Recently, Chennai was the host for the World Cup Cricket tournament for the Blind/Partially Blind.  It was nice to know that there is an outlet for these less privileged persons in the field of sports. Indian Cricket players such as Anil Kumble have been in the forefront of activities aimed at bringing cheer to a section of the physically and mentally challenged youngsters so that they can grow up in life to face the society with confidence.

However, it is not always that the society recognizes the needs of these people in their day to day lives. While some needs such as special automobiles, providing of ramps in buildings    etc are often discussed to meet the requirements of physically challenged persons,  not much thought has been spared to the needs of the physically challenged persons in the field of IT in  India. Individual initiatives of some corporate chiefs have provided special job opportunities in some cases but most of the opportunities have gone to those who can work with normal Computers and software only. Visually impaired persons and those with finger or hand disabilities have not yet found the industry comfortable to work.

It is not out of place to mention here that the South African E-Commerce Act 2002 has given a special representation for Disabled Persons as a category in the Domain Space administration system displaying the recognition of the community. However, Indian Cyber Laws or the proposed Convergence Act have not provided any statutory recognition for the problems in the use of Computers by physically challenged persons.

While we need  to draw the attention of the regulators towards bringing in legislatory compulsions on the industry  to provide for infrastructure in the IT industry to accommodate physically challenged persons, there is a need for some voluntary action from the industry towards better "Web Accessibility" for physically challenged persons.

While hardware suppliers need to think of redesigning the key boards or the Mouse to enable easy access and software developers to build more audio  commands into the software design, one immediate task which web designers need  to think of is to design websites to help visually impaired persons navigate easily.

A more detailed discussion on Points to be  remembered while designing websites for easy accessibility can be found at http://www.awdd.org/

I request all to kindly visit this site and send me comments on what can be done in India for a similar cause. 

Information  about any activity in India involving IT Empowerment of Physically Challenged persons is welcome. Naavi is interested in setting up a Society for IT empowerment of Physically Challenged and any Company interested in the proposal can indicate their interest.

Naavi

February 18, 2003

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