Extremely large area with mainly small landmass
Relatively small populations
Majority are small island developing countries
22 countries or territories
Transport and infrastructure costs are high
Emigration to find employment – often to New
Zealand or Australia

Estimated 800,000 people with disability
Traditional view is to protect people with disability in home village
Slowly changing
Growth of Disabled Persons Organisations
BUT considered the most marginalised group in the community with limited education & employment

Pacific organisation of and for people with disability
Full (Disabled Persons Organisations) and associate members from most Pacific Island countries
Key advocacy and capacity-building role

Growing level of ICT usage in the Pacific
Widely varying usage in different countries
Costs
Remoteness
Awareness
Satellite services and submarine cables are increasingly bringing faster and more reliable services

Computers are expensive
Limited expertise and maintenance available
More mobile phone usage with Internet access
71% of Fijians are mobile phone subscribers
6% of Fijians have computers
• (Ref: http://www.e-pic.info/en/themes/ict/instructure)

More government services are being delivered online
Advantageous for remote islanders due to lengthy and expensive travel
• People with disability may not be able to use these services
• Need for training
• Affordability?
• Accessibility?
• No data

Can international and regional policy help to make change?
Policy drivers:
UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
ITU policies
Biwako Millennium Framework for Action & Biwako Plus
Framework for Action on ICT for Development in the Pacific
2010
Pacific Regional Strategy on Disability 2010-2015

UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Article 9
States Parties shall also take appropriate measures to provide training for key stakeholders on accessibility issues and promote access to ICT including the Internet at minimum cost.

UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Cook Islands
Fiji
Kiribati
Federated States of
Micronesia
Nauru
Palau
Papua New Guinea
Solomon Islands
Tonga
Tuvalu
Vanuatu
• (Signed and/or ratified)

UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Donor agencies eg AusAID have funded capacity-building for DPOs to develop national disability policies
Key CRPD Articles: education, employment, accessibility to the built environment
Very limited or no references to ICT in national disability policies

Key policies
ITU Accessibility Policy for Persons with Disabilities
2013
Resolution 70 (Johannesburg, 2008) -
Telecommunication/information and communication technology accessibility for persons with disabilities
Publication: The ICT opportunity for a disability-inclusive development framework 2013
Limited references

Biwako Millennium Framework for Action & Biwako Plus
General references to Biwako in policy documents
Biwako’s: “Access to information and communications, including information, communications and assistive technologies”
Limited or no reference to ICT

Framework for Action on ICT for
Development in the Pacific 2010
Includes connecting up disadvantaged groups such as people with disability
But no strategies or methods to achieve this

Relevant priorities
Strengthen political leadership and an enabling environment
Disability inclusive development
BUT no direct reference to ICT

Are policies on ICT and on disability on parallel paths?
How do we break this cycle?
Some ICT training offered by donor organisations and by APCD
Next steps need support

Internet Society workshops on
ICT accessibility
Community Grant to set up & deliver capacitybuilding workshops on Internet accessibility from policy perspective
Delivered in Papua New Guinea & Vanuatu as part of annual conference by Pacific Islands
Chapter of the Internet Society
Interest by government representatives and
NGOs at conferences on how to move forwards

Systematic approach to build accessible ICT usage for people with disability
Obtaining baseline data as foundation
Analysis and assessment of baseline data to move forwards with pilot projects in targeted countries

Major theme of ICT accessibility
Many related initiatives including work by G3ict
Commitment to ICT accessibility in AP region
Much work done in Asia but now we need to consider the Pacific region as well

No one organisation can usually fund a set of projects
The importance of partners is both in funding and involvement
This project proposal is seeking partners to collaborate in moving forwards
Pacific Disability Forum may have key involvement

Stage 1: Data collection
Stage 2: Building awareness
Stage 3: Increasing accessibility
Stage 4: Consolidation and assessment

1. Current ICT usage by people with disability in designated number of PI countries indicating issues such as availability, affordability or accessibility
2. Audit of government web sites in designated PI countries
3. Review of legislation, regulation & policy in terms of
ICT accessibility
4. Analysis of data to determine priorities for Stage 2

Development of Pacific-appropriate disability awareness toolkit and training for government and the community
Development of Pacific-appropriate toolkit and training for policy-makers on incorporating accessibility into legislation, regulation and policy
Inclusion of Pacific accessibility information in relevant web portal

Training and mentoring of people with disability in the use of the Internet in community centres
Training in web accessibility for government web designers
Study with regulatory bodies whether Universal Access
Funds could be source of affordable and accessible ICT for people with disability
Many other activities needed eg disaster risk management
BUT need to prioritise

Stage 4: Consolidation and assessment
Evaluation of project activities
Surveys of people with disability in usage
Web accessibility audits
Review of legislation, regulation & policy
Report with recommendations on achievement and gaps

Many challenges!
But ICT should give Pacific Islanders with disability more opportunities to take an active part in their community
Looking forward to being part of this exciting voyage!

Gunela Astbrink
GSA InfoComm g.astbrink@gsa.com.au