The workshop will highlight the necessity to make the Internet accessible to all, regardless of individual capabilities of different users. This impacts not only the need to eliminate information deprivation but also to eliminate social economic discrimination. Access to the Internet is important for all people of all nations so that they can benefit from e-commerce, e-health, e-education and in general e-communications. Including the needs of persons with disabilities in the planning of the Universalization of the Internet will facilitate reaching the next billion and will increase the participation in the Global Internet Society.

The ITU is one of the founder Members of the IGF Dynamic Coalition on Accessibility and Disability (DCAD). The aim of the DCAD is to facilitate interaction between relevant bodies, and ensure that ICT accessibility is included in the key debates around Internet Governance in order to build a future where all sectors of the global community have equal access to the Information Society. We are convinced that the entire community can benefit from an “accessible ICT world”, as people can be permanently or temporarily disabled due to personal, environmental (e.g. a phone call in a noisy environment) or cultural (e.g. spoken language diversity) conditions. Moreover, we will all grow old and lose abilities that we take for granted now, thus enlarging the part of the population that would benefit from accessible communication. We cannot allow isolation of a part of the population due to lack of appropriate functionality that prevents the use of ICT resources by everybody to the fullest possible degree. The ITU, in collaboration with a Steering Committee formed by various stakeholders that are also partners of the DCAD, has organized this workshop.

Andrea Saks (ITU)
Stefano Polidori (ITU-T/TSB)
Asenath Mpatwa (ITU-D/BDT)
Alessandra Pileri (ITU-D/BDT)
Marco Obiso (ITU-D/BDT)
Peter Major (ITU-R/BR)
Bill Jolley (ACMA) Angela Garabagiu (Council of Europe)
Hiroshi Kawamura (DAISY Consortium)
Axel Leblois (G3ict)
Cynthia Waddell (ICDRI)
Jorge Plano (ISOC-AR)
Misako Ito (UNESCO)
Shadi Abou-Zahra (W3C – WAI Initiative)
Clara Luz Alvarez (Rapporteur Q20, ITU-D-SG1)
Fernando Botelho (Mais Diferenças and Literacy Bridge)
Arnoud van Wijk (ISOC)

Moderator: “Opening address” Andrea Saks (ITU)
[ BIOGRAPHY | PRESENTATION ]

Keynote: "Accessibility a priority for ITU" Malcolm Johnson, Director, ITU Telecommunication Standardization Bureau
[ BIOGRAPHY | SPEECH ]


Speakers:

1. “The UN Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD): How does it Impact the Internet?” Cynthia Waddell (ICDRI)
   [ BIOGRAPHY | ABSTRACT | PRESENTATION ]
2. “International standards for Web accessibility” Shadi Abou-Zahra (W3C Web Accessibility Initiative)
   [ BIOGRAPHY | ABSTRACT | PRESENTATION ]
3. “Achieving Web accessibility laws in developing countries” Jorge Plano (ISOC-AR)
   [ ABSTRACT | PRESENTATION ]
4. “Low and No-Cost Assistive Technologies: Making Large Scale Deployments Feasible” Fernando Botelho (Mais Diferenças and Literacy Bridge)
   [ BIOGRAPHY | ABSTRACT | PRESENTATION ]
5. “Real-time Text: An Essential Accessibility Feature” Arnoud van Wijk (ISOC)
   [ BIOGRAPHY | ABSTRACT | PRESENTATION ]
6. “Space Network Systems Online and Accessibility” Peter Major (ITU-R)
   [ BIOGRAPHY | ABSTRACT | PRESENTATION ]
7. “Information accessibility for disaster preparedness” Dipendra Manocha (Daisy Consortium)
   [ BIOGRAPHY | ABSTRACT | PRESENTATION ]