[WSIS CS-Plenary] draft intervention

[Hiroshi Kawamura]

Dear all:



Your immediate comments are most welcome.



Hiroshi



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



draft



Intervention on behalf of the Civil Society Disability Caucus to the 
PrepCom2 of WSIS II



Re: Revised Chapter 2 of the Operational Part; WSIS-II/PC-2/DOC/3-E 
Add.1(Rev.1)





People with disabilities are poorest among the poors in particular in 
developing countries. Affordable ICTs need to be accessible and usable for 
individuals with disabilities to guarantee full participation in the 
community as active partners. So far, ICTs created new man-made barriers for 
persons with disabilities in developing countries in terms of affordability, 
accessibility and usability.

For example, a screen reading software for blind people prices US1,000 per 
license in addition to the standard computer equipment, an intelligent 
keyboard for persons with cognitive/intellectual disabilities costs more 
than US1,000 per unit even though assistive technologies manufacturers are 
strongly encouraged to reduce the cost.



Promotion of low cost assistive technologies and accessibility standard 
development for mainstream ICTs are keys to tackle this issue. Inclusive and 
universal access to ICTs requires development of assistive technologies and 
universal design.

Therefore I would like to urge governments, international organizations and 
business sectors to promote existing accessibility standards, such as W3C 
Web Accessibility Guidelines for example, and to encourage development of 
accessibility standards with persons with disabilities.

Effective financial mechanisms to promote accessibility standard of national 
as well as international level will include:



1.     Duty/Tax free requirements for the use by persons with disabilities

2.     Requirements for application of government or international donor$B!G(Bs 
grant

3.     Requirements for procurement



In addition, I would like to draw your attention to ongoing recovery process 
of Tsunami Disasters and preparedness issues from disability view point. 
Tsunami killed more than 300,000 people including those who could not hear, 
could not see, could not evacuate, and who could not react to save their 
lives. Those survivors are still struggling against physical as well as 
mental injuries including Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

The rescue and recovery activities need to have a seamless transition to 
reconstruction stage with clear vision of safe and inclusive society to 
prevent another disasters to come. Early warning system should provide 
timely information in accessible format to everybody. Preparedness including 
knowledge, training and support for evacuation for persons with special 
needs need to be developed immediately. Inclusion of persons with 
disabilities in the disaster preparedness development is, in fact, the most 
effective and economical way to guarantee a safe community for everybody 
including foreign travelers because people with disabilities may act as role 
models of a person with special needs in extreme conditions.

Based on this fact, I would like to propose a special financing mechanisms 
to be established for disaster preparedness development inclusive of persons 
with disabilities.



25 February 2005



Hiroshi Kawamura

Disability Caucus Focal Point

The DAISY Consortium Representative for WSIS

hkawa at attglobal.net