[WSIS CS-Plenary] RE: [Pwd] Disability Caucus Intervention for 23rd

[Moira Jones (DPI)]

Hiroshi
thank you for sharing your intervention.  Its too bad it was cancelled and
only permitted as a circulation.  I know this can be a bit frustrating.  Is
there anything we can do to assist from home? Should we be sending notes to
the capitals or something to support your good efforts.

Moira


-----Original Message-----
From: pwd-admin at wsis-cs.org [mailto:pwd-admin at wsis-cs.org]On Behalf Of
Hiroshi Kawamura
Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2005 4:57 AM
To: pwd at wsis-cs.org
Cc: plenary at wsis-cs.org
Subject: [Pwd] Disability Caucus Intervention for 23rd


Please find CS Disability Caucus intervention in writing that replaces
previously distributed text of
my potential intervention for 3 minutes at the plenary today. Actually, the
speaking slot for today
was cancelled but my written intervention is permitted to be circulated to
government delegates.

Best

Hiroshi Kawamura
CS Disability Caucus Focal Point

-----------------------------------------------------------

Intervention from Civil Society Disability Caucus on Political Chapeau
paragraph 5

Hiroshi Kawamura
CS Disability Focal Point
The DAISY Consortium
Contact address:
National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities Research
Institute
4-1 Namiki, Tokorozawa-shi 359-8555
Japan
hkawa at attglobal.net


On behalf of the Disability Caucus of Civil Society, I would like to suggest
as follows.

In the Political Chapeau paragraph 5, I am afraid that one of the most
important key principles to
bridge the digital divide is missing. Geneva Declaration of Principles
paragraph 25 identifies
$B!H(Buniversal design and the use of assistive technologies$B!I(B as one of the key
principles. This is the
design goal of ICT development to guarantee the digital opportunity for all
of us including persons
with physical, cognitive/intellectual or mental disabilities.

Everybody has special needs to be met by assistive technologies and
universally designed ICT as part
of whole life. It is always very important to develop use scenarios or use
cases to develop
Information and Communication Technologies.

For example, Tsunami alerting system must deliver information to those who
cannot hear, see and have
difficulty to understand in the language used. People need to be well
informed and trained to evacuate
safely with neighbors who may not able to evacuate by themselves with
various reasons. Signs and
symbols in accessible format must clearly indicate where to go and what to
do in the event of
disasters.
Based on realistic use scenarios, we will be able to develop ICT
applications that will  support safe
evacuation of all people in the region.

We learned a lot from those victims of disasters, who lost their lives or
injured physically and
mentally, to identify the requirements to develop universally designed early
warning system that is
accessible and easy to understand for everybody. Persons with disabilities
are best collaborators to
identify use scenarios from different point of views to develop not only
assistive technologies but
also inclusive ICT design for all.

Therefore, in order to stipulate such principle design goal for ICT
development for everybody and
guarantee participation of persons with disabilities as equal partners in
ICT development process, I
propose to insert
$B!H(Bpromote universal design and assistive technologies$B!I(B in the paragraph 5
of political chapeau.
The Civil Society Disability Caucus will be very pleased to collaborate to
implement this design
principle throughout the implementation process of action plan to be adopted
in Tunis as one of stake
holders.


[Annex: proposed revised text of Political Chapeau paragraph 5]

5.	We reaffirm our resolution in the quest to ensure that everyone can
benefit from the opportunities
that ICTs can offer, by recalling that governments, as well as private
sector, civil society and the
United Nations and other international organizations, should work together
to: improve access to
information and communication infrastructure and technologies as well as to
information and knowledge;
build capacity; increase confidence and security in the use of ICTs; create
an enabling environment at
all levels; develop and widen ICT applications; foster and respect cultural
diversity; recognize the
role of the media; address the ethical dimensions of the Information
Society; promote universal design
and assistive technologies; and encourage international and regional
cooperation. We confirm that
these are the key principles for building an inclusive Information society,
the elaboration of which
is found in the Geneva Declaration of Principles.