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Interregional
Seminar and Regional Demonstration Workshop on Accessible Information and Communications
Technologies (ICT) and Persons with Disabilities |
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Interregional
Seminar and Regional Demonstration Workshop on Accessible Information and Communications
Technologies (ICT) and Persons with Disabilities |
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Daily Summaries: Day 1, March 3 Day 2, March 4 Day 3, March 5 Day 4, March 6 Day 5, March 7 |
The following reports were compiled by the National Organizing Committee.
The opening ceremony started by playing the Philippine National Anthem.
The master of ceremony, Director Ma. Alicia S. Bonoan, Programs & Projects Bureau, DSWD provided a brief overview of the seminar and workshop. She noted that the seminar would consider international policy and programme frameworks related to Information and Communication Technology (ICT), including the Internet, issues and trends in Internet-enabled services, and the role of ICT in equalization of opportunities and development. The seminar and workshop will direct special attention to identifying actions to promote and realize accessibility with reasonable levels of accommodation for all.
Dir. Bonoan introduced the Delegates, Observers, Resource Persons, Guests and members of the National Organizing Committee.
Welcoming Remarks were delivered by Mr. Terence D. Jones, UNDP Resident Representative, whose message focused on the themes of peace, poverty reduction and action on preventable disabilities.
The Hon. Corazon Juliano-Soliman, Secretary, Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) delivered the Keynote Speech. Her remarks directed special attention to the question of accessible ICT and persons with disabilities (PWDs) in developing countries, including the Philippines, and the critical role of infrastructure to provide access and accessibility. Education and training are essential if countries are to make the most effective and appropriate use of the emerging information and communication technologies and participate in the new electronic age, which holds such great promises for a bright tomorrow. In conclusion, she noted that seminar and workshop were being held during the "National Week of Peace and Dialogue" and read the "Harmony Prayer," which had been issued by the Office of the Presidential Adviser for Peace.
After the break, Mr. Andy Ooms the assigned Officer of the Day, outlined the procedure of the seminar and introduced the first resource person for the day.
Mr. Leo Valdes, seminar and workshop coordinator, explained that the program design, which focused on five major themes and will be considered over the next days:
Mr. Mateo Lee, Deputy Executive Director III of the National Council for the Welfare of Disabled Person (NCWDP), an attached agency of DSWD presented his paper, "Disability Issues in Information Communication and Technology Development in the Philippines." The following were the major issues raised in his presentation:
Atty. Richard Arsenio, Commissioner on PWD Sector - National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) provided the group with a brief introduction to the first session of the UN Ad Hoc Committee to consider a new international convention on the rights of persons with disabilities, which he attended last August 2002 as a member of the Philippines delegation. He noted the in addition to deliberations about fast-tracking action related to promotion and protection of rights of persons with disabilities, delegations raised issues related to:
Mr. Clinton Rapley, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs representative provided further background on the convention process and the recommendation of the first session of the Ad Hoc Committee on "accessibility with measurable accommodation." He also observed that action on accessible ICT and the digital divide should be appropriate to countries and respond as well to a human divide, in terms of literacy, levels of living and gender.
Ms. Cynthia Waddell, JD, resource person on accessible ICT, provided an overview of action in the United States to empower persons with disabilities through accessible ICT. She described the role of action to promote Web accessibility standards included in "Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998." Special reference was made to activities of the "Federal Accessibility Forum" in promoting accessible ICT and she identified several challenges, which lie ahead.
Ms. Maria Cristina Sara-Serrano, resource person on norms and standards, delivered by a multi-media presentation, an introduction to the United Nations Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities. Ms. Sara-Serrano assisted by Dr. John Mathiason, focused on the role of international instruments in promoting accessible ICT, Rule 5 (Accessibility) of the Standard Rules in particular. She also discussed Rule 6 (Education) and Rule 7 (Employment) and their critical relationship to promoting accessible ICT for all. In this connection note was made of the recommendation of the Ad Hoc Committee on accessibility with reasonable accommodation.
A Group Work cum Plenary considered country experiences regarding Internet usage and accessibility. Participants from Bangladesh, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Pakistan, Philippines and Thailand made observations and comments. Issues and concerns raised were clarified by the resource persons.
Recapitulation of the activities done on the 1st day was presented by Mr. Patricio Baet, from the Philippines.
Mr. Khaddim Husain Shah from Pakistan was assigned as moderator of the day and welcomed the participants. He introduced the group of panelists composed of Mr. Leo Valdes, Mr. John Mathiason and Maria Cristina Sara-Serrano.
The panel presented the norms and standards related to ICT access and accessibility considering reasonable accommodation.
Mr. Charles Kuhlman, resource person on the Four Forces of the Communications Revolution was delivered through a multi-media presentation. It focused on the paradigm shifts such as digital revolution, new transmission modes, models of computation and, circuit and packet switching.
In the afternoon session, Mr. Andy Ooms introduced the facilitator, Director Nieva Neri of the Philippine National Computer Center during the group work on ICT - status, options, and decision making for development.
Participants from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar and Philippines raised their expectations on internet accessibility of PWDs. The common expectations noted were along low cost of accessing internet, establishment of resource center, development of website for PWDs, standardization of sign language, training, employment, and literacy.
Steps to consider in order to achieve the expectations were also discussed as follows:
| Issues and Concerns | Recommendations / Solutions |
| 1. Limited access to internet in many developing countries | Not necessarily that only those with computers and telephone lines can use the internet, there are commercial solutions available: web-tv, business establishment, government offices, library and internet café's which are common in many countries. |
| 2. Access to communication | Access to communication is not a problem in the Philippines, with
widespread availability of cellphones : preferred by most Filipinos including the
low-income earners because of affordable text messaging services. In the US, cellphones are also being used but the text messaging service is not preferred because voice messaging is easier and is relatively cheap. |
3.Access is more expensive because of infrastructure
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The infrastructure must be established first in order to solve the issue of accessibility |
| 4. Access of PWDs to ICT | There are new devices crafted especially for PWDs like the features on cellphones that are designed for PWDs |
| 5. Issue of affordability must also be considered in addition to the availability and accessibility | If the accessibility is established in the beginning then the cost will not be higher |
| 6. How do you choose different technologies considering economic benefits and accessibility? | This is dependent on proper social cost benefit analysis |
| 7. Alternative technologies that are flexible for certain disabilities | There are available devices and services that are flexible for certain disabilities, such as accessible media/, accessible heaters, descriptive video for visually impaired, close caption for hearing impaired and others |
| 8. Conversion of video clippings (VHS) into digital (VCD's/DVD's) and vice versa | There is available software in converting VHS format into digital format (e.g. Firewire)· |
| 9. Ways to address challenges with the new technology (too much information) | There are available solutions in order to address these such as: assistive technologies, web and email accessibility |
Mr. John Javier, an observer from the Philippines demonstrated to the group the use of JAWS software: an application that gives instruction for the visually impaired person on how to use the computer.
Another device for visually impaired was demonstrated by Mr. James Lee, observer from South Korea called EVE (Etrek's Vocal Eyes) for Windows. It featured the following:
Ms. Roselle Ambubuyog, who is visually impaired, demonstrated the use of a device that helped in her educational achievements. She explained the features of the Notetaker that produces Braille notes.
Mr. Andres Rhudy B. Ravelo, Jr., as Officer of the Day, welcomed the participants for the 3rd day of this seminar/workshop. Delegate from the Philippines, Mr. Carlito Palermo read the recapitulation of the previous day's activities.
Mr. Leo Valdes, resource person, started the day by presenting the outline of the discussion on the theme Technologies -- a Lecture Conference on Information Delivery: Web services and reasonable accommodation.
The first topic is the discussion of the Design Considerations for Delivering Online Information. It focused on the considerations in developing an accessible webpage such as: primary content (timely, reliable, and appropriate); aesthetics; accessibility; usability; and sustainability.
On Accessible Information and Communication Technology (ICT) topics discussed were: accessibility, email accessibility, assistive technology, web accessibility and making webpage accessible. Standards on accessibility given were World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) which is being set by non-government organizations and Section 508 pushed by the US Federal government. Planning a website was also discussed and the following were the relevant informations mentioned:
Mr. Clinton Rapley and Ms. Cynthia Waddell provided clarifications and additional inputs relative to the discussion.
In the afternoon, workshop was conducted and the participants were divided into four groups. Each group were given a set of questions to work on as guide in planning a website. The groups produced extensive plans which defined target audiences and key messages.
Mr. Leo Valdes guided the group in making their first web pages. The basics of HTML were demonstrated and the participants had their hands-on exercises. In this workshop, participants learned how to create useful text links and how to provide descriptions to images.
| SAMPLE OF ACCESSIBLE HTML PROGRAM: (LINKING TWO PAGES USING TEXT OR A GRAPHIC) |
| HELLO.HTM (FIRST FILE) <HTML> |
| SECOND.HTM (SECOND FILE) <HTML> |
Mr. Dandy Victa, from the Philippines - National Council of the Disabled Person as Officer of the Day, welcomed the participants. A delegate from Thailand, Mr. Chakkrit Metchanun read the recapitulation of the previous day. Mr. Leo Valdes outlined the day's activity before introducing the guest speaker of the day.
Ms. Venus Ilagan, the first woman chairperson of DPI gave a brief background on the proposed International convention to promote and protect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities. Her focus as chairperson of DPI is to come up with a Global Information Network (GIN) for PWDs. She sought the support of the participating 125 countries based in five regions worldwide to take part in the promotion of the convention for the rights of the PWDs. She also announced the activities relative to the proposed International convention, which include the upcoming regional meeting in Beijing, China on April 8-11, 2003.
Mr. Mateo Lee expressed that, from the point of view of the people with disabilities, the draft convention is not enough because it does not represent the concerns of all PWDs in consideration of the type of disability. Ms. Ilagan said that they will sit down with the government delegation to formulate common approaches before going to New York for the convention. She reiterated the importance of this convention to raise awareness in promotion and protection of the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities.
Mr. Leo Valdes gave instructions for the Workshop - Formulate Strategic Frameworks on Building Capacities for Accessible ICT for All. The participants are expected to come up with a strategic paper containing their plan of action. Mr. Valdes also presented a number of draft papers as guides. The output of the group shall be submitted at the end of the day.
Mr. Andy Ooms, welcomed the participants and set the tone for the last day of the seminar/workshop. The delegate from Bangladesh, Secretary Abdul Jabbar read the previous day's recapitulation.
As an output of yesterday's workshop, each group presented their strategic paper containing the Strategic Frameworks on Building Capacities for Accessible ICT for All.
After the break, Mr. Richard Arceño expressed his insights of this workshop and introduced Ms. Cynthia Waddell. Ms. Waddell presented the two (2) outcome documents -- Manila Declaration on Accessible Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) and Manila Accessible ICT Design Recommendations for comments of the group.
Delegates from Bangladesh, Pakistan and the Philippines gave their comments on the content of the documents presented, some of which are being clarified by the resource persons/experts. The comments will be noted, reviewed and incorporated in the final outcome document which will be presented in the Second UN Ad Hoc Committee Meeting.
Mr. Clinton Rapley summarized the proceedings of this seminar/workshop and presented the plan of action.
Mr. Leo Valdes provided a brief summary of what was learned in the past four days. He noted the high level of involvement of all participants, and commendable support provided by the organizing committee.
Secretary Abdul Jabbar of Bangladesh and Ms. Sivila Chanhpheng of Lao PDR shared their reflections relative to the workshop/seminar
Undersecretary Lourdes G. Balanon and Mr. Clinton Rapley distributed the Certificates of Participation to the delegates.
The Closing Remarks was delivered by Undersecretary Lourdes G. Balanon. She emphasized the importance of the Manila Declaration which will be the policy paper/advocacy document to advocate accessible ICT for all with special attention to persons with disabilities. These documents shall be forwarded to the Philippine Mission in New York as input to the second Ad Hoc Committee Meeting for the consideration for a comprehensive and integral convention to promote and protect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities.
