Promoting ICT accessibility for persons with disabilities – globally and within ITU
ITU works both to promote globally ICT accessibility for persons with disabilities and to make ITU a more accessible organization for persons with disabilities. The work is conducted via regional events, ICT accessibility assessment, resource development and capacity-building materials including video tutorials on development and remediation of accessible digital content.
During the reporting period, over 700 ITU members, stakeholders, and participants from over 60 countries strengthened their knowledge in ICT/digital accessibility through a variety of activities. ITU-D provided ICT accessibility expert advice to support ITU members’ efforts to foster digital inclusion through executive training for regional policy and decision-makers; provided support on regional events “Accessible ICT for ALL” (Asia and the Pacific, Americas, Europe, Arab States); organized speaking slots, interventions and/or moderations of interactive discussions within related regional events; shared good practices on policies and strategies, raising awareness across more than 25 events and meetings on the availability of over 70 ITU-D tools and resources in ICT/digital accessibility; participated in the 1st Technology Forum of the Zero Project Conference (“for a world with zero barriers”); and in the WSIS 23 Session on “Strengthening the Collaboration of Digital Literacy for Disabilities”.
Within the same period, 761 participants registered for ITU online self-paced training on ICT accessibility and over 3 200 stakeholders and /or interested parties used related ITU-D resources. In December 2022, ITU-D in partnership with the ILO jointly launched a Guidebook on accessibility of online job application and recruitment systems and the self-paced training How to ensure that online job applications and recruitment systems are accessible to all. Additional online training courses and toolkits were made available in other languages: How to ensure inclusive digital communication during crises and emergency situations (Arabic) and The ITU toolkit and self-assessment for ICT accessibility implementation “Towards building inclusive digital communities” (Russian and Spanish). Additionally, a practical guidebook on ICT/digital accessibility for experts or agencies developing and implementing the Smart Villages and Smart Islands Programme was formulated to improve the knowledge of stakeholders developing programmes that require digital inclusion in the context of villages and islands digitalization.
ITU-D resources are made available free of charge and are available in multiple languages.
Telehealth: A new ITU and WHO common global standard was developed on “
Accessibility of telehealth services” and launched in June 2022. It defines use cases and requirements for accessible telehealth services that implementers and service providers should meet in order to guarantee that the needs of persons with disabilities are met when using such services. The work with WHO on safe listening is now being expanded to look at gaming and e-sports. ITU is also operating with WHO a focus group to step up AI’s contribution to health, developing a benchmarking framework to support developers and regulators in assessing whether AI-based health solutions are fit-for-purpose – as has been done for medical equipment.
ITU-R has recently updated the Report ITU-R BT.2207 “Accessibility to broadcasting services for persons with disabilities” and the Report ITU-R SM.2153 “Technical and operating parameters and spectrum use for short-range radiocommunication devices”.ITU-T improved the ITUSearch user experience. It now follows ITU design guidelines, with filters easier to use, and on-screen instructions assisting users.
