E-Accessibility

People with disabilities are parts of the development agenda. Those persons face lots of geographical and social barriers. Here come the needs to find alternative solutions, which can use the ICT (information & telecommunications technology) to meet the access and service needs for PWDs. This article focuses in one hand, on accessible design (or design for all) by using technical standards, adaptive hardware and software, and multi-modality architecture. On the other hand, it discusses the availability due to the lack of an ICT infrastructure in the developing countries, and the affordability as PWDs live in vulnerable situation due to exclusion from education, employment and health care systems. The main aim is to facilitate accessibility of ICTs for all, and how to bring about necessary conditions for PWDs to enjoy the same opportunities in life by creating global awareness on the importance of accessible ICT as means of economic and social integration, to bridge the digital divide and provide equal access to all, and to serve as a medium to exercise fundamental rights. These objectives can be accomplished by using appropriate educational and administrative infrastructure, encouraging the design of ICT equipment production, promoting the development of technologies, encouraging the research on the information society including innovative forms of networking, and by adapting ICT infrastructure, tools, and applications.