Overview
May 12, 2005 -- In testimony before the U.S. Senate yesterday IBM called for support of consistent worldwide accessibility standards so that everyone, especially people with disabilities and the aging population, can have easy access to information technology and the Web.
Frances West, director of IBM’s Worldwide Accessibility Center, asked members of the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on European Affairs, chaired by Sen. George Allen (R-VA), to embrace the need for consistent or “harmonized” standards in information technology. West testified at the Senate hearing on behalf of the IBM Corporation, the European American Business Council and the Information Technology Industry Council.
Accessible technology enables people with differing levels of capability to use information systems. For example, it allows people who are blind to use a screen reader; people who are deaf to use captioning devices; and older users to enlarge the text size.
West told the Senate Subcommittee that the best way to make technology accessible is through “a global policy that is open, harmonized to existing approaches and promotes an IT environment that enables interoperability.”