Key Concepts in Accessibility and the Private Sector
humanITy Paper
Date: 23/11/2007
Article
- Unless specifically modified by law or regulation, the primary purpose of a commercial enterprise is to maximise profits for defined beneficiaries (eg maximise shareholder value), eg imposing health and safety regulations.
- Governments may moderate the unlimited right to maximise return on investment by legislating characteristics of a consumer service or experience, eg limitations on terminating service following late or non-payment.
- Perhaps the most effective way of promulgating item 2. is through the conditions of licence to a number of commercial operators working in the same field, eg sub titling and signing requirements as a condition of licence to broadcast set down by Ofcom under the 2003 Communications Act.
- Providers of goods and services generally develop targeted products:
- Definition 1. A targeted product is one focused on the characteristics of an identified market segment, eg mobile phone for teenagers, holidays for the elderly.
- Targeted products may be modified for little or no cost at the design stage such that the marginal profit is lower but the sales volume is higher, eg allowing user modification (print, font etc) to web sites:
- Definition 2. Optimally designed products are those where the targeted design is modified for little or no cost in such a way that the decreased marginal profit is countered by increased volume.
- It is relatively easy for the public sector, through conditions of licence, to influence optimal design criteria at the initial design stage, eg building regulations
- When the private sector looks at competing tenders for capital for targeted products, its primary concern is to maximise profit for defined beneficiaries. It is confronted with competing 'business cases' for the deployment of capital:
- Definition 3. A business case presents the capital inputs and resulting profits of an enterprise.
- When officials refer to the 'business case' for accessible goods and services they are almost invariably following Definition 3 but without taking account of the competitive element. They may show that a certain aspect of accessibility is profitable but they almost certainly will not show its comparative profitability with competitor bids for capital.
- In summary of Para's 1-8, the 'business case' in the context of the commercial market will not deliver accessibility.
- The extent to which commerce is free to maximise the return on capital is in inverse proportion to the extent to which its products are socially normative: eg luxury yachts are likely to be less regulated than electricity supply.
- The greater the social normative character of a product, the more justified is its regulation:
- Definition 4. A socially normative product is one which is consumed by a defined percentage of a population or defined demographic group.
- For the population as a whole, the use of water, electricity or television might be defined as socially normative at, say 90%;
- In the evolving area of broad band it might be argued that once 66% of the population have a given capacity that automatically becomes socially normative;
- It might be argued that if 50% of people between 15 and 25 use an MP3 player that this is socially normative for a specific peer group;
- Occupations and professions have peer normative equipment and skills.
- The central point is that any regulation can be based upon a normative quantifier within a demographic which can be measured.
- In summary of paras 10-12, the priority for accessibility should be in those areas which are socially normative.
- The critical problem arises where a socially normative product cannot be rendered accessible through optimal design.
- Definition 5. An accessible product is one which is designed to take into account the particular barriers too its effective use by people with a physical or intellectual impairment.
- At this point, the public sector has two alternatives; to:
- Legislate or regulate a modification of defined beneficiary value to achieve a democratically determined social end;
- Use other means.
- With respect to 15a), legislation is least unacceptable when it operates across a level playing field, i.e. in a competitive environment the same rules should operate across the whole sector, eg Ofcom regulations on accessibility under the 2003 Communications Act.
- With reference to 15b), one option is for the funding gap between the optimal and the accessible to be jointly funded by the private, public and 'third' sectors, with the obligation shifting towards Government and business as the product becomes more peer normative.