Breaking barriers: Speakers call for making web accessible for special persons

Web experts calls for the need to involve people with special needs in the process

ISLAMABAD: To look for ways for making the web more accessible and useful for people with disabilities, a workshop was held on Thursday on web accessibility by the Internet Society.

While discussing a paper on web accessibility issues, Internet Society representative Shabbir Ahmed said that we often talk about minorities, marginalities, and racism, but we fail to talk about people with disabilities. “It is high time that we find a way to incorporate people with disabilities in our work and make use of their talent. The aim of gathering everyone here is not just to make web more accessible for people with special needs but also to find a way to involve them in the processes and operations,” he said.

Ahmed stressed that there was a need to implement standards, policies and laws to fulfil the legal requirement while also making websites accessible. “In terms of the accessibility of a website, its design and content both should be accessible.”

On a similar note, University of Engineering and Technology Professor Dr Sarmad Hussain discussed several applications and technologies that help people with special needs use the web. “Web access is important because the web is the main source of communication and a great tool for work in today’s age. Companies have a social responsibility,” he added.

Saima Yousaf, a freelance web expert and developer from Beyond Vision said that it is necessary for people with disabilities and impairment to use the web. “Before we find ways to make web accessible, we need to know the precise meaning of accessibility; it is to give equal access of information to everyone on a particular subject,” she said.

She further gave a presentation on her website and the different tools, techniques and features that can help make web accessible for people with special needs.

Pakistan Telecomm-unication Authority (PTA) chairman Dr Syed Ismail Shah said that the issue of accessibility requires parallel work. “A few years ago, PTA was supposed to keep a regulation and balance in the telecom sector. It played the role of a referee, however, that role is changing now and that is the reason why accessibility is PTA’s concern too now that it deals with voice and web and mobile applications”.

He said Pakistan has 20 to 30 million disabled persons that have the right to use the web. “I am honoured to be part of this because it taught me several things that will be worked on in the near future. I believe learning never stops and PTA is going to try its best to play a role in software development and work with telecoms to make web more accessible,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 18^th,  2015.