1. Procurement of Accessible ICTs* Fourth Session Of The Conference Of States Parties To The Convention On The Rights Of Persons With Disabilities UN Headquarters, New York, 8 September 2011 * Information & Communication Technologies 1

2. Governments/Organizations get Computers and software Telecommunications hardware and services Web sites and applications Office equipment (copiers, printers) Facilities (buildings, offices, meeting space) Furniture (desks, chairs, lighting) 2 How? Through procurement. Even better, through accessible procurement!

3. The Convention says… Article 4: To undertake and promote R&D of universally designed goods, services, equipment and facilities… Article 9: Promote the … production and distribution of accessible ICTs and systems… Article 27 Employ persons with disabilities in the public sector Ensure that reasonable accommodation is provided to persons with disabilities in the workplace 3 Use your procurement power to purchase accessible ICTs, other goods and services and comply with these and other articles.

4. Laws / Policies That mandate or support procurement of accessible ICTs United States of America – Rehab. Act, Section 508 United Kingdom – Disability Discrimination Act European Union – Mandate 376 (still in draft) Canada – Accessible Procurement Toolkit Australia – Disability Discrimination Act Ireland – Public Procurement Toolkit Korea and many more … At least 20 countries have Web accessibility laws or policies 4

5. Finding what you want… Not every product may meet all applicable standards, so presumably you choose products that are “most” compliant How do you identify compliant products? Test and certify products in-house Contract 3 rd party experts to test and certify Allow manufacturers to self-certify 5

6. VPATs Voluntary Product Accessibility Templates At least 420 companies provide VPATs, including: 3MAdobeApple Canon CiscoHitachiHPIBM KyoceraLenovoMicrosoftPanasonic QualcommSamsungSonyXerox = hardware, software, office equipment, computer peripherals, telecommunication systems and end-user devices Microsoft and IBM have VPATs for almost 400 products each, Xerox 184, Canon 182, Apple 53 6

7. Creating Procurement Documents Industry Canada’s Accessible Procurement ToolkitAccessible Procurement Toolkit US GSA’s BuyAccessible Wizard!BuyAccessible Wizard! Reference: National and international standards National and international guidelines and best practices Consult with persons with disabilities and their organizations GAATES and other service organizations 7

8. Procure accessible ICTs! 8