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ZAFOD bemoans ICT access barriers for the disabled

ZAFOD bemoans ICT access barriers for the disabled
By Kabanda Chulu
Sunday May 18, 2008 [04:00]

PEOPLE with disabilities will be condemned to underdevelopment if they have no access to Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Zambia Federation of the Disabled (ZAFOD) director Felix Simulunga has said. And the Action on Disability and Development (ADD) has stated that the ICTs divide will remain a reality due to lack of equal access to facilities.

During commemorations to mark World Telecommunications and Information Society Day whose theme is 'Connecting persons with disabilities: ICTs for all', Simulunga yesterday said ZAFOD equated the lack of access to participate in ICTs to exclusion, which was a form of discrimination under the persons with disabilities Act of 1996.

He said there was tremendous development in ICTs but suppliers and operators had thought very little as far as users with disabilities were concerned.

"Despite vast improvements in the ICT field, planners, manufacturers and decision-makers have either not realised or not given serious consideration to the needs of people with disabilities and most ICT facilities have been designed to suit non-disabled people only," Simulunga said.

He said many physically disabled persons in Zambia could not use public telephones, Internet and other ICT facilities due to barriers.
"For instance a telephone booth may be inaccessible because of a step or because it is too narrow for a wheelchair and for people with visual impairments, they face great problems using computers as computers are mainly designed to display information visually on the screen, without audio support but this barrier can be overcome by using adaptive software for the blind including screen readers (e.g. Jaws - Job Access With Speech),

self voicing internet browsers, mail software and editors," Simulunga said. "As for people with hearing impairments or deaf, public telephones may not meet their needs at all, and may be this is also true with most handsets. As for television, there is no sign language interpretation for main news and other programmes of significant national interest."

And in a statement, ADD stated that there was need for stakeholders to reflect and understand which role they could play to reduce the digital divide and make the world a better place for persons with disabilities, be it in school, work or daily life.

"These new technologies offer little of promise and the ICT divide will remain a reality due to lack of equal access, for example, telephone booths are often located in places that are difficult to reach by wheel chair users due to the insensitive architectural designs," stated ADD. "And time has come for policy makers, service providers and organisations for persons with disabilities to create bridges between the policy tracks of telecommunications issues."

Labels: ICT, ZAFOD

posted by MrK @ 3:48 AM