Australian policy & practice in ICT accessibility Gunela Astbrink, Internet Society of Australia ASEAN-ITU Seminar, August 2014

Background  Australia has signed and ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities  Telecommunications legislation refers to Disability Discrimination Act 1992  Well-developed regulatory processes

Policies and practices  National Disability Insurance Scheme  National Disability Strategy  Web Accessibility National Transition Strategy  Captioning on TV

Policies and practice  Complexity of implementing policy  Sometimes, practice takes longer than policies indicate  Very important that policies become practice  Guidelines to assist implementation

National Disability Strategy  Vision: An inclusive Australian society that enables people with disability to fullfill their potential as equal citizens  Strategy 1: Inclusive and accessible communities  Relevant areas for future action:  1.7 Promote universal design principles in procurement  1.8 All governments adopted the mandated conformance levels for web accessibility as a baseline requirement to ensure more people with disability have access to online information and services  Brings together many planned priorities or activities in the early implementation stage  No specific resources allocated

Web Accessibility National Transition Strategy  Mandatory for federal government web sites to be accessible to Level AA of WCAG 2.0 by 2014  Web Policy team in Australian Government Information Office (Department of Finance) – web accessibility part of whole of government procurement & strategy approach  2010 baseline survey of accessibility on government websites  Training and liaison with government agencies  Web auditing  However, under-resourced in meeting people’s expectations

Web Accessibility National Transition Strategy  Report on progress (Report released December 2013)  Over 1300 websites  26% of government websites meet Level A – up from 5%  46% of sites non-conforming moving directly to Level AA by Dec  73% of agencies have re-evaluated their web publishing processes  58% have changed their content management systems  97% of agencies are doing an ICT procurement review

Web Accessibility National Transition Strategy  Expectation that many agencies will meet Level AA by December 2014  Will not be 100%  Difficulty of legacy content  Final accessibility survey late 2014  Inclusion is priority beyond 2014

Digital Service Standard  Current Government’s ICT election policy includes: “Convenient service anytime, anywhere”  Digital Service Standard is planned  Adhering to Standard at design stage rather than remediation  Moving away from checkbox mentality and shifting paradigm to user perspective  Building tools around user needs  Self-assessment but new service cannot be launched without meeting Standard (includes WCAG 2.0)

Digital Service Standard  Skills development is precursor of Standard  Government employees need to acquire digital skills including accessibility to underpin productivity  Standard will lead to a Digital Design Guide  Accessibility will be included – mainstream inclusion approach

National Disability Insurance Scheme  Very large Government program for community linking and individualised support  3 Tiers 1. Information & referral 2. Support to access services 3. Individualised care plan for people with significant disability in all facets of person’s life

National Disability Insurance Scheme  Key principle: Consumer control and choice  Support and equipment for education, transport, employment  Includes support workers and home modifications  ARATA assistive technology policy papers: care-australia/

Accessibility criteria in ICT public procurement  Public procurement = Government purchasing  USA apply accessibility criteria when procuring ICT to improve access to their services and employment opportunities for people with disabilities  This may have a flow-on effect of greater availability of affordable and accessible ICT

Accessibility criteria in ICT public procurement  Significant impact seen in USA through Section 508 eg Apple, Microsoft  Completion of European Guidelines to harmonise with Section 508  Research into policy & practice in OECD countries (Astbrink & Tibben)   Governments sometimes already use suppliers that provide accessible hardware and software but need to specify to acquire accessible sub-sets  Australian Government review of Section 508 in terms of its procurement of mobile phones and desktop hardware

Accessibility criteria in ICT public procurement  Governments sometimes already use suppliers that provide accessible hardware and software but need to specify to acquire accessible sub-sets  Australian Government review of Section 508 in terms of its procurement of mobile phones and desktop hardware

Captioning on TV  Broadcasting Services Amendment (Improved Access to Television Services) Act 2012  new captioning targets for commercial and national television broadcasters  new captioning obligations and targets for subscription television broadcasters and narrowcasters  a requirement that the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) develop standard(s) on captioning quality

Captioning on TV  Broadcasting Services Amendment (Improved Access to Television Services) Act 2012  broadcasters transmit emergency warnings in the form of text and speech, and caption those warnings where practicable  new annual compliance reporting and record keeping requirements to support new captioning obligations  making compliance with the captioning obligations under Part 9D a licence condition

Captioning & audio description on TV  At least 85% of programs from 6.00 am to midnight have closed captions  Audio description trialled on ABC (public broadcaster) for 13 weeks in 2012  Successful trial  No follow-up service launched

Conclusion  Overview of some Australian policies and practices  Inclusion is key component  Consumers have important role to play to ensure that Government programs remain relevant to their needs

Thank you! Gunela Astbrink Internet Society of Australia