[gui-talk] Fwd: E-Access Bulletin, January 2011: Canadian government appeals accessibility ruling; Wayfinding systems 'not yet cost-effective'.

[Steve Pattison]

From:    Dan Jellinek dan at headstar.com
To:      eaccess at headstar.com

+++E-ACCESS BULLETIN
Access To Technology For All, Regardless Of Ability
- ISSUE 133, January 2011.

A Headstar Publication.
http://www.headstar.com/eab/ .


Please forward this free bulletin to others, so they can
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++Issue 133 Contents.

01: Canadian Government Appeals Landmark Accessibility
Ruling
- Move ‘Sad and disappointing’, says blind consultant.

02: ‘Wayfinding’ Systems Not Yet Cost-Effective, Report
Finds.
- And implementation is politically based, says expert

03: European Accessibility Act To Be Unveiled in 2012
- ICT barriers to feature in research supporting new law.

News In Brief: 04: Verbal Victor – ‘app’ helps children unable
to speak; 05: World Support - UN endorses British web
standards video; 06: Union Web - European champions of
blind people’s rights.

Section Two: Inbox.
07: Sound Advice – audio file conversion query; 08: Publicity
Failure – free screen-readers lack exposure.

Section Three: Opinion
- The future of accessibility.
+09: +New Year, New Dreams
Accessibility consultant Donna Jodhan, who is currently
locked in an ongoing legal battle with the Canadian
Government about the inaccessibility of its websites, offers her
views and predictions on the future of accessible technology.
In an exclusive piece for E-Access Bulletin, she asks how
social networking and the ever-increasing range of mobile
‘apps’ can help to provide a more accessible world for people
with disabilities.

[Contents ends].


++Section One: News.

+01: Canadian Government Appeals Landmark Accessibility
Ruling.

The Canadian Federal Government is appealing against the
recent court ruling which branded its websites not fully
accessible to disabled citizens and ordered it to remedy the
problem.

As previously reported in E-Access Bulletin ( see issue 132:
http://www.headstar.com/eablive/?p=511 ), Donna Jodhan, a
blind accessibility consultant, successfully sued the
government over the inaccessibility of its websites after she
was unable to apply for a government job online or access
certain other information.

In December, a judge ruled in favour of Jodhan, finding the
Canadian Government had infringed the Canadian Charter of
Rights and Freedoms by failing to make its websites fully
accessible.

The government is now appealing against this ruling, claiming
that the judge exceeded his jurisdiction in finding a “system-
wide failure” of government through its websites, when it was
only Jodhan who was proved to be directly affected. The
government is also claiming the judge “erred in law” by
ordering it to ‘remedy’ the websites of 146 government
agencies, when only 106 agencies used the website guidelines
(‘Common Look and Feel Standards 1.0’) which were found to
provide inadequate accessibility.

A hearing for reconsideration filed by the Canadian
Government will take place on 8 February via a video
conference. “We are still awaiting their official documents to
see exactly what they are appealing but it appears that they are
appealing the judge’s entire decision,” Jodhan told E-Access
Bulletin.

Jodhan, who will be opposing the appeal, told E-Access
Bulletin that it was “very sad and disappointing” that the
government had chosen to take this course of action. “When
the Canadian Government decides to waste more precious
taxpayers’ funds and time fighting something that they should
have been addressing all along, what does it really say? The
longer they take to start working with us to fix this problem, the
longer it would be before we can look forward to having
accessibility become a reality” she said.

It is currently unclear whether the government will be making
any of the ordered changes to its websites before the appeal.

And you can comment on this story now, on EAB Live:
http://www.headstar.com/eablive/?p=532


+02: ‘Wayfinding’ Systems Not Yet Cost-Effective, Report
Finds.

The installation of digital ‘wayfinding’ technologies to help
blind people find their way around railways stations and other
public spaces might not be cost-effective for five years or
more, a leading expert has told E-Access Bulletin.

Dr John Gill, a consultant and former RNIB chief scientist, was
speaking following the publication of a report on the operation
and management of wayfinding systems by the Rail Safety and
Standards Board, a non-profit rail industry body (
http://bit.ly/fQIyeW ).

The independent report assessed the benefits, costs, and
practicability of a pilot installation in Scotland of one leading
wayfinding system, RNIB ‘React’, a talking sign system
whereby audio messages are triggered by users carrying a
special trigger fob when they approach.

It found that while benefits were demonstrated, there were
problems with planning, implementing and maintaining the
React system cost-effectively: current estimated costs for
implementing such a system across the entire UK rail network
are between £250 million and £500 million.

Given this size of cost, “only those systems which provide
some benefits to the wider rail-travelling community (as
opposed to only the visually-impaired) look likely to be even
worth considering”, the report says. In the meantime, the
provision of extra staff to assist people with disabilities might
be more cost-effective, as such staff would also be able to
undertake other tasks, it says.

Dr Gill, who contributed to the report on the potential benefits
of future technologies in this field such as radio frequency tags
(RFID), smartcards and satellite location systems, said in time
cheaper technologies could be developed combining
positioning systems with live train information accessed over
the web.

“With live information over the web, then you can spread the
costs, and be useful for all customers,” he said. “At the present
time the technologies which would be needed are available but
not widely implemented, but in five years’ time, the story
might be very different.”

The problems with implementing systems like React were not
just related to technology but maintenance, he said.  “You need
systems to see if it is working reliably. If there is a talking sign
on the end of a platform saying don’t walk any further, and it’s
not working, is actually creating a safety hazard. Any system
has got to work 99.9% of time, so you can rely on it.”

The decision on when to make investments in wayfinding
technologies is ultimately a political one, Dr Gill said. “It’s a
matter of who is going to pay, and who else is going to benefit.
The rate of change of technology and economics is so fast that
one hesitates to predict exactly when it will work out.”

And you can comment on this story now, on EAB Live:
http://www.headstar.com/eablive/?p=530


+03: European Accessibility Act To Be Unveiled in 2012.

A proposal for a ‘European Accessibility Act’, which will
include accessibility measures on ICT and websites, will be put
forward during 2012, European Commission Vice-President
Viviane Reding has confirmed.

The act, part of actions following on from a wider European
Disability Strategy ( http://bit.ly/fDCRlP ) unveiled last year,
will be based on an upcoming commission study of
accessibility barriers for disabled citizens across Europe. The
study will cover access to public services, public buildings and
transport, as well as other areas.

Reding unveiled the proposals at a meeting of the Disability
Intergroup, a long-standing grouping of MEPs working to
promote disability policy, in Brussels earlier this month. The
act will set out contain common standards to help regulate
accessible design in a number of areas including ICT, the built
environment and product design.

Reding said that she hopes these European standards will help
pave the way for the development of wider global accessibility
standards.

And you can comment on this story now, on EAB Live:
http://www.headstar.com/eablive/?p=526


++News in Brief:

+04: Verbal Victor: A new ‘app’ for the iPhone and iPad
allows parents and carers of children who are unable to speak
to take pictures of objects and situations and record
accompanying verbal phrases, to aid communication. These
notes then become ‘buttons’ on the screen, which children can
then select and to show people when they want to ask for
something. ‘Verbal Victor’ can be purchased through the
iTunes store for $6.99:

http://itunes.apple.com/uk/app/verbal-
victor/id411749775?mt=8
Short link: http://bit.ly/i0ceIi


+05: World Support: The United Nations has endorsed a
documentary on web accessibility by the British Standards
Institution (BSI), as part of a series of statements made in
December supporting the International Day of Persons with
Disabilities. The BSI film, ‘Overview: way to accessibility in
buildings and on the web’, explores how using standards can
help keep web accessibility levels as high as possible:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFMe2G0SL0k
Short link: http://bit.ly/gSehny


+06: Union Web: The European Blind Union (EBU) has
launched a new website, with improved accessibility. The site
features a ‘kid’s corner’ with a Braille converter – to aid
children’s understanding of the Braille alphabet – as well as
information on all activities of the EBU, one of six bodies of
the World Blind Union, helping to promote the interests of
blind and visually impaired people across 45 European
countries:

http://www.euroblind.org/
Short link: http://bit.ly/g6YPkc

[Section One ends].


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[Sponsored notice ends].


++Section Two: 'The Inbox'
- Readers' Forum.

Please email all contributions or responses to:
inbox at headstar.com .


+07: Sound Advice: David Bates, a member of the National
Federation of the Blind (NFB) UK Executive, writes to ask
advice on free or open source software to convert Word files
to audio formats.

“We send out many articles and reports every month to our
members in all formats, but the majority of these are in audio,
being first recorded by reading text into a microphone.

“To save time, we need a programme which will turn Word
documents into WAV, MP3 or DAISY files. I know we can
buy a suitable programme from Dolphin for £180, but as we
are really short of funds I wonder if there is a suitable Open
Source programme which will do the job? Any help would be
gratefully received!”

David also notes that open source software can often do a
good job in other areas of accessibility.

“I am still using JAWS for Windows 5.0, but upgrading to the
latest version will cost me about the same as buying a new
computer. I’m trying out [the screenreader] NVDA with IBM
Lotus Symphony instead of Word plus JAWS. I’m very
impressed with both of these programmes, which are free, and
feel that Freedom Scientific are losing out by forcing out
established users by not offering ‘lite’ or earlier versions of
JAWS at a lower price.”

[Responses please to inbox at headstar.com].


+08: Publicity Failure: Brian Gaff of the Kingston upon
Thames Talking Newspaper, Kingston upon Thames
Association for the Blind ( http://kingston.talking-
newspapers.co.uk ), writes in to add his support for the
growing field of free, cheap and open source access solutions.

“I think there is very little publicity for the free screenreaders
that are about,” he writes. “If those government folk put a
small bit of dosh into either or both Thunder (
http://www.screenreader.net/ ) and NVDA ( http://www.nvda-
project.org/ ), to get anything they wanted added, they could
really save a lot of money getting blind people online.

“Of the Two, I think Thunder is more hand-holding, but
NVDA is more powerful, and gives access to Thunderbird and
other Mozilla applications as well. NVDA is also open source
so others can fiddle with it should they have the inclination.”

Brian also laments a common failure to recycle old computers
which could be of real use to help people who are not yet
online. “There are lots of perfectly workable computers,
dumped every day, when for what most want, they could be
used easily. I’d also like to see some no-fuss, no-threat demos
done in blind clubs etc, around the country, with a little carrot
of, ‘oh, do you have relatives in (insert country here)...’

“In many cases, the fear of computers is all there is.”

[Further comments please to inbox at headstar.com].

[Section Two ends].


++Sponsored Notice: Adept Transcription
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Formats we produce include audio, audio description, Braille,
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Email transcription at adept-uk.org

[Sponsored Notice ends]


++Section Three: Opinion
- The future of accessibility.

+New Year, New Dreams
by Donna Jodhan.

As I sit here in my favourite chair listening to the cold
Canadian winter wind beat softly against my windows, I am
aware that snowflakes are falling gently outside, and I can hear
the crunch of boots against firmly-packed snow on the ground.
It’s time for me to start imagining and dreaming; maybe it’s the
time of year that does this to me, but boy, is it fun to do.

This evening, I am going to use the flickering lights of my
Christmas tree to help put me in the mood and I would like to
dream a bit about what it could be like for blind people if
access technology were able to communicate more effectively
with mainstream technology, as well as with websites.

There’s no harm in dreaming, and one never knows what could
be just around the corner. Access technology has made some
major leaps and bounds over the years but the time may have
come for us to start pushing harder for a more co-operative
environment – a landscape where all stakeholders could work
together to open wide the doors and help build a future where
full accessibility is a reality, not just something that’s seen as
nice to have.

It may not be beyond the realms of possibility to imagine:

1: The price of access technology being made more affordable
as more developers engage in open source software
development. There is already quite a bit of this going on, and
somehow I feel confident that this trend is only going to
become more popular as time moves on.

2: A flood of apps emerging to enable blind and sight-impaired
people to function more independently with their hand-held
devices. This trend has already started, and if we could
convince manufacturers that it is a necessity that can benefit
people other than the blind and sight-impaired, then who
knows – the sky’s the limit! More manufacturers could easily
be convinced to follow in Apple’s footsteps.

3: More web developers allowing access technology to
communicate more easily with their content, forms and
documents. A world where governments, companies and web
designers and developers would finally see the light and
embrace opportunities to create a situation where everybody
wins out.

4: Access technology hugely expanding career possibilities for
blind and sight-impaired people, by allowing them to access
information more independently and quickly and to
communicate more easily with the sighted world.

5: Social networks being made much easier to use, if we can all
work out ways to enable access technology to communicate
more effectively with social network websites, chatrooms,
skype and so on.

So 2011 is going to be a very interesting year. Governments are
going to hear more from us and companies are going to be told
that more people will be demanding greater access to their
products and services. Could 2011 be the start of an era where
we get to work more closely with the sighted world? Why not?

If I were able to wave my cane and make it all happen, then
my dearest wish would be that blind and sight-impaired kids
would be able to grow up in a world where accessibility would
be a natural part of their daily lives, and blind and sight-
impaired older people would be able to enjoy golden years of
virtual socialising.

With very best wishes for a wonderful year.
Donna J. Jodhan.

NOTE: Donna Jodhan is an accessibility consultant who is
involved in an ongoing legal battle with the Canadian
government over accessibility of its websites. For the latest see
news, this issue. Donna’s blog can be found here:
http://bit.ly/efW0Vj

And you can comment on this story now, on EAB Live:
http://www.headstar.com/eablive/?p=524

[Section Three ends].


++End Notes.

+How to Receive the Bulletin.

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Copyright 2011 Headstar Ltd http://www.headstar.com .
The Bulletin may be reproduced as long as all parts including
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+Personnel:
Editor: Dan Jellinek.
Reporter: Tristan Parker.
Editorial advisor: Kevin Carey.

ISSN 1476-6337.

[Issue 133 ends.]

Regards Steve
Email:  srp at internode.on.net
MSN Messenger:  internetuser383 at hotmail.com
Skype:  steve1963
Twitter:  steve9782