Document 13506032

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Pacific Islands region

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

People with disability in the Pacific

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 Disability Forum

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

Current status of ICT in the Pacific

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

Map of submarine cables in the Pacific

Arrival of cable in Tonga

2013

Examples of usage

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)

Governments going online

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

ITU 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

Pacific Regional Strategy on Disability 2010 - 2015

Relevant priorities

Strengthen political leadership and an enabling environment

Disability inclusive development

BUT no direct reference to ICT

Gulf between ICT and accessibility

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

Proposal for Pacific ICT accessibility projects

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

ITU has key role

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

The importance of partners

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

Project proposal elements

Stage 1: Data collection

Stage 2: Building awareness

Stage 3: Increasing accessibility

Stage 4: Consolidation and assessment

Stage 1: Data collection

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

Stage 2: Building awareness

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

Stage 3: Increasing accessibility and usage

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

Conclusion

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!

Thank you!

Gunela Astbrink

GSA InfoComm g.astbrink@gsa.com.au

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