access Distance education Telework Means of politics and PR Powerful, accessible medium Kikkas 1999 6. ICT? Sure! But how...?

The typical Eastern European post-Communism paradox: hi-tech of the West, social guarantees of the developing countries

1999 survey among Estonian people with disabilities: ~ 75% of the respondents could not afford a PC. The situation has since improved but not quite radically (and the knowledge vacuum is even worse). Typical monthly disability allowance is still a bit over100 EUR

Assistive ICT solutions are still rare and expensive the ones that need it the most are actually the least aware of the new possibilities

'Typical' software is much too expensive

7. Not that bad, actually

New PCs are still a bit expensive but the state of the art is pushed by entertainment solutions, not workhorses

Usable for E-services does not need to be new

(Commercial) software is expensive there is a good news: you do not have to pay tons of good money to be able to work with computers. Yes, you can LEGALLY use a computer withoutMS Windows - the computer used for this presentation has no commercial/proprietary software installed (no Windows since 2000)

Inexpensive hardware + free software = better access to many services via Internet => inclusion

8. New media and changing times

Some points on today's ICT:

• establishing a (web-based) newspaper can mean a couple of clicks at Blogger.com or similar place

• participation in networked distance learning is possible with just a mainstream PC

• having a network server takes a mid-level broadband connection, an old PC box and Linux

• social software applications effectively fight prejudice

Actually all these are great tools for inclusion and equalisation!

There have been first projects on refurbishing used computers for people with disabilities (along with providing necessary training)

9. Some landmarks

1992 first computer courses for PwD at TUT

1995-2001 first Estonian server especially targetted towards people with disabilities; a good community emerges

The Old Town talker (chatroom) 1995 hosted by a man with a profound impairment

1995 Rehabilitation Technology Lab at TUT

around 2000 - E- and M-services make many formerly inaccessible services usable; the broadband and WiFi breakthrough

2000-2003 the THINK FP6 project

2006 - http://liikumisvabadus.invainfo.ee

10. Examples of e-services

Online banking used by a majority of people

Declaration of taxes 50+ %were done online this year

E-voting first official use in this year's elections of Estonial Parliament

Media practically all newspapers and most radio stations are available online

All of them are also very important for people with disabilities

11. Where it still hurts

Assistive IT solutions still almost unknown there is no easy way neither to test things out nor to obtain the devices

Web standards are still largely ignored => people with disabilities are the first to get hit

The Liikumisvabadus web team is now doing the work that should have been done long ago

Too little attention on informing educators and employers on disability-related issues

Decision-makers are vulnerable to lobbyist brainwashing (like everywhere else)

12. Conclusion

E-Society has enabled many people but not so many that it has potential for

Awareness and attitudes still need some work on both sides

But the information society does have great potential for better inclusion of minorities, especially by providing tools for self-empowerment (provided that unnecessary obstacles are avoided)

The situation is splendid but not hopeless... :-)

13. Main rule: you have to be a bit crazy do everything unsuitable for people with disabilities 14. Thank you for your attention Note: the illustration above (from the THINK project)is drawn by Mr. Meelis Luks, a foot-painting Estonian artist see http://www.lux.ee) The slides will be available at SlideShare under the Creative CommonsBY-SA license(http://www.slideshare.net/UncleOwl)