humanITy Presentation
Given to Riga eInclusion Open Policy Stakeholders Preparatory Meeting
Date: 25/04/2006
Venue: Albert Borshette Centre, Brussels, Belgium
Article
1. The right to access information is in natural conflict with a number of other, primarily economic, rights including those concerned with intellectual property and freedom to design terminals regardless of accessibility implications.
2. This situation will not be resolved by a general proposal on the right of access but without the assertion of a basic right the negotiating position of those who suffer from a lack of access will continue to be chronically weak.
3. Every time a new medium is developed there is a new struggle for rights of access; this puts a huge strain upon the disability community and its NGOs;
I therefore propose that the Riga conference should:
<ppt 1>
General Right
Set a medium term goal of establishing a generic, platform independent right of access to all information in the public domain by all citizens.
This right can then be asserted in negotiation against other competing rights.
4. The general assertion of a right to information will have some important 'down stream' consequences namely:
<ppt 2>
Issues Arising from a Rights Approach
- A reconsideration of the 1999 Terminals Directive
- Universal right of access to public telephone networks
- Guaranteed levels of broadcasting accessibility
- Strict enforcement of WAI Guidelines.
The central problem which we face is the tendency of legislators to grant theoretical rights which cannot be implemented because of conflicting economic deregulation. The exception is the recent move towards legislating accessibility in public procurement but this will be almost entirely limited to the PC and its applications; it will have minimal impact on broadcasting and telecommunications accessibility; even though access to television after digital switchover is much more important than web accessibility.
So, finally:
<ppt 3>
Platform Independence
Current EU concern with eAccessibility is far too concentrated on the PC (web accessibility) and a few telecommunications accessibility issues (text phones, accessibility of kiosks).
As time passes, the gap between those with and without eAccessibility is widening, condemning disabled citizens to a new layer of disadvantage on top of their already obvious socio-economic disadvantage. The gap cannot be completely closed but the longer we wait the more difficult it will be to narrow it. Within the EU we need one, platform independent, forum for eInclusion with a sub forum on eAccessibility.