Developing a Global Digital Accessibility Policy: What’s Going On Around the World?
David Sloan @sloandrSarah Horton @gradualclearing
What we plan to do• Present a case study looking at the findability
and nature of global digital accessibility policy and legislation
• Consider implications for organizations working globally
• More details in our blog post on global policy
What we ask you to do• Contribute your own experiences• Ask us questions• Share the session
A global view of accessibility
Image credit: Wikipedia
Accessibility policy challenges for large organizations
• Different types of digital product and service– Growth by acquisition
• Different processes• Scattered expertise and awareness of accessibility• Different territories, different local/market
requirements
Relevant Global Policies
UN CRPD• The UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (UN
CRPD, 2008)• Coverage includes:
– Focus on universal design– Accessibility of public information, communication systems and mass-
media– Rights to access to digital educational content– Rights to access culturally significant digital content
• Digital progress monitored annually by G3ict
Marrakesh Treaty• The Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to
Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print Disabled (2013)– Provides for exceptions to copyright legislation to
allow people with print disabilities to receive accessible versions of copyrighted content
A sample of digital accessibility legislation and policy
Image credit: Wikipedia
Territories covered• Four economically significant territories:
Brazil, China, India, South Africa• Australia selected as a baseline of a mature
legislative environment for digital accessibility
Approach• Opportunistic research strategy• We looked at:– Ratification of UN CRPD and Marrakesh Treaty– Existence, availability and nature of legislation,
and policy relating to digital accessibility
Findings• All territories have ratified the UN CRPD• But status and evolution of disability rights
legislation and supporting documentation is inconsistent
• Digital accessibility advocacy and outreach efforts in all territories – evidence particularly in Brazil and India
National web accessibility standardsStandard Scope Notes
AUS WCAG 2 AA Govt and non-gov
Specified in DDA guidance from Human Rights Commission
BRA eMAG 3.0 Gov (similar to WCAG 2 AA, but with some differences)
CHN None found – but some do exist
? Reference WCAG 2
IND Guidelines for Indian Government Web sites
Gov Accessibility requirements equivalent to WCAG 2 A. India also has a National Policy on Electronic Accessibility (2013)
RSA None found n/a
Copyright and accessibility• Australia, Brazil, China and India have signed
the Marrakesh Treaty – no ratification yet• All territories have copyright legislation– Brazil and India have some provisions for the
rights of people with disabilities to receive accessible versions
Some things for organizations to consider
• Slow convergence in nature of national policies, much vagueness still exists in disability equality legislation
• Diverse definitions of and attitude to disability• But potential trend towards focus on print
disability
Some things for organizations to consider
• Prominence of WCAG 2 (and absence of other WAI guidelines…)
• Dominance of HTML as output format• Some caution over relying on PDF as digital
content format
Some things for organizations to consider
• The need for capacity (legal and technical) to monitor global trends and events in legislation and standards
• Recognize and incorporate accessibility as a part of internationalization and localization efforts
Acknowledgements• We thank Pearson Global for their support in
funding this research study.