Connecting people with
disabilities
ITU-D, ITU-T & ITU-R
Joint Presentation
WSIS Cluster meeting
Action line C2, C4, C6
www.itu.int/accessibility
19 May 2008
International
Telecommunication
Union
Committed to Connecting the World
Mandates on ICTs for persons with
disabilities
 WSIS Phase 1-Declaration of Principles & Plan of
Action (Geneva 2003)
 WSIS Phase 2 –Tunis Agenda &
Commitment(2005)
 Resolution 56 (WTDC-06, Doha)
 UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities (UNGA-06)
May 2008
2
Committed to Connecting the World
ITU-D Special Initiatives
Promoting ICT Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities
• An Initiative out of WTDC-06
creating awareness & skills to
mainstream disability issues.
BDT & its partners
develop tools to
assist countries:
• Equal opportunities for People
with Disabilities (PwDs).
• Guidelines for
policy makers &
regulators.
• Supporting member states
meet obligations under Article 9
of the UN Convention for Rights
of Persons with disabilities.
In addition, provides
training to policy makers,
regulators, operators and
other stakeholders working
to address ICT needs for
persons with disabilities.
May 2008
• An on-line toolkit for
capacity building, a
platform to share
experiences and best
practice.
• Supports project
implementation for
PwDs.
3
Committed to Connecting the World
Future activities
 Capacity building on policies & awareness on
ICT accessibility issues
 Cooperation Agreement-ITU and G3ict for an
on-line toolkit

training policy makers & stakeholders

Platform for best practice & electronic
repository of policies on ICT accessibility

multi-stakeholder initiative-G3ict partners
 Projects on accessible ICTs in partnership with
member states & others
May 2008
4
Connecting people with
disabilities: ITU-R
ITU-R activities addressing
UN Convention on the rights
of persons with disabilities
www.itu.int/accessibility
International
Telecommunication
Union
Committed to Connecting the World
ITU-R Bridging the Digital
Disability Divide (1/5)

Radio technologies are increasingly important for
sending and receiving data, text, voice and video.
Wireless devises are well placed to help people with
disabilities gain access to the information society.

ITU’s Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) plays
a central role in the development of wireless and
broadcasting technologies, through the production of
technical standards and reports, guidelines, contained
in internationally agreed Recommendations and
Handbooks.
May 2008
6
Committed to Connecting the World
ITU-R Bridging the Digital
Disability Divide (2/5)
Practical examples:
Digital television broadcasting

DTTB Handbook “Digital terrestrial television
broadcasting in the VHF/UHF bands“ provides
guidance to engineers on deploying digital terrestrial
television broadcasting. It covers aspects of
captioning and closed captioning to broadcasters –
techniques that are extremely useful for people with
hearing difficulties.
May 2008
7
Committed to Connecting the World
ITU-R Bridging the Digital
Disability Divide (3/5)
Beaming sound to wireless hearing aids
 Rec. ITU-R M.1076 “Wireless communication
systems for persons with impaired hearing“
notes that various ways have been used to transfer
speech signals to a listener’s hearing device.
Including infrared radiation, magnetic induction
internal to current loops, VHF radio, external
induction field of a radiating antenna.
May 2008
8
Committed to Connecting the World
ITU-R Bridging the Digital
Disability Divide (4/5)
Implanted and portable devices
Electromagnetic Fields can cause radio frequency
interference to active implanted or portable medical
devices such as portable monitors, prosthetic aids for
sight and motion. Generally speaking, such medical
devices could suffer interference from radiated EMF.
 Rec. ITU-R BS.1698 ‘Evaluating fields from
terrestrial broadcasting transmitting systems
operating in any frequency band for assessing
exposure to non-ionizing radiation’ provides a
basis for the derivation and estimation of the values
of electromagnetic radiation (EMR) from a
broadcasting station.
May 2008
9
Committed to Connecting the World
ITU-R Bridging the Digital
Disability Divide (5/5)
ITU-R Activities for 2008 and future:
ITU-R Sector is strongly engaged in accessibility
studies through Study Groups activities.
ITU-R keeps raising the attention of Administrations
and Scientific Community to include accessibility
studies within their work programmes.
For more information please visit our web site:
www.itu.int/ITU-R/go/disabilities-divide/
ITU-R accessibility e-mail contact: brpromo@itu.int
May 2008
10
Connecting people with
disabilities: ITU-T
ITU-T activities addressing
UN Convention on the rights
of persons with disabilities
www.itu.int/accessibility
International
Telecommunication
Union
Committed to Connecting the World
ITU-T accessibility tools

Question 26 of SG16 “Accessibility to Multimedia
Systems and Services“
pioneered in the 1990s with Rec. V.18 on a multi-function
text telephone

Question 3 of SG2 “Human Factors issues on
international telecommunication services”
aims at increasing usage and therefore revenues derived
from international telecommunications services by
improving ease of use and usability

Joint Coordination Activity on Accessibility and
Human Factors (JCA-AHF)
coordinates related standardization activities and act as a
single point of contact within ITU on accessibility matters
www.itu.int/itu-t/jca/ahf
May 2008
tsbjcaahf@itu.int
12
Committed to Connecting the World
Recent Standardization
Achievements
 Telecommunication Accessibility Checklist for
standards writers (11/2006)
Early use of checklist in standards process ensures
usability by users including those with disabilities
 F.790 “Telecommunications accessibility guidelines
for older persons and persons with disabilities”
(01/2007)
F.790 provides general guidelines for standardizing,
planning, developing, designing and distributing all
forms of telecommunications equipment, software and
associated services, to enhance their accessibility for
users including those with disabilities
May 2008
13
Committed to Connecting the World
Other ITU Accessibility Achievements
ITU-T Recommendations
 V.18 - harmonization of text telephony
 V.151 - text relay end-to-end connection of analogue PSTN text telephones









over IP
T.140 - the general presentation protocol for text conversation
T.134 - text conversation in the T.120 data conferencing environment
H.323 - Annex G for text conversation in H.323 packet multimedia
environment
H.248.2 - gateway procedures between Text Telephony in PSTN and realtime text in IP H Series Sup.1 - Video communication requirements for sign
language and lip reading
E.121 - Pictograms, symbols and icons to assist users of the telephone
service
F.910 - Procedures for designing and selecting symbols, pictograms and
icons
E.135 - Human factors aspects of public telecommunication terminals for
persons with disabilities
E.136 - Specification of a tactile identifier for use with telecommunication
cards
E.138 - Human factors aspects of public telephones to improve their
usability for older people
May 2008
14
Committed to Connecting the World
Accessibility in IPTV
Where accessibility needs impact
technological development








Audio description
Subtitles
Captions
Supplementary video
Spoken subtitles
Subtitles to recording
Audio feedback of remote control
Size and colour on subtitles and background
May 2008
15
Committed to Connecting the World
Contacts
ITU-T contacts
 JCA-AHF Convener: Andrea Saks
ITU / TDI Telecommunications for the Deaf inc.
Contact: asaks@waitrose.com
 JCA-AHF Secretariat: Stefano Polidori
ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T)
Contact : tsbjcaahf@itu.int
May 2008
16
Connecting people with
disabilities: DCAD
Dynamic Coalition on Accessibility and Disability
activities addressing UN Convention on the rights
of persons with disabilities
www.itu.int/themes/accessibility/DC
International
Telecommunication
Union
Committed to Connecting the World
Dynamic Coalition on
Accessibility and Disability
Aim
The Dynamic Coalition on Accessibility and
Disability, will 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.
May 2008
18
Committed to Connecting the World
Current Members
Partners: Organizations and Institutions
 ITU – International Telecommunication Union
 ACMA – Australian Communications and Media Authority
 DAISY Consortium – Digital Accessible Information System
Consortium
 G3ict – The Global Initiative for Inclusive ICTs
 ICDRI – International Center for Disability Resources on the
Internet
 ISOC-AR – Argentina Chapter of Internet Society
 NCC – Nigerian Communications Commission
 People Who
 UNESCO - United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization
Individuals
 Clara-Luz Alvarez (Rapporteur Q20, ITU-D Study Group 1)
 Frank Mulcahy (Information Officer for Disabled People's
International, Europe)
May 2008
19
Committed to Connecting the World
DCAD Work in progress
 3rd IGF Meeting
Hyderabad, India, 3-6 December 2008
 The DCAD to organize a workshop:
“Including Accessibility and Human Factors in the
Universalization of the Internet - How to reach persons
with disabilities, the 10% of the next billion“
 will highlight the necessity to make the Internet accessible to
all, regardless of individual capabilities of different users.
 Will respond to the requirements expressed in line with the
WSIS Tunis Agenda related to reducing illiteracy and
providing access and accessible content for marginalized and
vulnerable groups of society, including older persons and
persons with disabilities
May 2008
20
Committed to Connecting the World
Contacts
DCAD Contacts
 Coordinator: Andrea Saks
ITU / TDI Telecommunications for the Deaf inc.
Contact: asaks@waitrose.com
 Secretariat: Stefano Polidori
ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T)
Contact: dcadsecretariat@itu.int
May 2008
21
Committed to Connecting the World
Contacts
ITU Contacts
 ITU-D: Asenath Mpatwa
ITU Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU-D)
Contact: sis@itu.int
 ITU-T: Stefano Polidori
ITU Standardization Sector (ITU-T)
Contact : tsbjcaahf@itu.int
 ITU-R: Grace De Angelis-Petrin
ITU Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R)
Contact : brpromo@itu.int
May 2008
22