Dónal Rice ICT Accessibility Coordinator National Disability Authority Ireland Excellence through Accessibility Award

National Disability Authority Mission –Promote and help secure the rights of people with disabilities –Shape public policy and legislation –Encourage accessibility of public services Approach –To assist the Minister in the co-ordination and development of policy –To undertake and commission relevant research –To advise the Minister on standards –To monitor the implementation of standards and codes of practice –To recognise the good standards and quality with an awards system

Current Irish Legislation – the stick Employment Equality Act (1998) –employment of persons with disabilities –provision of accessible technologies to employee Equality Act (2004) –reasonable accommdation => undue hardship Equal Status Act (2000) –categorises discrimination under 9 grounds, one of which is disability –reasonable accomodation? – case law Disabilities Act (2005) –public services providers obligation to ensure information delivered electronically is accessible to people with vision impairments who have access to assistive technologies

The difficulties Legal motivation – remember the Big Stick This often leads to rubber stamping – simply “ticking the boxes” at the minimum level to be safe

So what is wrong with that Unfortunately… Just ticking the boxes leads to just the bare minimum… or unfortunately very often below that

Encouragement - PPF Programme for Prosperity and Fairness “19Each Government Department will ensure that reasonable steps are taken to make its services and those of agencies under its remit accessible to people with disabilities. To facilitate effective action and acceptable standards in this regard, the NDA will issue guidelines in accordance with international norms and will award an accessibility symbol to compliant public offices. Government Departments and agencies will take all reasonable action to qualify within five years. 20Adequate resources will be provided to the NDA and the Department of JELR to monitor, guide and audit progress towards the achievement of this commitment.”

NDA launched the NDA IT Accessibility Guidelines v1.1 in 2002 Goal of NDA IT Accessibility guidelines - motivate users - provides guidance - easy to use Technology types - Web - Public Access Teminals (e.g. ATM’s, Information kiosks) - Telecommunication Devices - Application Software Guidelines

Excellence Through Accessibility Award Launch date: 5 October 2005 – President McAleese Committed to Accessibility Quality in Accessibility Excellence in Accessibility

Excellence through Accessibility Award Main accessibility initiative in ireland –Programme for Prosperity and Fairness a commitment –Partnership between NDA and Dept of Justice –An awards process for Government Departments and their agencies –does not apply to private sector –14 accessibility guidelines and a detailed assessment tool –Built Environment –Quality Customer Services –ICT provision of information Public Access Terminal eg kiosk Webistes and other HTML content –Consultation process, Pilot Study, Peer Review –In partnership with Dept of Justice

EtA - Aims and Objectives To objectively examine and encourage the accessibility of services provided by Government Departments and Agencies to people with disabilities. To allow public services explore disability in an equality context and the impact of society in creating an inclusive environment To provide a flexible framework for public services so they can proactively promote disability equality through their functions.

EtA - How it works Structure of Tool –14 Guidelines Built Environment Quality Customer Services ICT –41 Criteria –Assessment Tool - 90 Performance Indicators Getting started –Briefing Meeting –NDA Support –Application Form –Built Environment Audit –Essential documentation inc Access Handbook

EtA - How it works Site Visit –Role of assessor –3 methods – documentation, observation and interviews with staff –Confidentiality Scoring –3 equal sections –Scoring of 0 – 3 –Minimum of 1 must be scored on all performance indicators Approvals Board –Assessors submit report –Register applicant as Committed/Quality or Excellence through Accessibility –Registration for three years –Appeals Process –Symbol

EtA - How it works 1.Quality Customer Services 1.Commitment 2.Equality 3.Human Resource Management 4.Procurement 5.Customer Service 2.Building Environment 1.External environment 2.Vertical and horizontal circulation 3.Facilities 4.Interior design 5.Evacuation

EtA - How it works Services delivered via ICT Communication Strategy Public Computers, Kiosks and Other Public Access Terminals (PATs) Web Accessibility

Communication Strategy The organisation’s communication strategy is designed, as far as practicable, to accommodate people with disabilities. Criteria to be met: The organisation has documented procedures for implementing its communication policy with people with disabilities; Public information is available on request, in an accessible form which may include : –Audio Tape –Braille –Electronic Format – HTML, Plain Text –Large Print –High Contrast Print –Easy-to-Read Sign language interpreters and/or Real Time Captioning when possible are provided at public consultations following a request beforehand to the organisation from an attendee who requires this service. DRAFT

Public Computers, Kiosks and other Public Access Terminals (PATs) The organisation is committed to achieving conformance with relevant NDA IT Accessibility Guidelines for all computers, kiosks and other Public Access Terminals used by the public. Criteria to be met: All public computers, kiosks and other public access terminals conform to each of the priority 1 NDA IT Accessibility Guidelines for Public Access Terminals; Any application software contained in the User Interface of the PAT should conform to each of the priority 1 NDA IT Accessibility Guidelines for Application Software; Any HTML content contained in the User Interface of the PAT should achieve conformance with level Double-A with Web Accessibility Initiative’s (WAI) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 1.0 Organisations which have not complied with all Priority 1 NDA IT Accessibility Guidelines v1.1 for Public Access Terminals are committed to auditing and improving the accessibility of the Public Access Terminals; Where such facilities cannot be provided because of space, cost restrictions, etc, assistance is available on request to access the public information/service required. DRAFT

Web Accessibility The organisation is committed to achieving conformance level Double-A with the Web Accessibility Initiative’s (WAI) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 1.0. Criteria to be met: All the organisation’s HTML-based information and services including public websites, HTML-based and newsletters achieve conformance level Double-A with WAI WCAG 1.0; Organisations, which have not achieved conformance level Double- A with WAI WCAG 1.0, are committed to auditing and improving the accessibility of their websites; For each of the organisation’s websites, the organisation has a web accessibility statement in place which shows the organisation’s commitment to reaching and maintaining conformance level Double-A with WAI WCAG 1.0; New content published to the site achieves conformance level Double-A with WAI WCAG 1.0. DRAFT

Dónal Rice ICT Accessibility Coordinator National Disability Authority Ireland Questions