Interregional Seminar and Regional Demonstration Workshop on Accessible Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) and Persons with Disabilities
Bayview Park Hotel, Manila, Philippines, March 3-7, 2003

Disability Issues on Information, Communication and Technology Development in the Philippines

Mateo A. Lee, Jr.,
Deputy Executive Director III
National Council for the Welfare of Disabled Persons (NCWDP)

INTRODUCTION

This paper will discussed the critical issues of the Biwako Millennium Framework as my basis of discussion with regards to Information, Communication Technology (ICT) development in the Philippines. I would like to state as a premise that some of the targets set in the ICT priority area of the Millennium framework may be very difficult to achieve in so far as the Philippine economic condition is concerned. The focus of my discussion will be limited to experiences which the sector of Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) is currently facing in the light of ICT program of our Government.

Background and discussion of national policies relating to ICT, development and persons with disabilities

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in her State of the Nation Address in 2001 before the Philippine Legislature, underscored the importance of Information and Communications Technology in the development of the Philippine economy. She stressed that the country will promote fast-growing industries where high-value jobs are most plentiful. In support of her pronouncement, the President issued Executive Order No. 18 amending Executive Order No. 264 of former President Joseph Estrada by transferring the chairmanship of the Information Technology and Electronic Commerce Council (ITECC) directly under the Office of the President of the Republic of the Philippines. The ITECC is composed of 15 members consisting of eight (8) national government agencies and 7 members from the private sector representing the business groups. The eight (8) government agencies are: the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC), Department of Budget and Management (DBM), National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of Education (DepEd), Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) and National Computer Center (NCC). The ITECC is co-chaired by the Secretary of Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Executive Secretary of the President. ITECC is the highest policy-making body of the Philippines. It hopes to lead the Philippines's ICT industry through the next millennium and beyond by providing a clearly defined direction through strong and capable leadership. ITECC will use all necessary and available resources of both the public and private sectors, utilizing the skills and talents of the Filipino people to their utmost capabilities to achieve its vision of an electronically enabled Philippines, capable of participating in and contributing to the global new economy. The transfer of the ITECC to the Office of the President will make the ICT industry to have a champion, someone who is in a position to effect real changes in the industry and the country by putting ICT in the forefront of government priorities and national consciousness like it never has been before. However, up to this date, the ITECC has not yet formulated a policy nor has adopted the guidelines that will spell out the greater participation of Filipino with disabilities in the ICT development of the country. It is the task of our agency, the National Council for the Welfare of Disabled Persons (NCWDP) together with the sector of PWDs to lobby before the ITECC for the above policy or guidelines which we intend to do within the next months.

Current ICT infrastructure in the Philippines

In terms of connectivity, accommodation of user's needs and services and structures to produce and deliver information goods and services, our current state of development for ICT has not yet responded to the demands of persons with disabilities. However, in some isolated cases, we have Filipinos with disabilities who are benefiting in the ICT development, we have deaf people who are employed as Encoders; orthopedically disabled people as message handling specialists, researchers through the use of the Internet; and lay-out artist and graphics designers through the aid of a personal computers. We have also Visually Impaired Persons (VIPs) conducting computer training in partnership with one of the well-known computer school through the aid of a screen reader. Nevertheless, these benefits are limited only to a very few number of PWDs who are mostly situated in the urban areas while the majority are still deprived access to ICT. The reason for not being able to participate in the ICT development of PWDs is the fact that the current infrastructure of ICT both hardware and software are not conscious of the needs of the disability group. For example, most of our Website has graphics which VIPs find it difficult to understand. Our Internet facilities are not conscious in providing sound enabled options or facilities to convert the text into audio for the benefit of the VIPs. Some computer tables are designed in such a way that wheelchair users cannot comfortably reach the keyboard. Some Web designers are using small text fonts that person of low vision cannot read it and some are with colors that are not visually friendly. In general, Philippine ICT is still discriminatory and this will continue to be so in the absence of a policy/guideline strong enough to require the IT industry to be conscious to the needs of the disabled sector.

Major ICT issues of concerns to policy makers, programme managers as well as civil society, academic community, private sector; views of organizations of disabled persons

The BIWAKO Millennium Framework for Action Towards an Inclusive, Barrier-Free and Rights-Based Society for Persons with Disabilities in Asia and the Pacific has mentioned the following critical issues in the development of ICT as regard to persons with disabilities (PWDs):

1. The benefits of ICT development have spread unevenly between the rich and the poor countries in the Asia-Pacific region. The benefits are still largely limited to PWDs in most developing countries. Majority of disabled persons in the developing countries or countries with economies in transition are poor and are still deprived of the benefits of ICT.

For example, Japan has more number of PWDs using computer technology in terms of employment, education, rehabilitation compared to a country like the Philippines. This means more Japanese PWDs are empowered while Filipinos with disabilities are still struggling for ICT benefits despite the richness of their human resource and demonstrated talents and capabilities. What is lacking is the opportunity for Filipinos with Disabilities to have access to accessible ICT. If we can only fight the problem of inadequate economic resources and high cost of technology then ICT development will be a good prospect for empowering them.

2. Disability is one of the causes of the digital divide, along with income, age and gender. The Tokyo declaration in November 2000 declares that PWDs in the Asian and Pacific Region should have access to the Internet by year 2005.

In the Philippines, this target will be very difficult to achieve particularly PWDs in the rural areas. The reasons are 1) Computers both hard and software are not affordable 2) Internet infrastructures, communication cables, telephone systems are not readily available in the rural areas 3) Most PWDs have no income so even if the Philippine Government has a pronouncement through the Arroyo Administration putting emphasis on ICT development as the key towards economic growth, the target of the Tokyo declaration might be achieved beyond 2005.

Disability as one of the causes of the digital divide along with income, age and gender is very much apparent in our country. Statistics shows that the number of children with disabilities enrolled in our present school system is only 2% of the estimated 2M children with disabilities. This very low percentage rate is caused by social factors namely:

1. Most of children with disabilities are poor and living in the rural areas
2. Our special education system is limited in the number of trained teachers, materials and facilities. These problems had caused marginalization of children with disabilities that the issue of digital divide becomes unimportant for them. Even among disability groups, only orthopedically disabled and the hearing impaired persons would have access to ICT while Visually Impaired Persons (VIPs), do not enjoy fully the benefits of ICT. For example, the text messaging are difficult for VIPs because cellphones don't have screen reader to convert the text messages into speech. Although some of VIPs manage to send the text message however they cannot read the message they receive. Bank transactions, although with the use of the ATM is beneficial to orthopedically and Hearing Impaired but not to the Visually Impaired Persons because ATM in the Philippines have no speech synthesizer thus making it difficult for the VIPs to transact with the ATM. But this is not the only frustrations or challenges which the sector with disability is facing, children with severe disability and with those with mental impairment absolutely don't have the means to participate in the ICT development because Government has not fully satisfy their basic needs. The question of food, shelter and clothing are still the primary concerns of these children with disabilities and it is the role of the government to provide its citizens the basic public goods and services. The demands for basic social services vary in degrees of needs based on gender, age and the type of disability. The more disadvantaged the individual person as regard to his/her disability, the least chances of access she/he would have to ICT.

3. In the information society, access to information and communications is a basic human right. Copyright owners should bear responsibility for ensuring that content is accessible to all, including persons with disabilities. Any anti-piracy or digital rights management technology should not prevent persons with disabilities from accessing to information and communications. Information and communication technology should break down the barriers in telecommunication and broadcasting systems. Developing countries need greater support in the area of ICT.

In the Philippines, even if access to ICT is a declared right, Filipinos with disabilities cannot fully exercise and enjoy this right because of the reasons mentioned above. In addition, ICT development programs in our country does not include at present disability issues, in fact, there is no policy adopted by the Philippine Government categorically addressing disability concerns in the promotion of ICT. Congress has failed to include the issues on disability as a matter of right when it enacted the intellectual property code and for that reason, it is very difficult to reproduce information materials in Braille, cassette tapes and other form of electronic format that will aid children with hearing and mental impairment in their learning process. If the copyright owner doesn't give consent, under the intellectual property protection clause, it is impossible to have the materials reproduced in any electronic format.

4. In many countries in Asia and the Pacific, Sign Language, Braille, finger Braille (tactile sign language) have not yet been standardized. Without access to these standardized forms of communication, persons with visual and/or hearing impairments cannot benefit from ICT developments. They are deprived of the basic human right to language and communication in their everyday lives.

This situation is very much true in the Philippines. Sign language interpretation varies from region to region, province to province and down to the barangay levels. The teaching method of sign language also varies even among institutions. These are the reasons why the deaf sector in the rural areas finds it difficult to acquire basic education.

Emerging issues and probable developments related to promoting digital connections for all

The emerging issues for ICT development for PWDs are geared towards a rights-based society for all.

Organizations of PWDs are demanding that assistive technology that would enhance their education, training and employment should be made affordable. For example, the cost of personal computers (PC) should be lowered by 100% so as to enable the PWDs in the rural areas to have access and so as to absorb the cost of modification or adaptive technology that will make the PC accessible or disabled friendly. Government is now slowly realizing that PWDs are potential human resource for development and because of that realization, the National Computer Center (NCC) through the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) has made a commitment in the last Strategic Planning Workshop of the NCWDP to organize a committee that will promote access to ICT for PWDs for the next decade. The agency envisioned that the target of PWDs having access to the Internet will be its priority thrusts and they hope to create more employment opportunities for the sector.

Strategic options to promote an appropriate balance between investments in ICT, development and accessibility

With the increasing awareness of persons with disabilities in the Information Technology, government is now opening opportunities for the development of training programs that will improve their greater participation into the mainstream of society. However, Government has to realize three (3) major trends affecting the development of the information society vis-à-vis consideration of disability issues.

1. Social and cultural changes brought about by increased communications and by spreading and deepening literacy;
2. Shifts in the structure of economic development leading to a greater role for the service sector;
3. Technical change, in which the enabling technologies underlying communications and information are increasing quickly in capacity and capability, while decreasing rapidly in cost.

Meanwhile, an increasing reliance on the service sector has significant social implications in terms of displacement of unskilled workers in favor of those with more specialized skills. This has serious implications for training and human resources development. It also means that universal access policies must move on to a dual track - bringing basic access to all Filipinos, and providing access to advanced services like ICT as well, for those who can make use of them. Thus, information management strategies become increasingly vital to the efficient use of national resources and for ensuring that nations are not permanently divided into information skilled "haves" and "have-nots" for Persons with disabilities.

Recommendations in Empowering Filipinos with Disabilities through ICT

1. Government should have a clear cut policy or guidelines mandating ICT companies, manufacturers and developers to be sensitive to the needs of disabled users.
2. The Philippine Government should allow foreign companies to bring in assistive technology but should prohibit the importation of equipments, machines and such other components that are discriminatory to the needs of persons with disabilities. For example, ATM without speech capability should not be allowed to enter the country for the use of the Philippine banking system.
3. The costs of assistive technologies should be lowered by way of providing tax exemptions.
4. Existing laws, rules and regulations restrictive to the development of accessible ICT should be amended. For example, the Intellectual Property Code which prohibit reproduction of materials without the consent of the copyright owner in electronic format for the benefit of persons with disabilities should be further amended so as to incorporate the provisions that will allow reproduction of the materials within the extent possible solely for the benefit of the disabled and on a limited copies so as not to be used for commercial purposes.

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