E-accessibility Guidelines Template

A major component of ESCWA project "The Arab Digital Inclusion Platform (ADIP)" is to develop an E-accessibility Template to help member countries implement national guidelines for the broad e-accessibility issues that includes web accessibility, telecom equipment accessibility, audiovisual media and Assistive technologies accessibility, for the inclusion of all citizens in a fair and equal use of ICT.

As clarified in the Standards section, many standards have addressed the classification of accessibility guidelines into 3 main groups. The 1st group is based on the desired WCAG success criterion (A, AA, AAA). The 2nd is based on functionality (disability type) and the last is based on requirements. For the purpose of creating the templates three models are proposed for e-accessibility templates, web accessibility, mobile accessibility and public access terminals and smart cards accessibility. While relaxing some of the strict criterion, as an encouraging step for further adoption of more specific guidelines, the proposed templates with such a relaxed approach acclimates with the different definitions of disability.

Two important guidelines, Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG 2)[66] and User Agent Accessibility Guidelines (UAAG)[67], are part of the WCAG guidelines and complement other guidelines in achieving accessible web content. ATAG 2 if applied, it would make the software that creates content, authoring tools, accessible and help developers and persons with disabilities to create accessible web content. The UAAG enables developers to create web content rendering applications, user agent, such as browsers accessible.

The templates will address the following ICT accessibility issues:

  • Web Accessibility
  • Mobile Accessibility
  • Bank ATM machines and similar information providing terminals.
  • Electronic payment and entry Cards
  • ICT procurement

They serve the following disability categories:[e]

  • Auditory disability (low hearing level to deaf)
  • Cognitive and neurological disability (attention deficit hyperactivity, learning disabilities, dyslexia, memory impairments)
  • Speech disability (fluency, stuttering, muteness)
  • Visual disability (low vision, blind, color blind)
  • Multiple disabilities

E-Accessibility Templates will be based on the following standards and Guidelines with different mappings:

  • Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.2[68] [f]
  • Revised Section 508 standards published January 18, 2017 and corrected January 22, 2018 [69]
  • EN 301 549 V3.1.1 (2019-11) HARMONISED EUROPEAN STANDARD Accessibility requirements for ICT products and services[70]
  • Both ATAG 2.0 and UAAG 2.0 are applicable to all operating systems installed on personal computers or handheld devices (Mobile Phones). developers of user agents
  • These guidelines serve as basis for ICT hardware and software procurement. Any product that complies with these guidelines is considered accessible.
  • These templates need to be revised periodically to include the updated versions of the above mentioned standards.

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