Accessibility with Reasonable Adaptation

Strategic Framework and Scheme of Preparation of Training and Resource Materials on Promotion and Capacity Building*

Substantive follow-up to the "Manila Declaration on Accessible ICT" (March 2003)

by John R. Mathiason
Managing Director, AIMS
Adjunct Professor of Public Administration at
the Wagner School of Public Service, New York University

Introduction

The Manila Declaration adopted by the Interregional Seminar and Demonstration Workshop on Accessible ICT and Persons with Disabilities, held at Manila from 3 to 7 March 2003 included as one of its recommendations,

(c) Preparation of a scheme for training and resource materials on norms, standards and substantive aspects of accessibility with reasonable accommodation to build national capacities and to provide input to activities of the accessible ICT network.

In so doing it recognized that achieving accessible ICT in developing countries required skills and capacities on the part of persons with disabilities, their organizations and the government entities that seek to meet the needs of persons with disabilities.

This paper outlines a framework for preparing and delivering the necessary training and resource materials.

Role of Accessibility in Rights of Persons with Disabilities

A main issue for equalization of opportunities for persons with disabilities is the extent to which their environment is accessible.  If persons with disability cannot physically reach places where others congregate, they cannot have equal opportunities.  The same is true for information: if persons with disabilities cannot access information on the same basis as other persons, they cannot exercise their rights.

Accessibility is both a right and an instrument for obtaining other rights.  For that reason it has to be seen in both contexts.

Types of capacities needed

To be able to promote accessible ICT, individuals and organizations need two types of capacities.  First, they need to understand the normative and rights-based framework in which accessibility for persons with disabilities is set.  This framework sets out what the international community has agreed are the rights whose enjoyment by persons with disabilities are particularly crucial, and the obligations that States have undertaken, either on moral basis as in the case of the Standard Rules for the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities, or on a legal basis in the form of an international convention once that is negotiated.  It also includes many national laws and regulations that individual States have adopted.  The capacity includes how to learn about the norms and laws, and how to use them for lobbying.

Second, they need to understand the technical issues of accessibility in an ICT context.  This includes the mechanism for ensuring that the Internet is accessible, and testing whether sites and programmes can be used by all.  It includes an understanding of wider issues of universal design, of which ICT is a part.

Knowledge of norms and rights

"Knowledge is power" goes an old adage.  This is particularly true in the context of the exercise of rights by persons with disabilities and in the use of international norms to achieve national policy and programmatic changes.   Because all Member States of the United Nations have agreed to a set of norms, and many have taken on a legal obligation through ratification or accession to international human rights conventions, the States can be held accountable for adopting the policies necessary to secure these rights.

The structure of norms goes from the general, rights that apply to all human beings, to those that specifically address problems faced by persons with disabilities.  To understand the specific norms, one must start with the general norms.

International human rights norms

Human rights were originally defined in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights that was adopted by the United Nations in 1948.  The rights set out in that document have been accepted by all States.  Over the succeeding fifty years, these rights have been written into binding international conventions under which States undertake a legal obligation to protect and promote these rights.

An international convention is a multilateral treaty -- formal agreements among a group of States -- that in most countries has the same force as the national constitution.  It becomes a basis for adjudicating law.

The central human rights treaties are the Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.  These implement the Universal Declaration.  In addition, there are four other human rights treaties that address the exercise of these rights by different groups of people.  They include treaties banning discrimination on the basis of race, sex, as well as protecting the rights of children and migrant workers and prohibiting the use of torture.

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) maintains a database of training material on human rights generally.  The material is organized by substantive area, geographical area and type of material.

In this general section there is little specifically on disability.  The issue was not given much attention for many years, despite efforts of organizations of persons with disabilities to "mainstream" the issue.

There are some training materials produced by different organizations that discuss the rights aspect of disability.  One is the training manual for development and humanitarian organizations on disability, equality and human rights published by Oxfam.  Another is Disability, human rights and education : cross cultural perspectives, written by Felicity Armstrong and Len Barton and published by Oxford University Press.  A third is Discrimination based on sex, caste, religion and disability : addressing through educational interventions : a handbook for sensitizing teachers and teacher educators published in India.

The World Health Organization produced, in 1996, Guidelines for the promotion of human rights of persons with mental disorders.  Also in the area of mental disabilities, the Mental Disability Advocacy Centre of Hungary has produced Training materials for lawyers and NGOs On the European Convention on Human Rights and the rights of people with mental health problems and/or developmental disabilities.

The United Nations Division for Social Policy and Development has an on-line resource on international norms and standards relating to disability.  While this is not formally training material, it can be used for that purpose.

Standard Rules for the Equalization of Opportunities

The Standard Rules are the main international norms currently adopted that are specific to the needs of persons with disabilities.  They were adopted by the General Assembly in 1993.  The Rules were a response to a need felt in the 1980's that the enjoyment of persons with disabilities of their rights was not being secured by existing human rights instruments, but that a consensus was not yet possible on elaborating a separate human rights convention.  Elaborated through a process that involved both governments and non-governmental organizations, the Standard Rules constitute an international normative agreement about what States should do to achieve equality of opportunity for persons with disabilities and the process that this should follow.

Because they were agreed by all States (the General Assembly resolution was adopted by consensus) they will form the core of any agreed convention.  They can also be used by advocates for the rights of persons with disabilities in any country, regardless of whether that country has ratified a disability convention.

The Standard Rules are reflected in the kind of language that the United Nations adopts.  Sometimes called "UN-ese", the texts reflect the care with which governments agree on issues.  Simply reading the Standard Rules will not necessarily lead to understanding them.

The United Nations and organizations concerned with disability have recognized the need for explanation and training about the Rules almost since they were adopted.   The United Nations supported a number of training activities in different places that included orientation about the Rules, their context, content, and how they can be used for advocacy.  This included seminars organized by Disabled Peoples' International, the World Blind Union and other organizations.

One result of these seminars has been the preparation, by Associates for International Management Services, one of the members of the WorldEnable consortium, of a training presentation on the rules narrated by María Cristina Sará-Serrano, who represented Disabled Peoples' International in the negotiation of the rules, assisted by John Mathiason.  Entitled A Short Tour of the Standard Rules, it includes an exploration of the context for the rules, their content and some of the tools for using them.

New International Convention

The process of elaborating an international convention on the exercise of persons with disabilities of their rights has led to considerable examination of the relationship between rights and their exercise and the types of public policies needed.  Many of the key normative issues that affect the ability of persons with disabilities to achieve equalization of opportunities will be extensively debated during the negotiations.

When the convention is eventually agreed, the content of the debates -- called the travaux -- will become one of the bases for interpreting how the convention should be applied.  The United Nations is maintaining a website  that records progress in the negotiations.  In addition, WorldEnable posts daily summaries of the negotiations on its site.

Once the convention is completed, the adopted text should be presented with an explanation of the context in which each article was adopted.

Knowledge of technical issues

The Manila seminar participants recognized that progress in implementing the "Manila Declaration" and "Manila Design Recommendations" will require action to promote awareness that accessible ICT benefits all, particularly in the context of the knowledge-based global economy of the twenty-first century.

In the rapidly changing field of ICT, any one scheme soon becomes obsolete, so the focus should be on accessibility with reasonable adaptation that is responsive to changes -- given the rapidly changing nature of information and communication technologies. 

The decision to focus on accessibility with reasonable adaptation -- in contrast with the term "reasonable accommodation" used in General Assembly resolution 57/229 among other documents -- aims to reinforce the notion that accessibility benefits all and is not the concern of users with special abilities.  Reasonable accommodation can result in the development of separate Internet-enable resources, best characterized by "Text only" pages on many Internet sites, which often do not provide the same Internet experience as the presence with graphical content.  In contrast, reasonable adaptation introduces accessibility considerations at the outset of the design on an Internet presence; one well-known example is the decision of the British Broadcasting Corporation news site which provides its Internet resources as either "Low graphics version"  <http://news.bbc.co.uk/text_only.stm> or a "Graphics version" with the Low graphics version providing accessibility with reasonable adaptation to the same news resources and periodic updates as the Graphics version.   The home page of the WorldEnable Consortium also was designed from the outset to provide accessibility with reasonable adaptation to all of its Internet enabled resources and services.

In advocating for accessibility for persons with disabilities, realism dictates that those promoting it should have a clear understanding of what is possible.  This will reduce the probability that proposals will be made than cannot reasonably be implemented.  There are three central technical issues that should be covered in training:  universal design principles, accessible communication and, within that, accessible Internet.

Participation on the basis of equality in knowledge-based economies requires information and communications technologies that provide accessibility with reasonable adaptation.  Inaccessible information goods and services result in exclusion of some in opportunities to participate in civil and political lire as well engage in activities that contribute to improved well being and livelihoods.  Accessibility, it is important to recall, was identified by the United Nations General Assembly, in resolution 52/82, as the first priority in the design of policies and programmes to further equalization of opportunities.  The potential demand for training and resource materials on accessible ICT goes beyond ICT professionals, a narrow definition, and would include both producers and consumers of information goods and services and those who formulate and implement national policies, legislation and administrative guidance. 

Traditionally, the focus in the development of training and resource materials has been on users with special needs, with those who produce content appropriate to end users with special needs, or with those who operate in conditions of limited information and communications technologies infrastructure.  With the growing number of users of mobile information and communications devices in all countries, a new -- and non-traditional -- constituency for accessibility with reasonable adaptation is the set of end users who seek an expanded range of information services compatible with the processing, storage and display capacities of mobile platforms.

In short, the demand information, training and technical resources on accessibility with reasonable adaptation is any producer or user of information goods and services.  While the report considers a range of ICT issues from policy options, to procedures and standards, and to advocacy, the focus is on preparation, development, testing and evaluation of materials directed to the training of trainers, who would then engage in further refinement of materials so that these are appropriate to national conditions, capacities and relative levels of development..

A final demand and supply consideration in any field characterized by rapid technological change and institutional arrangements -- privatization of telecommunications services in particular -- relates to the division of labour in research, rapid prototyping, testing and evaluation and associated need for open, democratic and transparent networks of excellence concerned with accessible ICT for all.  A start in the promotion and development of networks of excellence in environmental accessibility began in connection with implementation of resolutions of the General Assembly on advancement of persons with disabilities in the context of development. Implementation of the guidance of the General Assembly resulted in the convening of international seminars and workshop on accessibility in physical environments and infrastructure, in sustainable livelihoods and the Manila seminar on ICT together with regional and sub-regional workshops on Internet accessibility for the Association of Southeast Asian Countries (ASEAN), for Spanish-speaking Latin America and the Caribbean, and for Central and Eastern Europe.   In addition to the above noted General Assembly resolution identifying accessibility as the priority consideration in furthering equalization of opportunities; the recent decision of the Assembly, in resolution 56/168, to initiate a process of elaborating a comprehensive and integral convention on the rights to persons with disabilities places added emphasis to the current task of capacity building for accessibility with reasonable adaptation as an essential component of rights based approaches to participation as agents and beneficiaries of development..

Universal design

Approaches to accessible ICT can be seen in the larger context of universal design.  This is a movement of architects, engineers and designers who want to ensure that any construction or development of equipment or technology is so designed that it is usable by all types of persons.  In practice it means that in making design choices, project managers ensure that everyone in the population of intended users is able to benefit from the design.

In terms of ICT this means that the infrastructure should include options that would allow anyone, regardless of disability to use the technology.  Because the range of technologies covered by universal design, well reflected in the Universal Design Handbook edited by Wolfgang Preiser and Elaine Ostroff, is so large, training in this aspect should focus on general principles rather than the whole gamut of technologies.  The training material should show how universal design principles could be applied to accessible ICT.

Accessible Internet

The Internet is clearly one of the major communications phenomena of human history, whose growth and extension has been faster than any previous technology.  With this rapid pace of technological change, maintaining accessibility is a complex endeavor, constantly challenged by new technologies.  Ironically, the original text-based Internet was easier to make and maintain accessible than many of the new technologies.  If the effort to maintain accessibility is to succeed, it must go beyond a defense of previous technology and instead build on an understanding of the underlying technologies of the Internet to provide for sound advocacy.

A Strategy for Training

If training must build on incremental knowledge, its early implementation is urgent.  Each successive technological leap will make it more difficult for advocates and planners to catch up with the changes.

The training should be a package consisting of key elements.

1. Introduction to the technical bases to the Internet and ICT.
2. Policy framework for ICT accessibility with reasonable adaptation, based on existing agreed international norms and standards;
3. Assessing user needs and preferences;
4. Standards and guidelines on planning and design;
5. Procedures and tools;
6. Monitoring and evaluation of content and service accessibility;
7. Promotion, information and outreach.

The material on item (a) can be built on existing material, but this would have to be updated.

The material on (b) can be drawn from The Short Tour as supplemented by other material prepared for accessibility seminars.

The materials on items (c) -- (g) would have to be created fresh.

Training courses and seminars

The most effective way to provide training is through a series of training courses and seminars.  Some should be live and in-person, while others can avail of distance collaboration techniques.

For this to function properly, training packages would have to be designed, based on different levels of background and skills, ranging from fairly simple material to more complex and interactive subject manager.

Live and in-person

The usual means of training is to have in-person seminars.  These have been done for the Standard Rules as well as accessibility.  Their main limitation is cost since not only do facilitators have to be brought to the site, but the participants as well, unless they are all from the same location.

The key would be to have a solid set of materials that could be used by a diverse group of facilitators, adapted to the particular situation in the country where training is to take place.

Training courses and seminars

The most effective way to provide training is through a series of training courses and seminars.  Some should be live and in-person, while others can avail of distance collaboration techniques.

For this to function properly, training packages would have to be designed, based on different levels of background and skills, ranging from fairly simple material to more complex and interactive subject manager.

Live and in-person

The usual means of training is to have in-person seminars.  These have been done for the Standard Rules as well as accessibility.  Their main limitation is cost since not only do facilitators have to be brought to the site, but the participants as well, unless they are all from the same location.

The key would be to have a solid set of materials that could be used by a diverse group of facilitators, adapted to the particular situation in the country where training is to take place.  This could be done by adapting some of the existing training material to a guidebook form, and making PowerPoint presentations available.  One of the experiences in doing training in the Standard Rules showed that an interactive approach worked best to convey key ideas.  In the training seminar organized by Disabled Peoples' International in Santo Domingo in 1998, for example, the training included developing advocacy strategies through group work and presenting these.

The in-person training should have standard simulations and group work that can bring home of the concepts being presented, but which would allow the participants to incorporate their national experiences into the training.

For this type of training, one option would be to organize, perhaps on a regional level, training of trainers, consisting in part of a review of the substantive material to be included and in part an orientation to the training methodology.  With this approach, there would be a reasonable consistency across different training activities.

Distance collaboration

The advances in information and communication technology through the Internet have shown that training can be conducted through distance learning methods.  Several efforts, either as self-standing seminars or as adjuncts to "live" meetings have been tested.  For example, one element of the 1999 UN interregional seminar in Hong Kong was an on-line session.

Distance collaboration requires three elements.  It requires material that can be accessed from the Internet that is organized and easily usable.  This part is easy, since many universities now present course materials on websites.  These can be made accessible by applying Internet accessibility procedures.

The distance collaboration also requires a method for the participants to interact with each other and with the facilitators or trainers.  In the test cases, as well as in university courses, this is done through the use of Internet chat.  Because the chat is text-based, it can be made accessible (screen readers can produce voiced versions for persons with visual disabilities, although there would still be a need for deaf-blind to have interpreters).  The dialogues in the text chats have to be structured so as to ensure that the discussion is organized and focuses on issues.

This leads to the third element: a common task on which learning is based.  Successful distance learning techniques have found that organizing work in the training around simulations to be particularly effective.  In this, the participants are defined to be part of a team doing something related to accessibility.  This could be the process of drafting a national law, or participating in a multi-lateral negotiation.  In the simulation, the stages of completing the assignment (e.g. drafting the law) are set out in different chat sessions, during which the work prepared by individuals or groups is reviewed by the seminar facilitator.

The preparation of the first element of distance collaboration could be done reasonably quickly, based on existing training material.  The second element would require identifying, possibly training, and then hiring a facilitator or facilitators who would be ready to conduct these courses.

The third element would require the development of new material on which the simulation could be based.

One option at the international level would be to task some institution that already has experience with distance collaboration with the responsibility to develop a set of on-line seminars or courses.

Self-training

A final method would be to develop materials that could be used by individuals or groups without the need for an organized course or a facilitator.  This could be termed self-training.  It is more than producing a text book that can be read, since there is no guarantee that the material would be read correctly.  It would, ideally, involve creating a set of materials that could be used by individuals at their own time and pace.

Self-training is a common method used in information and communication technology.  Commercial efforts like Video Professor© have developed self-training in the use of computer software.  Some computer manufacturers like Apple Computer have developed technician-training programs that are based on self-training.  The key element is to have developed the modules that comprise the subject matter, link them and provide a means for a student to move through the material at the student's own pace.  It also must include tests and exercises that can be self-graded.

The preparation of such training material would require an investment, since existing training material would have to be reviewed, organized and professionally organized so that it could be placed on a CD-rom or other accessible media.  This would require identifying an author team, and providing them with the funds necessary to develop the material, test it on a pilot basis, and on that basis review the material before finalization.

Next steps

If a decision is made to develop training material along the lines suggested, the first step would be to organize an expert consultation that would agree on the content of training.  This would build on the Manila Seminar but would also incorporate the results of the many interregional, regional and subregional seminars and expert groups dealing with norms and standards relating to accessibility.  It would also incorporate the results of the negotiation of a convention on the rights of persons with disabilities.  The purpose of the consultation would be to agree on the specific modules that would be needed to be incorporated in any training on the subject.

The next step would be to develop and pilot-test a prototype "in-person" training seminar.  This could either be in one country or at a regional level.  It would require identifying and funding a training team to prepare and test the materials.

Following that step, the training of trainers process could begin.  Depending on how many regions would be involved, either one or several sessions could be held.

Once the training material was available and tested, and a set of facilitators for each region identified and trained, in-person training courses could be scheduled on a demand basis.  Each could be self-financing, with contracting of facilitators who have been certified by participation in the training-of-trainers course.

As a parallel activity, a distance learning approach could be developed.  This would require creating a team that would adapt the "in person" material to a distance-learning mode.  It would also include selecting, training if necessary and hiring an on-line facilitator.  On-line facilitation requires someone who is able to guide a seminar by using text.  However, it does not require someone who can type rapidly, although that can be an advantage, since there is now voice-recognition software that can be used for the purpose.

The distance learning material should also take advantage of the latest conferencing technology, but bear in mind the bandwidth limitation of my potential participants.  One method would be to create two versions of the on-line material: one for broadband connections and the other for more limited dial-up connections.

The material should then be pilot tested before being released and courses offered.

Once the distance learning component has been designed, work can begin on the self-training material.  This should follow the same pattern as other components.  An initial design, a pilot test and then a final product.

* John R. Mathiason, Managing Director, Associates for International Management Services, 47 Mt. Pleasant Road, Mt. Tremper NY 12457 (USA); mathiason@intlmgt.com / http://www.WorldEnable.Net.

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