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► 14,5 % of the Euro15 population suffer from disability
2001 Eurostat report on Disability and Social Participation in Europe
► 25 % and higher in the EU candidate countries
"In the entirely of the Candidate Countries, one quarter of the population suffers from some long-standing illness or disability that limits their activities. In this aspect Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic, where this ratio is 30-32%, are among the countries that seem to be in a situation worse than the average".
Social Situation in the countries applying for EU membershipEU barometer 2002 – August 2002
… And a recent study shows that 25% of the french population has declared suffering of some kind of disability, activity limitation or handicap.
Accessibility Center Europe Middle East AfricaFigures on ageing
% of total population1970 1995 2025 2050
Age 0-14 25.3 19.2 14.7 14.4
Age 15-64 64.2 66.9 64.3 58.0
Age 65+ 10.5 13.9 21 27.6
Age 75+ 3.5 5.2 9.1 14.6
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Europe : Population by age groups, 1970-2050 International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) - calculations based on the 1998 UN World Population Prospects
► By 2025, one out of 5 european citizen will be over 65
► By 2050, more than ¼ of the european population will be over 65
►In 2000, there were 61 million elderly people aged 65+ in the EU
►Today, these elderly people represent 16% of the total population
The social situation in the European Union - Eurostat report 2002
► 65 million children between 2 and 17 in Europe and US have access to the Internet at home.
► 78% of US children live in homes in which they or their parents use the Internet from home (70% growth rate from 2000).
► 35% of 2 to 5 year olds in the US go online from some location, up from 6% in 2000. The largest increase of any age or demographic group.
Time use : Children are spending more time using ICT services and products.Digital media use (US children 6 – 17) is approaching parity with television viewing: 2.9 and 3.1 hours a day, respectively.
Reliance on ICT : Children – like adults – are increasingly dependent for :• Education• Entertainment• Contact and communication with family and friends• Shopping
Childhood is a temporary ‘impairment’ that will go away as the body and mind mature
Figures on children
Source : Per Helmersen - Senior Research Psychologist / Telenor R&D (Norway) – CEN/CENELEC/ETSI "Accessibility for All" Conference – Nice 27th March 2003
►Disabled people, elderly people and children are amongst the groups that could get the greatest benefits of ICT and especially Internet.
There is a high risk that IT will cause greater difficulties for these groups, rather than promoting new opportunities
Personal service is rapidly being replaced by IT and web-based services, both in public and private sectors Many new and complex online services are being and will be offered through a range of devices, including PC’s, mobile phones, PDA’s, kiosks…. Nearly all these systems make considerable demands on users in terms of their ability to read and write, interpret information quickly and make decisions.
Public and private services should be delivered in such a way that
they are accessible and relevant for each individual citizen. they provide equal rights and opportunity for participation for all.
Accessibility is key for the development of a more inclusive Society.
A global social challenge
And disabled people is a group where any of us could fall into, at any time, for a limited period or more…
Accessibility Center Europe Middle East AfricaCulture
IBM has a 50+ years history serving the needs of people with disabilities
1990 and beyond
1990 IBM Published a National Bulletin identifying the need for providing accessibility features in products and identifying simple accessibility requirements.1990 IBM Voice Type Dictation was introduced1994 IBM Screen Magnifier was launched1995 IBM launches the Special Needs Web site, now part of the Accessibility Center1995 IBM announces the first version of Home Page Reader1997 Development of the Java Accessibility API jointly with Sun Microsystems1999 Corporate Instruction 162 : IBM integrates accessibility requirements into development process2000 Launch of the IBM Accessibility Centers in USA, Europe and Japan2001 IBM Home Page Reader 3.0 received the Engineering Society’s ESD 2001 deVinci Award for assistive technology2002 IBM Web Adaptation Technology has been named Product of the Year for 2002 by the National Business and Disability Council (NBDC)
►For the tenth year running, IBM has been named as the company generating the highest number of patents. That reflects IBM's commitment to innovation and dedication to solving customer problems, including people with disabilities.
►Total number of IBM patents to date 38 000
►Number of new patents for IBM in 2002 3 000
►Number of patents originating in EMEA 500
►Number of technical professionals worldwide 170 000
►Number of Nobel Prize winning IBM scientists 5
IBM has a strong Research and Development
Technology and Innovation
►Leading-edge technologies must be used for enabling users
Accessibility Center Europe Middle East AfricaUsability
Usability focuses on making websites or applications easy for people to use.
Accessibility focuses on making them equally easy for everyone to use, including people with disabilities.
IBM has strong involvement, skills and experience in Usability
Do you want delighted customers ? Offer them what they want in a form that they find intuitive !
If your user can't use it, it doesn't work !
There is a very strong correlation between customer satisfaction and loyalty
A worldwide IBM competency network, “Ease of Use”, addresses Usability issues since years
An IBM Usability Laboratory, located in Hursley (UK) conduct usability studies using proven “User Engineering”, “User Centered Design” methodologies, techniques and tools and can propose Usability planning, design, testing and training service offerings.
IBM 7th annual Conference www.ibm.com/easy/makeITeasy
IBM is an original sponsor and active member of the WAI advisory council. IBM supports the WAI standards for protocols, content, tools and browsers with a view to enabling it to become a worldwide compatible superset of the US Section 508 standard. More than 50 IBM engineers are participating in the W3C working groups.
IBM is also active in the different European standardization bodies.Including the Design for All group
IBM also helped write the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) accessibility standard and was the editor of the International Standards Organization accessibility technical report
Accessibility Center Europe Middle East AfricaLegislation
In 1997, the federal government put together a committee to design an amendment to the Rehabilitation Act. IBM was chair of the original committee designing US Section 508 software requirements.
“The European Year is about moving forward in disability policy. It is about the fundamental values of equality, respect and diversity. And above all, it is about examining whether these core values are truly reflected in our societies. We are striving for a Europe where every citizen's needs are met.” Anna Diamantopoulou, European Commissioner responsible for Employment and Social Affairs – Magdeburg 21/02/2003
“There is a clear political will in Europe to continue to improve accessibility to the Information Society. eEurope 2005 Action Plan overall objective is to increase effective use of the Internet for which it is necessary to ensure the access of all citizens to the information society services. E-accessibility can be described, very concisely, as "online access ramps" or "ramps to the Internet". This reflects the need to ensure disabled people's access to information society services” Erkki Liikanen, European Commissioner responsible for Enterprise and Information Society – Nice 28/03/2003
"Disabled people want legislation that eliminates existing barriers in society and prevents new ones. The legal base for such a Directive exists. Disabled people and EDF, as the representative voice of 50 million disabled people in Europe, call upon the EU institutions to commit to this draft EU Directive this year, 2003, the European Year of People with Disabilities." Yannis Vardakastanis, President of the European Disability Forum – Strasbourg 12/03/2003
Explain current compliance gaps from Web to enterprise applications Assess development and production Provide one time or ongoing assessment designed to ensure compliance is maintained
►Design assessment
Design ongoing & future state of IT infrastructure – technology, tools and environment Create a strategy that encompasses entire life-cycle approach
►Consulting Remediation
Fix, test and run (re-architect, redesign, redeploy) code on web sites Re-architect infrastructure environment and roll out
► Geo-specific offerings
Home Page Reader Lite offering for EMEA
In 2002, IBM has made worldwide web accessibility services announcements
Accessibility Center Europe Middle East AfricaInformation and education
Team generates accessibility awareness►Promote the business value of accessibility in the market place►Procure corporate commitment to accessibility►Focus attention on accessibility as a vital issue within IBM►Promote accessibility education internally and externally
Applies technologies to solve problems experienced by people with disabilities►Evaluate technologies and prototypes from IBM Research►Merge into mainstream products when possible►Convert into working products for disabled people
Ensures awareness of accessibility requirements among IBM product developers►Establish a checklist of requirements for hardware, software, Java , Web and applications►Work with development teams to facilitate the building of accessibility features into their products►Chair IBM Accessibility Architecture Review Board
IBM has launched Accessibility Centers in the US, Europe and Japan
Accessibility Center Europe Middle East AfricaCommitment
Since 1999, worldwide accessibility enablement of all IBM mainstream products To comply with Corporate Standards, all operational IBM organizations are responsible for making their products or applications directly accessible or at least compatible with existing assistive technology
The product or application is required to meet all the checkpoints
All failing checkpoints must include a summary of the accessibility issues, an explanation of why the required item cannot be met, and a schedule indicating when those requirements will be implemented
Applies to:
►Hardware products, options and systems►Software products and applications►Services►Internet systems and Web sites►Output of tool and code generators►Product documentation
IBM integrates accessibility requirements into development process