E-Accessibility Standards

Digital accessibility standards and guidelines define technical specifications and rules for the development of platforms and applications to enrich users experience not only for persons with disabilities but users at large. They also help in promoting accessibility and active participation of disabled persons since they cover different accessibility needs and diverse classifications. These sets of rules follow concise and comprehensive principles to ensure interoperability, compatibility, and consistence of products, applications and services.

Many national and International organizations have implemented the guidelines and standards for digital accessibility that covers all areas of ICT. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU-T), and World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) are the major organizations that have contributed greatly in developing some of the most important standards and guidelines serving the advancements of ICT. Some of these standards are general in nature and can be applied to wide areas in ICT, while others are very specific and applied only to one particular area of digital accessibility. These standards and guidelines have gained great attention since the adoption of the CRPD which was also fueled by the advancement ICT technologies, mainly the Internet, as a great mean of communication and a tool for inclusion.

According to ISO/IEC TR 29138-2^[16], Standards are divided into seven categorize based on their breadth of application and can be summarized as follows:

a) High-level standards.

b) Hardware/equipment-oriented standards.

c) Software/services-oriented standards.

d) User capabilities-oriented standards.

e) Environment-oriented standards.

f) Communications services-oriented standards.

g) Other relevant standards.