Executive summary of the report of "Seminar on Internet Accessibility and Persons
with Disabilities; an ASEAN Perspective (Bangkok, 12-16 July 1999)"
United Nations Voluntary Fund on Disability project - RAS/99/D21
Introduction
The Seminar on Internet Accessibility and Persons with Disabilities – an ASEAN
Perspective was a joint undertaking of the Secretariat
of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). and the ASEAN Subcommittee on
Microelectronics and Information Technology (ASEAN SCMIT) in cooperation with the National Institute of Development Administration of Thailand
(NIDA).
The Seminar had its origins in a proposal of the delegation of the Republic of the
Philippines, joined by the delegation of the Republic of Indonesia, at the thirty-seventh
session of the United Nations Commission for Social Development (New York, 9-19 February
1999) requesting assistance of the United Nations to organize a sub-regional technical
exchange on Internet accessibility and its role in furthering equalization of
opportunities of persons with disabilities.
Thirty-five persons attended the Seminar: 15 participants were nominated by six ASEAN
member States - Indonesia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Philippines, Singapore,
Thailand and Viet Nam, six members of the joint ASEAN Secretariat-ASEAN SCMIT-NIDA
organizing committee served in an expert capacity, and 14 observers joined the Seminar in
an individual capacity.
Opening of the Seminar
Dr. Juree Vichit-Vadakan, President of NIDA, opened the Seminar
on 12 July. She welcomed the distinguished participants to the Seminar and stated that
NIDA was honoured to co-operate with the ASEAN Secretariat and ASEAN SCMIT in its
organization and conduct. Dr. Juree noted that the purpose of the Seminar was to promote
awareness of Internet accessibility as both policy objective and technical standard, to
review and discuss Internet accessibility issues and trends and to identify common areas
of interest for further co-operation among ASEAN. In its capacity as a development
research and training institute, Dr. Juree said that it was possible to identify three
areas for further work by NIDA:
(1) determination of criteria on Internet accessibility - particularly "reasonable
levels of accommodation" - appropriate to ASEAN,
(2) policy options and instruments to promote Internet accessibility as a basic design
standard,
(3) strategies and measures to strengthen national capacities and institutions and
build thereby social software that is essential to localizing Internet accessibility among
ASEAN.
NIDA looked forward to co-operating with the ASEAN Secretariat in follow up to
recommendations identified by the Seminar.
Dr. Linda S. Posadas, Assistant Director (Science and Technology), ASEAN Functional
Co-operation Bureau presented brief remarks on behalf of the
ASEAN Secretariat and ASEAN SCMIT. Dr. Posadas recalled that one of the goals enunciated
in the "ASEAN Vision 2020"
is the realization of a competent and caring society. This suggests a need to identify
policy options and strategies to ensure the quality of life for all and to enable all
people to participate on the basis of equality and thrive in the information age. She
observed that the timing of the Seminar was opportune and provided a mechanism to bring
together the relevant stakeholders to identify and assess strategies and measures to
acquire and master information technologies at minimum risk and maximum benefit to society
as a whole. The Seminar is occurring at the time that ASEAN is studying the concept of an
"ASEAN Information Infrastructure" (AII) and examining the technological, legal,
regulatory and related issues that need to be addressed to ensure its success. The AII is
one of the key activities listed in the "Hanoi Plan of Action" that
was adopted by the Sixth ASEAN Summit, held in December 1998 at Hanoi. The mandate for
regional information technology development thus emanates from the heads of State and
Government and thus enjoys support at the highest levels of leadership in ASEAN. The ASEAN
Secretariat is using Internet technology as an enabling tool to promote regional
integration and to strengthen co-operation among ASEAN member States. Internet
accessibility is important to ASEAN.
The Seminar programme
The international Presentation Team assisting NIDA organize and conduct the
Seminar established an accessible Internet presence on the World Wide Web to publish
pre-Seminar materials and to support the Seminar proceedings, at http://www.worldenable.net.
The Seminar used lecture conferences, multimedia CD-ROM presentations and distance
collaboration – Internet chat – to review and discuss information policy,
technology and structural issues and trends and their implications for designing and
implementing accessible Internet-based resources.
The Seminar had a brief introduction to activities of the "DAISY Consortium"
for talking books, and the accessible information resources and assistive technology
development activities of the Japanese Society for Rehabilitation of Persons with
Disabilities, a non-governmental organization, by Mr. H. Kawamura, Director of the JSRD
Information Center (http://www.jsrd.or.jp).
Distance collaboration technologies were used to deliver a presentation and support a
dialogue on universal design concepts and principles by Ms. E. Ostroff, Founding Director
of the Center for Adaptive Environments, a non-governmental organization, from her offices
near Boston (Massachusetts, USA).
Group work focussed on application of concepts and approaches to analysis and planing
of effective and productive use of Internet technologies that are accessible to all. Group
work, which is summarized at the "Internet Accessibility; ASEAN Perspective"
Internet site at http://www.worldenable.net/iaaseanexercises.htm,
included sessions on planning and organizing distance collaboration activities, planning
and producing accessible information content, and concepts and methods of creating and
maintaining accessible Web pages.
The final group exercise involved drafting of a "strategic framework" to
promote Internet accessibility by, for and with persons with disabilities appropriate to
conditions among ASEAN. The results of group work were considered prior to the close of
the Seminar on 16 July.
Close of the Seminar
Mr. Leo Valdes, Seminar director, provided participants with a summary of the
substantive presentations of the Seminar: topics covered, main teaching points and
implications for planning, design and development of accessible Internet-based resources.
Mr. Valdes reported that an on-line "Internet Accessibility Forum", at http://www.worldenable.net/iadiscuss, had
been established by the WorldEnable Consortium to support Seminar follow up and promote
exchanges of knowledge and experiences.
Dr. Suchitra Punyaratabandhu, Special Advisor to the President of NIDA, made brief
remarks on behalf of NIDA thanking Seminar participants for their high level of interest
and cooperation. She introduced the NIDA team that had provided technical and
administrative support to the Seminar.
Dr. Juree Vichit-Vadakan, President of NIDA, delivered a brief closing statement to the
Seminar, thanking the participants, the ASEAN Secretariat and the international
Presentation Team for their excellent cooperation, hard work and valuable contributions
that had resulted in this highly successful Seminar. She also expressed the appreciation
of NIDA for the support of the United Nations, which allowed for a high-level of ASEAN
participation at the Seminar. Dr. Juree stated that NIDA looked forward to cooperating
with the ASEAN Secretariat and the ASEAN Subcommittee on Microelectronics and Information
Technology in Seminar follow up.
Mr. Totok Soegandi, Chairman, ASEAN Subcommittee on Microelectronics and Information
Technology, delivered the closing statement to the Seminar. He
expressed the appreciation of the ASEAN SCMIT member countries to NIDA, to the
international Presentation Team and to the United Nations for their assistance and
contributions to the Seminar. Mr. Totok made special mention of the outstanding efforts by
Dr. Linda Posadas, of the ASEAN Secretariat, to realize the Seminar.
Mr. Totok noted that even though only six ASEAN member countries were able to attend,
where Brunei, Cambodia, Malaysia and Myanmar were not represented, ASEAN SCMIT considered
the Seminar a success and was of the view that it could be beneficial in increasing
knowledge on the topic. He identified three areas in which ASEAN SCMIT could launch
regional initiatives to promote Internet accessibility: (1) policy advocacy, (2) research
and development, and (3) information exchange and dissemination of concepts, methods and
ideas.
Specific follow up measures would benefit from the views of the ASEAN Committee on
Science and Technology and be considered at the next session of ASEAN SCMIT, scheduled for
October 1999 in Singapore. It was envisaged that consultations would be initiated with the
ASEAN Committee on Social Development (ASEAN COSD) with a view to organizing a joint
COST-COSD "Task Force" on Internet Accessibility, which could build upon work of
ASEAN SCMIT on computer access issues.
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