Transcript Recognition and e-Democracy for the Disabled Community

RECOGNITION and eDEMOCRACY
for MEMBERS of the COMMUNITY
with LIFELONG DISABILITY
Judith Molka-Danielsen, PhD
[email protected]
Susan Balandin, PhD
[email protected]
ePart of DEXA September 1st-4th 2009 Linz Austria
One challenge: resolving a difference in
perception
• “Disabled people’s reliance on others for help with the
tasks of daily living is confused with dependence
whereas, according to the independent living movement,
independence stems from the ability to control the
assistance required.” (Lister, 2007)
Society’s Questions
• Who do we recognize? Legislation is slow to appear
– US Rehabilitation Act of 1973 was first major US law
to grant persons with disability such basic civil rights.
– Rights of disabled person to the same fundamental
rights as all other people, including the same civil and
political rights (United Nations, 1975).
– EU signs human-rights charter 30 March 2007 on the
Rights of Persons with Disabilities. But does not sign
the protocal for complaints procedure.
http://www.euractiv.com/en/socialeurope/eu-limited-pledge-disabled-rights/article-162931
• Who are we prepared to redistribute (rights)?
– Access to information - Rehabilitation Act (2001) to
address rights of access to information.
(not implemented)
– Ability to voice opinion in social context.
(How?)
Democratic Models
• Held (2006/7) - “participatory democracy” focus on the
significance of peoples’ direct involvement
• Beethams (2005) - focus on the value of political
participation and highlights the possibilities in digital
democracy
But, does ICT help persons with disability?
• Democracy Committee of the Nordic Council of Ministers
(Demokratiutvalget, Sluttrapport ANP 2005:701) report
on the danger of “digital divides” & have revealed that
ICT first and foremost is a supplementary tool for the
few that already are politically active, while the groups
that are not already included in political work, do not use
ICT to become more politically active.
Possible Barriers to Political Activity
• Lower average annual income (than the general
population) – that prevents access to ICT.
• Physical disability that interferes with communication
(limited sight, hearing, motor control).
• Learning disability – that can be related to fewer years of
formal education or cognitive disability.
• Limited former experience with ICT due to the above
reasons.
Norway: Percentage with access to different ICT, by
household type and household income. 2nd quarter 2008
(Ref:http://www.ssb.no/ikthus_en/tab-2008-09-18-01-en.html
Type
PC
Internet
All households
86
84
HH w/children
98
98
HH w/o children
80
77
HH income
NOK 1000
<200
72
69
200-399
73
72
400-599
94
89
>600
97
97
Degree of
disability
2004
Total income
(NOK) 1000
All disability
pensioners
200
15-49 % disabled
331
50-69 % disabled
255
70-99 % disabled
183
100 % disabled
191
Norway Population aged 15-66, total, and persons with disabilities, by labour
force status, age and sex. 2nd quarter 2008. 1 000 and as per cent of all in each
group. http://www.ssb.no/english/subjects/06/01/akutu_en/tab-2008-09-01-02-en.html
Population
Age and
sex
Total
(1)
Employed
Disabled
(2)
Total
(3)
Not in the labour
force
Unemployed
Disabled
(4)
Total
(5)
Disabled
(6)
Total
(7)
Disabled
(8)
TOTAL
3 234
555
2 501
251
72
16
661
288
PER
CENT
100,0
17,2
77,3
45,3
2,2
2,9
20,4
51,9
15-24
100,0
8,3
59,5
48,4
5,4
7,8
35,1
43,9
25-39
100,0
9,5
86,7
51,6
2,2
5,5
11,1
42,9
40-54
100,0
18,5
87,1
53,6
1,3
2,7
11,6
43,7
55-59
100,0
30,7
78,9
44,8
1,0
1,1
20,1
54,1
60-66
100,0
38,0
53,7
28,9
0,4
0,6
45,9
70,5
How do persons with a disability
engage in local politics?
NIBR Report 2006:1 (Hanssen & Winsvold) Hanssen and
Winsvold explored the following major issues:
1. Do disabled engage in local politics by means of modern
electronic communication (via ICT);
2. What do disabled use ICT for with a focus on the use of
municipal home pages; that is are there differences
between the disabled and general public use of ICT for
political ends; and lastly
3. What can local political administrations do to ensure
equal participation in local politics for all parties?
Good questions – however, response rates were low and
not representative of persons over 55 years.
How can disabled persons be given a
voice?
e-Government policies through e-Democracy channels of
communication must address issues of cultural
misrecognition and material inequalities. (Lister,
2007; Goodlad and Ridell 2005; Witcher 2005).
1. Government regulations & policies must support the
opinion of a disabled person on equal footing with
those who do not have a disability.
2. Government must ensure that there are low cost ways
to access government information and services.
This is achieved through: conventions, laws, standards
leading to compliant implementations and statistics play
a role in evaluation.
UN convention
• The Convention marks a ‘paradigm shift’ in attitudes and
approaches to persons with disabilities.
• Persons with disabilities are not viewed as "objects" of charity,
medical treatment and social protection; rather as "subjects"
with rights, who are capable of claiming those rights and
making decisions for their lives based on their free and
informed consent as well as being active members of society.
The Convention gives universal recognition to the dignity of
persons with disabilities. http://www.un.org/disabilities/documents/ppt/crpdbasics.ppt
• The convention was ratified at the UN general assembly on
13. December 2006. Norway signed together with 80 other
states and the EU on 30. March 2007. In August 2008, there
were 129 states plus EU that had signed and 34 states that
had ratified. Norway has only signed (2007).
http://www.un.org/disabilities/countries.asp?navid=12&pid=166
•
General information from Norwegian government:
http://www.regjeringen.no/nb/dep/bld/tema/nedsatt_funksjonsevne/fn-konvensjon-om-rettighetene-tilmennes.html?id=511768&epslanguage=NO
New Norwegian Disability Discrimination
and Accessibility Act - in force 1 Jan 2009
Original Norwegian Text
Approximate Translation or Summary
Lov om forbud mot diskriminering på
grunn av nedsatt funksjonsevne
(diskriminerings- og
tilgjengelighetsloven)
Disability Discrimination and Accessibility
Act 2008
http://www.lovdata.no/all/tl-20080620-042-0.html#11
§ 11. Plikt til universell utforming av
Paragraph 11 – Duty of universal
informasjons- og
adaptation or development of ICT
kommunikasjonsteknologi (IKT)
ICT is defined as technology and systems
Med informasjons- og
of technology which are applied to
kommunikasjonsteknologi (IKT) menes
express, create, transform, exchange,
teknologi og systemer av teknologi
store, disseminate and publish
som anvendes til å uttrykke, skape,
information, or which in another
omdanne, utveksle, lagre,
manner makes information usable.
mangfoldiggjøre og publisere
informasjon, eller som på annen måte
gjør informasjon anvendbar.
New Norwegian Disability Discrimination
and Accessibility Act - in force 1 Jan 2009
Original Norwegian Text
Approximate Translation or Summary
Nye IKT-løsninger som
underbygger virksomhetens alminnelige
funksjoner, og som er hovedløsninger
rettet mot eller stillet til rådighet for
allmennheten, skal være universelt
utformet fra og med 1. juli 2011, men
likevel tidligst tolv måneder etter at det
foreligger standarder eller
retningslinjer for innholdet i plikten.
For eksisterende IKT-løsninger gjelder
plikten fra 1. januar 2021. Plikten
omfatter ikke IKT-løsninger der
utformingen reguleres av annen
lovgivning.
New ICT solutions which:
(a)
underpin or support the general
functions of an enterprise, and
(b)
are the main solutions targeting
or
made available to the general
public,
are required to be of universal design
as of 1 July 2011 PROVIDED THAT
this requirement shall not apply earlier
than 12 months after standards or
guidelines on the nature and contents of
this duty have become available. For
existing ICT solutions this duty applies
from 1 January 2021. This duty does not
apply to ICT solutions covered by other
legislation.
New Norwegian Disability Discrimination
and Accessibility Act - in force 1 Jan 2009
Original Norwegian Text
Approximate Translation or
Summary
Organet utpekt etter § 16
annet ledd kan gi dispensasjon fra
plikten etter annet ledd dersom det
foreligger særlig tungtveiende
grunner.
Kongen skal gi forskrifter med
nærmere bestemmelser om
avgrensning av virkeområdet og
innholdet i plikten til universell
utforming etter denne paragrafen.
The relevant authority may grant
dispensation from this duty where
there exists especially compelling
grounds.
Regulations will be issued detailing
the extent of the applicable areas of
the duty of universal design, and the
contents of such duty.
How do standards play a role?
• The Norwegian law is to apply to both public and private
sectors. New solutions that are “main solutions” or
“systems” must be universally designed from July 1, 2011,
and existing systems from January 1, 2021.
• But the questions remain, what are “main solutions” and
what is “new ICT”? Standards are needed:
• The Directorate for Government and ICT (DIFI) is the
regulator for the new law. Norge.no-miljøet that has
evaluated government web sites for “quality on net” since
2004 is a part of DIFI.
• Specifications, rules and standards are to be written, sent
out for hearing and finalized by summer 2010.
• Failure to comply with “quality on net” has been subject to
soft sanctions, but failure to comply with the new law can
be subject to hard sanctions. We still do not know what
those are.
•
References:
•
http://www.halogen.no/academy/fagartikler/universell-tilgjengelighet-for-ikt-rettet-motallmenheten/
http://www.helsedirektoratet.no/deltasenteret/utfordringer_og_muligheter_innen_universell_utforming_
av_ikt_363684
•
Standards and Evaluation
Support standard approaches that will aid disabled persons to
express their opinions and participate actively within their
communities.
–
W3C WCAG 2.0 – Web Content Accessibility Guidelines released on
December 10th 2008 will help web designers to build sites that can be
read and understood by persons with blindness, hearing impairments,
physical impairments and cognitive disabilities such as short-term
memory impairment or seizure disorders.
Comprehensive Statistics – The European Model on Disability and
Social Integration (Jorun Ramm & Berit Otnes, www.ssb.no,
2008) says The Nordic Cooperation on Disability (NSH) has
announced a need for comparable statistics on people with
disabilities across Nordic countries. The European Disability
and Social Integration Module is to be implemented in the EU
countries during 2010-2011, will be a new approach to study
disability. It will collect and analyze data with emphasis
activity limitations and participation restriction, in addition to
individual limitations.
Implementation – Inclusive Design
• Accessibility can be viewed as the "ability to access" the functionality,
and possible benefit, of some system or entity. Accessibility is often used
to focus on people with disabilities and their right of access to entities,
often through use of assistive technology.
• Universal design is a term originating in the USA and underpinned by 7
principles set out by architect and designer Ron Mace. “barrier free”
• Design for All is a process whereby designers, manufacturers and
service providers ensure that their products and environments address
users irrespective of their age or ability. It aims to include the needs of
people who are currently excluded or marginalized by mainstream design
practices and links directly to the concept of an inclusive society.
• The British Standards Institute (British Standard 7000-6:2005. Design
management systems - Managing inclusive design - Guide) defines
Inclusive design as "The design of mainstream products and/or services
that are accessible to, and usable by, as many people as reasonably
possible ... without the need for special adaptation or specialized design."
Inclusive design should be embedded within the design and development
process.
• Reference: http://www.tiresias.org/accessible_ict/what.htm
Ongoing research
Further research in this area is needed. In particular,
– The general attitudes and awareness in society are hard
to change and require learning.
We will explore what support are needed to allow persons
with lifelong disability to access and use a 3D virtual world
for a variety of social activities such as local political
engagement.
We will study the design process for inclusion of persons with
lifelong disability in the design of social meeting spaces
(such as the 3D virtual spaces) that may be used for social
and political interactions.
Our research using the 3D virtual world of Second Life will
study the attitudes and understanding of a student
segment towards persons with disabilities.