Subscribe to Newsletter Tell a Friend Print this Page 12/21/2009 Advancing Technological and Societal Inclusion in China: Meetings Report and Interview with Frances West, Director, IBM Human Ability & Accessibility Center (HA&AC)
Two IT Accessibility training sessions gathered Chinese organizations and international participants in Behai and Beijing, China in October 2009, co-hosted by IBM Corporate Citizens and Corporate Affairs (CC&CA), IBM Human Ability & Accessibility Center (HA&AC), and the IBM China team, in collaboration with G3ict and TecAccess. A meetings report, alongside with an interview with IBM Human Ability & Accessibility Center (HA&AC) Director, Frances West, are provided below. Meetings Report:Interview with Frances West, Director, IBM Human Ability & Accessibility Center (HA&AC): Frances West, Director, IBM Human Ability & Accessibility Center G3ict: The programs you co-hosted with the IBM Corporate Citizens and Corporate Affairs in Behai, China, last month for CDPF were extremely well attended. Which factors do you believe explain such a high level of commitment to web accessibility on the part of CDPF? F.W.: The China Disabled Persons Federation (CDPF) is the leading national organization for 83 million people with disabilities in China. They recognize the increasingly integral role that technology plays in all of our personal and professional lives, and as a result, view the accessibility of information technology (IT) as a critical component of their broader vision to advance the societal inclusion of people with disabilities nationwide. The CDPF has been actively working with IBM to help drive awareness of the importance of IT accessibility since 2004. In order to serve as a role model for other public- and private-sector enterprises throughout China, CDPF was also one of the first national organizations to take significant strides towards making their own website more usable for people with disabilities. The CDPF's established history of accessibility leadership has, and will continue to have, a major impact on the adoption of new IT standards and the mainstream integration of accessibility by government agencies and domestic and multinational companies doing business throughout China. G3ict: Among the many tools and techniques shared at the workshop, which ones were of greatest interest to CDPF IS professionals and web developers? Also, how would you assess the progress made by our Chinese colleagues in terms of web accessibility?F.W.: CDPF leaders and software developers were very enthusiastic about all the tools presented during the IBM Web Accessibility Workshop. However, since workshop attendees included a broad range of representatives from 33 provincial CDPF branches, most benefited from the interactive discussion around the basic principles of accessibility; the implications of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; and specific implementation of China's WCAG 2.0-based Web accessibility standard. While accessibility awareness has taken firm root in China, more forums are needed for key government officials, business leaders and technology developers to discuss and ask questions about the context, rationale and implementation techniques for IT accessibility. In addition, while excellent progress has been made in terms of overall awareness and understanding of basic accessibility guidelines, the rapid evolution of the Web and associated technology requires ongoing education and skills enhancement to ensure widespread usability of the Internet. However, this is true not only of our Chinese colleagues but those in all developed and developing countries, including the U.S. G3ict: How interested are our Chinese colleagues to adopt international standards such as WCAG 2.0?F.W.: In general, China has chosen to take a global leadership role by quickly adopting new international standards and legislation to advance IT accessibility and the rights of people with disabilities. For example, China was the first country to develop a Web accessibility standard based on WCAG 2.0 and was among the first to sign (March 2007) and ratify (January 2008) the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. These actions were in large part driven by China's "Harmonious Society" initiative, which was first proposed by the government in 2005 and includes an increased focus on advancing the technological and societal inclusion of all people with disabilities in China. G3ict: What were the key drivers that motivated the IBM Human Ability and Accessibility Center (HA&AC) and IBM Corporate Citizenship and Corporate Affairs (CC&CA) to hold these events in China at this time? F.W.: Several factors drove the development of the Web Accessibility Workshop and the Business Advantage of Accessibility Symposium in China. The first is fundamentally rooted in IBM values. As a globally-integrated company with more than 380,000 employees in 170 countries, we are committed to delivering innovation that matters to our clients and to the world. We also believe that diversity drives that innovation. With China's "Harmonious Society" initiative stimulating greater inclusion of people with disabilities, the HA&AC, CC&CA, and the IBM China team, which played a key role in terms of organization and execution, all believed these events could provide a unique forum to share our focus on diversity and support the societal transformation set in motion by the government. In addition, a number of converging trends in China - including the ratification of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, international advocacy influence, and increasingly socially conscious consumers - all indicate that the market is poised for mainstream adoption of accessibility. IBM clients such as the organizing committees of the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing and 2010 World Expo in Shanghai have already realized the benefits of accessibility. With the right tools and information, we believe many other government, education, healthcare, and local and multinational companies serving the people of China can also realize the competitive advantages of accessibility. Meetings Report: China Disabled Persons Federation Sets Benchmarks for Web Accessibility and WCAG 2.0CDPF, China Disabled Persons’ Federation is one of the largest organizations in the world representing persons with disabilities. With a full time staff of 80,000 workers and over 3,200,000 registered volunteers, CDPF covers all regions of China, catering to the need of over 83,000,000,000 disabled persons. While CDPF has historically brought multiple services and promoted the accessibility rights of persons with disabilities in the field of rehabilitation services, the built environment, transportation and employment and education opportunities, it has lately focused a great deal of effort to promote Digital Accessibility Rights.With the intent to lead by example and have its own Web sites become benchmarks for Web accessibility, CDPF convened over 200 information system managers and web masters from its 33 regional and national offices for an in depth review and training session on Web accessibility in Behai, South China, near the Vietnam border, October 21 and 22 2009. Supporting the event, IBM CC&CA, TecAccess and the IBM Worldwide Human Ability and Accessibility Center (HA&AC) provided technical expertise and covered the latest tools and guidelines included in WCAG 2.0 issued by W3C-WAI. G3ict provided a review of the dispositions of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on digital accessibility and more specifically on Web accessibility and took this opportunity to recognize the important role that CDPF played in the development of the text of the Convention by its Preparatory Committee. TecAccess led a full day of hands-on training for web developers the second day. Alongside this meeting, G3ict and CDPF exchanged a number of perspectives on the importance of digital accessibility and how to best promote it among public and private sector organizations. One important factor is China’s interest in supporting worldwide accessibility standards, hence the focus on WCAG 2.0 during this session. As China’s People Congress prepares a new legislative framework in 2010 for Disability Rights which will covering accessibility rules, CDPF is actively seeking and analyzing the experiences of other countries. With CDPF leaders dedicated to be at the forefront of digital accessibility and many young CDPF web developers eager to learn about accessible design, those meetings were exceptionally interactive and energizing. CDPF is likely to become the Chinese benchmark for Web accessibility: it will thus be in a strong position to lobby and support major Chinese Web sites from both the public and private sectors to develop accessibility strategies. In Beijing, Large Organizations Consider the Benefits of Digital AccessibilityThe following week, on October 26, at the invitation of IBM, Chinese organizations and international participants, including G3ict, met in Beijing for a review of the business advantages of digital accessibility for large corporations and public sector administrations both from an employment and customer service perspective.Baidu, the leading Chinese Search Engine was a participant alongside Chinese IT companies, CDPF and representatives from government. G3ict presented success stories of corporations around the world leveraging digital accessibility to improve employment opportunities for persons with disabilities and reach out to a greater number of customers. John Kemp, president of the USBLN, gave an impassionate personal account of the opportunities to employ persons with disabilities while Frances West, head of the IBM Worldwide Human Ability and Accessibility Center focused on the measurable business advantages of implementing digital accessibility. Chinese presenters and IBM shared the same vision that digital accessibility solutions, while primarily serving persons with disabilities, were in fact an important success factor as corporations employ and serve an increasingly diverse and aging population. The meeting, organized by the IBM China Business Innovation Center and the Employment Service & Administrative Center of CDPF was extremely well attended with over 70 large corporations, academic institutions and public sector administrations represented. Because of the focus of China’s Central Government and CDPF advocacy, it was abundantly clear that Disability Rights including Digital Accessibility were high on the agenda of the organizations present in the audience. Other active participants and supporters of this meeting included TecAccess, the United States Business Leadership Network (USBLN), the Global Initiative for Inclusive ICTs (G3ict), IBM China Research Lab, Industry Sector Units, IBM Public Sector, IBM Communications. back Related Items: • China - Those Who Can't See Can Surf • Reporting from Lisbon and London- the World Telecommunication Policy Forum (WTPF) and The Inter-Parliamentary Union CPRD Regional Seminar • "China Disabled Persons Federation Workshop," Beihai - Oct 21-22 & "Accessibility Seminar," at IBM China Business Innovation Center (CBIC), Beijing - Oct 26, China Comments No records were found.
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