International Telecommunication Union Committed to connecting the world ITU Workshop on ICT Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities, Odessa, Ukraine,

InternationalTelecommunicationUnion

Committed to connecting the worldITU Workshop on ICT Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities, Odessa, Ukraine, 1 - 2 November 2010

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Workshop on ICT Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities,

Odessa, Ukraine, 1 - 2 November 2010

Dr. Alexandra GaspariITU-T Accessibility Coordinator

ITU, Telecommunication Standardization Bureau

Accessibility to ICTs and Standards: the ITU-T work and

new trends

Committed to connecting the world

ITU Workshop on ICT Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities, Odessa, Ukraine, 1 - 2 November 2010

The market for more accessible devices is much

bigger than you think United Nations statistics: 10% of world

population has disabilities

However, we all (100%) can benefit from more accessible devices

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ITU Workshop on ICT Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities, Odessa, Ukraine, 1 - 2 November 2010 3

Regulatory Accessibility Landmarks

US Disabilities Act of 1990

UK disability Discrimination Act of 1995

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (PWD)

adopted by the UN General Assembly 13 Dec 2006

came into force 3 May 2008

signed by 144 countries and ratified by 89 (as of July 2010)

Article 9 refers to accessibility and ICTs



What is Universal Design

Article 9: Accessible ICT includes

9(2)(h) “to promote the design, development, production and distribution of accessible ICTs and systems at an early stage, so that these technologies and systems become accessible at minimum cost.”

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Who does the technical work The technical work on accessibility is covered within

various technical committees There are two relevant questions that have Accessibility

and Human Factors responsibilities. Q.4/2: "Human factors related issues for

improvement of the quality of life through international telecommunications.“

Q.26/16: “Accessibility to Multimedia Systems and Services for persons with disabilities”: it is responsible for developing (or assisting in the development of) multimedia technical standards addressing accessibility needs of persons with disabilities

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There are two specific Study Groups that have specific Accessibility and Human Factors responsibilities.

The first one is: ITU-T Study Group 2 (Operational aspects of service provision and telecommunications management), parent study group of the JCA-AHF. Study Group 2 has a specific Human Factors group, namely Question 4/2, Human factors related issues for improvement of the quality of life through international telecommunications.

Question 4/2 covers more than just the needs of persons with disabilities: usability for all covers the needs of children, the elderly and persons who may or may not have a disability.

ITU-T Study Groups & Questions

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Question 26/16 is the group specifically designated to deal with Accessibility to Multimedia Systems and Services for persons with disabilities.

Q26/16 is responsible for developing (or assisting in the development of) multimedia technical standards addressing accessibility needs of persons with disabilities.

It also reviews accessibility features included in telecom standards developed in other Study groups.

More information on the study group: http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/studygroups/com16/index.asp/

ITU-T Study Group 16 (Multimedia coding, systems and applications)

lead study group on telecommunication/ICT accessibility for persons with disabilities

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Approved new recommendation (V.254) on control of assistive devices using mobile phones: “Asynchronous serial command interface for assistive and multi-functional communication devices”:

This new Recommendation adds to the catalogue of V.250 commands by defining commands for the control of multi-functional communication devices by an assistive controlling device over a standard serial interface.

Identification of best practices for conducting accessible electronic meetings

Q.26/16 continues discussion on standardizing relay services

ITU-T Study Group 16 latest achievements and items in progress

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Objectives: to assist ITU-T Study Groups on how to provide accessibility

for persons with disabilities in standards

helping to increase awareness on accessibility and human factors

The JCA-AHF invites recognized organizations and individuals with experience in accessibility and human factors to share best practices and join the work

How to participate: http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/jca/ahf/index.html

ITU-T and the Joint Coordination Activity on Accessibility and Human

Factors (JCA-AHF)

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Dynamic Coalition on Accessibility and Disability

The Internet Governance Forum’s Dynamic Coalition on Accessibility and Disability ensures that ICT accessibility is included in the key debates around Internet Governance.

The goal is to build a future where all sectors of the global community have equal access to the Information Society.

ITU-T sponsors the IGF DCAD with: website support. a secretariat a DCAD coordinator Captioned conference calls Organizes the workshops on Accessibility for IGF

with the expertise of DCAD members

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ITU-T’s Accessibility Landmarks

First international standards body to address accessibility issues - in 1991

1994 the international text telephone standard, Recommendation ITU-T V.18, was published A major landmark tying together text telephone protocols

allowing different - previously incompatible – text phones in different countries to communicate

World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly 2008 (WTSA-08): first ITU Resolution addressing accessibility

World Telecommunication Development Conference 2010 (WTDC-10): Resolution

14 October 2010: World Standards Day: “Standards make the world accessible for all”

Plenipotentiary Conference 2010: First PP-Resolution on accessibility



Some ITU-T Standards on Accessibility

ITU-T V.18 for text telephony ITU-T T.140 as the general presentation protocol for text

conversation, ITU-T T.134 for text conversation in the ITU-T T.120 data

conferencing environment, Annex G to ITU-T H.323 for text conversation in ITU-T H.323

packet multimedia environment. Annex L to ITU-T H.324 for text conversation in low bit-rate

multimedia applications ITU-T F.703 – Multimedia conversation service description.

Includes definitions of the accessible conversational services H-series Supplement 1 – Application profile – Sign language and

lip reading real time conversation using low bit rate video communication

ITU-T F.790 – Telecommunications accessibility guidelines forolder persons and persons with disabilities

ITU-T Y.1901, Requirements for the support of IPTV services Technical Paper: Telecommunications Accessibility Checklist



The latest ITU Accessibility Landmarks (October 2010)

First ITU Pleni-Potentiary Conference October 2010 where a Resolution on accessibility is approved:

“Telecommunication/information and communication technology accessibility for persons with disabilities, including age-related disabilities”



ITU-T V.18: How deaf people phone

Text Telephone: converts typed characters into

tones "relay" services: an operator

reads what the deaf person types and types what a hearing person says



• ITU-T E.161 (in 2001):

• “Bump” on key “5”

• “To assist blind and visually impaired people … and otherwise to facilitate dialing under low light conditions”

ITU: The Tactile Identifier

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• ITU-T Supplement 1 to H-series (in 1999):

• Application profile - sign language and lip-reading real-time conversation using low bit-rate video communication

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jepoirrier/512432171/

Sign language and lip-reading via video

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Users with Total Conversation or Real-time text

Devices

Emergency services 112,

911,...

Text, Sign & Caption

Relay Services

ITU-T F.703 ”Total Conversation”

Puts user in the center of the communication society Is an audiovisual conversation service providing real-time

transfer of video, text and voice between users

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Example: A deaf-blind woman in a Total Conversation call, producing sign-language and receiving text.

How a deaf-blind person uses multimedia communication

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Video Relay services

3-party

Video relay servicetranslating

sign language<>voice

Signing user Talking voice

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What is Captioning

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• Captioning: real-time on-screen transcript of dialogue

• Useful for hearing impaired, but also e.g. for non-native speakers

• Captioning service can be provided remotely or on-site



ITU-T Y.1901: Making IPTV accessible

Audio descriptionSubtitlesCaptionsSupplementary video Spoken subtitles Subtitles to recording Audio feedback of

remote control

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Main stream devices need to be made accessible

Assistive Technologyis more than just focusing on extremesuses universal design: products are

inherently accessible to the able-bodied and to the person with disabilities

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Assistive Technology uses cutting-edge technologies

optical character recognition eye gaze control haptic (= related to sense of touch)

feedback

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• yes, touch screen can also work for blind people

• Ingenious idea: use relative, not absolute positioning

• Not your finger finds the keyboard but the keyboard finds your finger

• Watch the experience at:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xS-ju61vOQw

Innovative User Interfaces: Google’s EyesFree application

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Controlling a device by mere thought

Some Universities Germany, Switzerland) have conducted experiences and research to make this happen:

EEG (electro-encephalograph) mea-sures brainwaves

Move e.g. objects around a computer screen



Assistive Technology on Keys

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• Persons with Disabilities Can Carry their Assistive Technology Software and User Preferences on USB Flash Drives/Keys

• Provides Access to Devices that Do Not Have Assistive Technologies

•Next Step will be for Assistive Computer Technology to be in the Cloud and Readily Available to All ICT Devices (Auto-Personalization)



ITU Accessibility Events in 2010 Joint WIPO-ITU Accessibility Workshop

Geneva, Switzerland, 2 - 5 February 2010

ITU workshop on Accessibility to ICTsExpo-10, Shanghai, China, 23 July 2010

DCAD workshop on “From Athens to Vilnius: beyond the UN Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities” IGF, Vilnius, Lithuania, 14 – 17 September 2010

DCAD - EBU workshop on “Can mobile ‘Apps’ create a new golden age of Accessibility?”, IGF, Vilnius, Lithuania, 14 – 17 September 2010

World Standard Cooperation (ITU, ISO, IEC) Workshop on Accessibility and the contribution of international standards, Geneva, Switzerland, 3 – 5 November 2010

Joint ITU-EBU Workshop “Media access to all”, Geneva, Switzerland, 23 – 24 November 2010

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Bringing Accessibility into the standards work requires efforts from ITU and its Membership

Standards are not enough because without Implementation, we do not have Accessibility

Without Universal Design being used from the very beginning of the standard making process, Accessibility implementation becomes expensive with retro refitting

ITU-T is opening and look forward to new opportunities for academia, research bodies and persons with disabilities to participate to the accessibility standard work.

Conclusions



Thanks for your attention

More information:http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/accessibilityhttp://www.itu.int/ITU-T/jca/ahf/index.htmlhttp://www.itu.int/themes/accessibility/dc/index.html

Email: [email protected]: +41 22 730 5158

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Documents

International Telecommunication Union Committed to connecting the world ITU Workshop on ICT Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities, Odessa, Ukraine,