One truth (uni•verse) about disability

Worldwide demographic shifts and changes in society's definition of disability are expanding the number of groups who can benefit from accessible information and communication technologies (ICT), fueling a trend toward universal accessibility design that's reflected in the language of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. (link resides outside of ibm.com)

The UN convention – the first new human rights treaty of the 21st century – takes effect May 3.

In a presentation at a recent global forum (link resides outside of ibm.com) on the implications on ICT related to the new convention, Bill Curtis-Davidson told attendees that a social model of disability defines that condition in terms of “the interaction of a person's functional status with physical, cultural and policy environments. Disability,” said Curtis-Davidson, a business development and solutions leader with the IBM Human Ability and Accessibility Center (HA&AC), “is something aligned with the overall society, not just the individual.” The result is that the message shifts from one that puts the onus on individuals to adapt to one that stimulates societal, environmental and cultural change.

The forum was organized by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU-T) and the Global Initiative for Inclusive Information & Communications Technologies (G3ict). G3ict is a worldwide public-private consortium established by the United Nations to accelerate the development and deployment of ICT to enhance the lives of people with disabilities. IBM was one of five platinum sponsors of the forum, which was attended by leaders from standards development organizations and representatives from industry, non-governmental organizations, research institutions, assistive technology developers, governments and academia.

IBM HA&AC Director Frances West also addressed the consortium, urging participants to become part of a collaborative eco-system to drive public and private innovation in the area of accessibility.

A principled approach
Accessible ICT can help drive positive change in such an environment by helping to minimize barriers for persons with medical disabilities, new language learners, technology novices and people with age-related disabilities, Curtis-Davidson told the Geneva, Switzerland, forum. Utilizing Universal Design (UD) Principles (link resides outside of ibm.com) and ICT accessibility standards can help make products and environments usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation.

“UD principles complement accessibility standards, which offer important policy and technical guidance for multiple ICT types,” he said. Such principles include: equitable use; flexibility; simplicity and intuitive design; communication of perceptible information; tolerance of error; low physical effort; and sizing for approach, reach and manipulation.

Curtis-Davidson cited the U.S. Postal Service's Automated Postal Center® and the IBM Travel & Transportation Self-Service Kiosk as examples of the effective use of universal accessibility.

“Many kiosk projects aim to enable both urban and rural populations and are used for a variety of purposes, ranging from high-volume airport check-in to community resource sharing in remote villages,” he said. But kiosks can present barriers to people with physical and cognitive impairments if they're not designed with universal accessibility in mind.

Harmonized accessibility standards can serve as a foundation for universal accessibility in ICT, Curtis-Davidson noted, and UD principles can complement those standards. When both are applied to the design of ICTs, he said, “the result can benefit not only people with disabilities, but aging populations and other groups, as well.”