Access For All » Survey

Internal market for inclusive and assistive ICT, targeted market analysis and legislative aspects – final report

admin — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 08:36:06 +0000

The aim of the study “Internal market for inclusive and assistive ICT, targeted market analysis and legislative aspects” was to examine the main barriers and opportunities today in the European Internal Market for assistive ICT and look at what could be gained from addressing these.
The study has assessed the different models existing in nine Member States for the provision of assistive ICT to people with a disability, analysed the demand- and supply side of the market and conducted a number of case studies. The study puts forward a number of scenarios, conclusions and recommendations for the achievement of the European Internal Market for assistive ICT that supports the digital inclusion of people with a disability.

Download the final report (September 2011).

Acccessibility in 11 European cities : a book available & a conference coming up

admin — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 05:21:49 +0000

Between 2007 and 2010, Certu (Centre for the study of urban planning, transport and public facilities in France) conducted a study in 11 European cities, located in five different countries: Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, the United Kingdom and Spain. The results of this work are now being published and are available as a French/English book, and can only be purchased on the Certu’s on-line catalog (for €40 + delivery cost).

Also a symposium will now be organised on accessibility practices observed in European cities. This event will take place in Montpellier (France), on Tuesday, September 27th 2011. The working languages will be both French and English. The registration fee (€105) includes a copy of the book mentioned above.

Practical information and registration
Corinne Ginestet – +33 (0)4 67 99 76 40 corinne.ginestet@cnfpt.fr

Registration fees
€105, including lunch and a copy of the book « Accessibility practices in 11 European cities for persons of reduced mobility » (published on summer 2011 – price 40€)

Online registration: www.evenements.cnfpt.fr/rstt

Venue
Montpellier – Maison des étudiants – Espace Richter
Place Eugène Bataillon
34090 Montpellier
Map available on the website

eAccessibility2020 survey – 1st results

admin — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 06:39:55 +0000

First results of the 1st survey of the eAccessibility2020 study are available. The detailed analysis will be available in early September.

Basic statistics (as of 27/07/11):

The mean age of the respondents is 44 (ranging from 25 to 86 years old) with 73% of them being men and 27% being women. 18% of the respondents fall under the category of either having a disability or being a carer of a disabled person or being above 65. Finally 14% of the responses came from countries outside the EU.

Results:

Concerning the ‘User Needs’ respondents consider that practically all aspects of life of older people and people with disabilities will require new eAccessibility solutions by 2020. Health (Health: access to medical ICT devices & Health: access to e-health information services) and employment (Employment: e-work applications of tomorrow) appear at the top of the list.
In the same area of ‘User Needs’, respondents rate as more important for new eAccessibility solutions in 2020 the: cognitive disabilities and the multiple disabilities. These two types of disability are ranked first in the list that covers also visual, hearing, speech, mobility and psychological disabilities.
From a technological perspective and according to the survey results, 4 novel ICT solutions have been highlighted among a list of 18 as the most promising for the development of new eAccessibility solutions in 2020:

New Human Computer Interaction (HCI) Interfaces and Platforms
Motion and Gesture-recognition Systems
Ambient Intelligence (e.g. appliances and devices embedded in the home environment, that are context aware i.e. recognise the user and also personalized or even anticipatory)
Language Technologies (Natural Language Processing)

Respondents recognise that there is evidence of future societal, technology and/or market trends affecting (directly or indirectly) the development of e-accessibility solutions. The following 3 trends reach the top:

Societal trend: Growing number of older people living alone
ICT trend: Multi-purpose interaction devices (e.g. smart phones and terminals)
Market trend: Mainstreaming of accessibility in ICT products and services

Finally, in the question ‘How important do you judge each of the following initiatives / actions for the future mainstreaming of e-Accessibility solutions?’ surprisingly responses bring ‘Enhancing awareness on eAccessibility requirements among IT developers/ companies’ on the top, leaving below other important initiatives such as: stricter policy enforcement, research at EU level or networking among relevant actors.

eAccessibility2020

admin — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 11:55:25 +0000

The study on eAccessibility2020 (“Study on Implications from Future ICT Trends on Assistive Technology and Accessibility”, SMART 2010/0077) aims to provide the EC with recommendations on future research policy, especially regarding FP8 (ICT & FET) and the next Competitiveness & Innovation Programme (CIP).
Also, the study will make suggestions on relevant standardisation issues and on EC policy activities for the wider mainstreaming and adoption of eAccessibility. To do so the study team will elaborate and validate specific use and technology-scenarios for 2020. These scenarios will result from vigorous interaction with eAccessibility-related stakeholders and experts, which will involve among other the identification and assessment of ‘Drivers of Change’ affecting the course of eAccessibility (i.e. key-trends, micro-trends and weak-signals).
The study approach adopts a variety of methodologies, tools and activities and it is presented at www.e-accessibility2020.eu together with news, e-surveys and eventually the study results.
All interested individuals or organisations are invited to register in the study’s website so as to stay informed and/or participate in the study activities.
The study is conducted for the European Commission, DG Information Society & Media, Unit ‘ICT for Inclusion’.

World report on disability

admin — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 17:51:48 +0000

The first ever World report on disability, produced jointly by WHO and the World Bank, suggests that more than a billion people in the world today experience disability.
People with disabilities have generally poorer health, lower education achievements, fewer economic opportunities and higher rates of poverty than people without disabilities. This is largely due to the lack of services available to them and the many obstacles they face in their everyday lives. The report provides the best available evidence about what works to overcome barriers to health care, rehabilitation, education, employment, and support services, and to create the environments which will enable people with disabilities to flourish. The report ends with a concrete set of recommended actions for governments and their partners.
This pioneering World report on disability will make a significant contribution to implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. At the intersection of public health, human rights and development, the report is set to become a “must have” resource for policy-makers, service providers, professionals, and advocates for people with disabilities and their families.

Roadmap for research on accessible user interfaces

admin — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 08:48:44 +0000

A roadmap is being developed for research on accessible user interfaces. If you are interested in contributing to this roadmap, please go to http://www.cardiac-eu.org/user_interfaces/.

The roadmap will include: (a) Clear proposals on what technologies need to be supported (e.g. eye tracking, voice/gesture reckoning, wearable devices, smart displays); (b) Clear inputs on what methodologies have to be investigated (e.g. adaptive UI design, accessibility evaluation guidelines for devices, services and applications); (c) Clear contributions on what kind of tools should be developed (e.g. automatic accessibility verification/design tools, accessible user interface description languages).

This is a unique opportunity to shape the thinking and direction of future research funding by the European Commission in this area, and the aim is to gather input from a diverse range of stakeholders. A Wikispace has been set up to collect as much input as possible, visit
http://userinteraction-sdd-cardiac.wikispaces.com/Round+1-Generation.

ViPi survey on ICT training needs for people with disabilities

admin — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 11:59:58 +0000

The ViPi team would like to announce the release of the ViPi user requirement survey. The survey aims to assess:

the needs of the potential ViPi community;
the requirements for ICT training;
what training material is currently available;
which teaching approaches and methodologies are employed/most successful.

The survey is tailored to people with disabilities and organisations representing them, relatives, carers and trainers of people with disabilities, and also people dealing with the employment of and policy regarding people with disabilities.

While there are a high number of total questions, it will guide you to those parts of the survey which are relevant to you. The survey length varies dependent on your particular interest in the ViPi project, but should not take more than 15 minutes to complete. All personal questions are optional.

The outcomes of this survey will guide the focus of future ViPi project developments, and hence it is a very important part of the project. It is also your opportunity to express your opinions on ICT training for people with disabilities. Please spare the time to complete the survey, and guide ViPi in the direction that will benefit all stakeholders best.

The survey can be found here:

Many thanks in advance,
The ViPi team.

About ViPi:

ViPi (Virtual portal for ImpaiRed Groups Interaction) aims to provide a “one-stop-shop” interactive portal & learning environment that delivers:

a comprehensive multilingual portal , with;
an embedded multilingual social community (for VET centres, PwD, ICT training centres, etc.), using the latest social media, facilitating interactive information sharing, interoperability, and collaboration, with access to all;
an accessible (WCAG 2.0) multilingual Web 2.0 enabled online ICT for learning environment to PwD, their trainers, with an interactive and vast repository of interoperable SCORM compliant learning objects (LOs) that focus on basic ICT literacy to allow PwD to grasp this core skill in order to be able to enter or sustain their employment in the regular labour market, enriched with intuitive mobile Java and Flash Lite based mobile and internet/PC based educational/serious games;
The final outcome will be an entire set of applications and services that will be streamlined via a blended educational and pedagogical framework, making full usage of the interaction possibilities offered by web 2.0, and localised, tested, piloted and subsequently fine-tuned with GR, BE, LT, UK and CY end-user communities.

The platform will equally act as a “one-stop-shop” for trainer organizations to find and contribute LOs that they can integrate in existing learning environments and practices. Using Open Source Software, ViPi platform extensions can be easily integrated.
ViPi platform will thus be able to support a fully accessible and Open Source based pan-European learning network and community, bringing together key stakeholders and gatekeepers (VET, target groups, umbrella organizations), while offering a vast set of reusable (PC and Mobile) LOs, supported by Web 2.0 social services.

The ViPi KA3 LLL project (511792-LLP-1-2010-1-GR-KA3-KA3NW) has been partially funded under the Lifelong Learning program, subprogramme KA3 ICT.

Survey – Barriers that prevent inclusive education implementation in European countries

admin — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 08:55:46 +0000

Ms. Evmorfia Gamoulou (a Greek post-graduate student) is conducting a research about the barriers that prevent inclusive education implementation in European countries.
Her survey is directed towards European school social workers and school psychologists who work closely with students with special educational needs.
The aim of her research is to uncover the inclusive practices that are implemented in European countries but also to identify the parameters of social inclusion that take place in mainstream schools.
The survey exists in Dutch, French, Greek and English.
The questionnaires should be completed until 25th of June 2011 and can be sent to morfoula1981@hotmail.com. All provided information will be kept anonymously and confidential.

Usability study of mobile phone screen reader software in London – June 13–15 2011

admin — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 08:55:34 +0000

Research In Motion, along with RNIB, are going to be hosting a usability study of mobile phone screen reader software in London at the RNIB Judd Street location on June 13 – 15. Do you know of any iPhone VoiceOver users you think might be interested in participating in such a study? If so, please pass this information along to them.
Here is a summary of the event:

Usability study of screen readers on mobile phones;
Specific focus of this study is VoiceOver on iPhone;
Being held on June 13 – 15 at various times at the RNIB Judd Street location;
Participants need to be VoiceOver users on their own iPhone.

Interested parties should email accessibility@rim.com or Sai Prapagharan.

Accessibility of Social Networking Services

admin — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 09:32:01 +0000

Technosite published last year (December 2010) an interesting analysis on the “Accessibility of Social Networking Services“. A pity the analysis does not address the actual technicalities (e.g. RIA, Java, etc. usage).

Accessibility, an ongoing struggle in every domain of daily life

admin — Tue, 10 May 2011 19:09:01 +0000

Following presentation “Accessibility, an ongoing struggle in every domain of daily life” was given at the ATTRACT workshop in Madrid, Spain on 10 May 2011.

Monitoring eAccessibility Study

admin — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 07:18:57 +0000

As part of the “Monitoring eAccessibility” Study, an online survey is taking place. This study will provide an overview of the status and progress of eAccessibility-related policies and technologies in 12 selected European countries and three non-European countries. The topic of this survey is “eAccessibility”, in other words the ways that people with disabilities and others (such as older people) overcome the technical barriers and difficulties they experience when trying to participate on equal terms in the information society.
ICT is increasingly essential for daily life and work. ICT contributes to efficiency and quality of public services, business opportunities, workers’ productivity and overall competitiveness.
The opinion of organisations representing people with disabilities and users is very valuable for the aim of this study, and for that reason Technosite would kindly ask you to disseminate the participation in this survey throughout all your contacts and relevant organizations.
The results of this questionnaire will be compared with the data collected from ICT and policy experts in order to have the widest possible view of the current eAccessibility context. For this reason, it is really important that every organisation completes the relevant parts of the questionnaire, even if eAccessibility is not a core feature of their activities.
This questionnaire asks about the everyday eAccessibility experiences of end users and people with disabilities, and does not require any specific technical knowledge.
The information collected in the survey will be processed anonymously. It will be used to make comparisons between countries but not linked to any individual organisations, and will be used for non-commercial purposes.
To access to the questionnaire, please follow these easy steps:

Go to http://www.eaccessibility-monitoring.eu
In the section “National experts” in the bottom right hand corner, enter the following user and password.
Name: User066
Password: User066_01
Click on “Survey”
On the left side, click on “add” and after that, click on “Continue”.
From this point, you can now start to complete the questionnaire. It should not take you more than 10-15 minutes. Please, do not forget to click on “send” in the last page of the questionnaire to finish it correctly.

The questionnaire is divided into 20 topics. The first one, “About your Organisation” is to collect facts and figures about your organisation and is solely to collect statistical data. Each of the following 19 sections addresses a specific aspect of eAccessibility that falls within the scope of this study.
Each section has one or more questions regarding specific technologies or policy indicators in relation to a particular ICT domain. Not all questions / sections may be relevant to the user group(s) represented by your organisation or address your expertise. Wherever this is the case, you only need to tick the box provided below the question and move on to the next one. At the bottom of each question there is also an optional field in which you may add comments, suggestions or clarifications relating to that specific topic.
Should you have any questions or problems in completing the questionnaire do not hesitate to get in touch at any time. Please send an email explaining your question to users66@technosite.es. Technosite has also provided you with a glossary of the key terms used in the survey.
They would be very grateful if you could complete the questionnaire by May 8th 2011.

Creating a Roadmap for ICT and Ageing

admin — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 03:06:40 +0000

BRAID is currently in the process of elaborating and refining a plan of actions as part of the aimed strategic research agenda for ICT and Ageing. A well conceived roadmap needs to be drawn on the basis of an inspiring vision of what society wants to achieve in future. Therefore we are proceeding with the development of a vision-driven roadmap.
In terms of the roadmapping process, BRAID follows an approach based on the classical scientific method, adapting a structured method well tested in previous roadmapping projects (e.g. THINKcreative, VOmap, ePAL). In brief, after the identification and characterization of the baseline, definition of desirable scenarios, identification of main drivers and trends, a gap analysis was performed. In sequence, a first plan of actions was proposed to cover all aspects of the vision, according to each one of the selected life settings: Independent living, Healthy living, Occupation in life, and Recreation in life. Next phases will focus on detailing the plan of actions and elaborating an implementation plan.
Consensus-building and acceptance by a large community of stakeholders is an important validation mechanism for a useful roadmap. Therefore, in parallel with the development of the research agenda, BRAID is organizing a number of workshops with stakeholders in order to collect feedback and reach consensus.
For more information on the BRAID roadmapping process please contact: Luis M. Camarinha-Matos.
More information at www.braidproject.eu.

Mobile devices & communication apps: an AAC-RERC white paper

admin — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 12:59:35 +0000

The Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Communication Enhancement (AAC-RERC) offers a white paper as a means for raising issues related to mobile technologies and AAC Apps and to encourage discussion and collaboration among AAC stakeholders. In order to gather information in a timely manner, they interviewed more than 25 AAC “thought leaders” between January and March, 2011, representing multiple stakeholder groups. Interviews were conducted by phone, e-mail and Skype.
This white paper is available as a downloadable pdf.

Global Web Accessibility Analysis of National Government Portals and Ministry Web Sites

admin — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 16:20:06 +0000

Equal access to public information and services for all is an essential part of the United Nations (UN) Declaration of Human Rights. Today, the Web plays an important role in providing information and services to citizens. Unfortunately, many government Web sites are poorly designed and have accessibility barriers that prevent people with disabilities from using them.
The article Global Web Accessibility Analysis of National Government Portals and Ministry Web Sites (Morten Goodwin; Deniz Susar; Annika Nietzio; Mikael Snaprud; Christian S. Jensen) combines current Web accessibility benchmarking methodologies with a sound strategy for comparing Web accessibility among countries and continents. Furthermore, the article presents the first global analysis of the Web accessibility of 192 United Nation Member States made publicly available.
The article also identifies common properties of Member States that have accessible and inaccessible Web sites and shows that implementing antidisability discrimination laws is highly beneficial for the accessibility of Web sites, while signing the UN Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities has had no such effect yet. The article demonstrates that, despite the commonly held assumption to the contrary, mature, high-quality Web sites are more accessible than lower quality ones. Moreover, Web accessibility conformance claims by Web site owners are generally exaggerated.

Details:
Global Web Accessibility Analysis of National Government Portals and Ministry Web Sites
Morten Goodwin; Deniz Susar; Annika Nietzio; Mikael Snaprud; Christian S. Jensen
Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 1933-169X, Volume 8, Issue 1, 2011, Pages 41 – 67

Conference on the World Report on Disability

admin — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 10:47:39 +0000

The Center for International Rehabilitation Research Information and Exchange (CIRRIE) organises a conference on the World Report on Disability, which is being released by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank on 9 June, 2011. The two-day symposium on September 12 & 13, 2011 at the DoubleTree Hotel Crystal City, Arlington, VA (USA) will be conducted in cooperation with WHO, the Pan American Health Organization, the World Bank, the Interagency Committee on Disability Research, and the United States International Council on Disabilities. For more information, please see the conference’s website.

Study recommends a new organisation to respond to the needs of senior citizens

admin — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 07:56:55 +0000

A new report recommends that an innovative organisational model be created to respond more effectively to the needs of senior citizens and other stakeholders focussed on such needs. The report, prepared by Trilateral Research and Consulting, finds that calls to overcome the fragmentation of effort among existing organisations across the European Union could best be addressed through the creation of a new umbrella organisation aimed at fostering greater co-ordination and collaboration and at linking existing organisations, policy-makers and senior citizens themselves.
The “Report on mechanisms for stakeholder co-ordination”, one of the deliverables of the EC-funded BRAID (Bridging Research in Ageing and ICT Development) project, notes various calls for improved co-ordination, including those made by EU Ministers responsible for e-inclusion. It examines the needs of the various stakeholders (policy-makers, industry, civil society organisations, academia, the media as well as senior citizens) and finds that existing organisations do not adequately address all these needs, nor are they meeting the calls for greater partnership in responding to these needs. The report examines 10 different organisational models (each of which is represented by three different examples) and finds that each has advantages and disadvantages, but none appears suitable to meet the calls for improved co-ordination, collaboration and co-operation among all stakeholders.
Some organisations do exist to link industry and potential users; however, these fragmented initiatives are often short-lived and geared towards one type of stakeholder. A new organisation is needed that links industry, users, policy-makers, the media and other relevant stakeholders in order to achieve the maximum benefit for European citizens as they age.
BRAID is currently drawing up recommendations as to how a new approach for an inclusive, open and democratic organisation could support research and development, act as a focal point for e-inclusion, address the market for assistive technologies, help efforts to harmonise legislation, reduce regulatory barriers, implement standards and encourage interoperability of assistive technologies. The recommendations aim at supporting efforts by the European Commission and Member States to improve the lives of older Europeans and optimise national social policies and programmes. The BRAID partners are hosting a series of expert workshops across Europe this year to address these issues and to develop a cohesive vision for senior citizens and ICT over the next decade as well as a roadmap to achieve that vision.
Source: BRAID project

Commission launches consultation on active & healthy ageing

admin — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 06:38:27 +0000

As received from EC:

The European Commission is seeking the views of public and private organisations, companies and individual citizens on how Europe could scale up innovation to meet the challenges of the ageing population in Europe, and in particular on a pilot European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on active and healthy ageing, as set out in the Innovation Union Flagship Initiative, presented on 6 October by Maire Geoghegan Quinn, European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science and Antonio Tajani, Vice-President for Industry and Entrepreneurship. Between 2010 and 2030, the number of Europeans aged over 65 will rise by nearly 40%, posing huge challenges but also offering great opportunities for Europe’s society and economy. The EIP, which the Commission has proposed should be launched in 2011, would seek to meet three goals: to improve the health and quality of life of older people, enabling them to live active and independent lives; to contribute to the sustainability and efficiency of health and social care systems; and to foster competitiveness and business opportunities . The online consultation runs until 28 January 2011.
John Dalli, European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy said: “Europe needs to prepare for the future ageing of its society and the use of innovation shall be one of the tools at our disposal. This is why I am very pleased that the very first of the Partnerships is on Active and Healthy Ageing: it will imply a close cooperation across different policies covering public health, research, digital and industrial policy.”
Neelie Kroes, Commission Vice-President for the Digital Agenda said: “People are living for longer – and should be able to do so as actively and independently as possible, with the help of innovative solutions such as fall-detection and prevention devices, easy to use social interaction services to overcome loneliness, and smart use of ICT in the home. We need input from stakeholders to make sure the future Innovation Partnership can help to make these ideas a reality for Europe’s senior citizens.”
The consultation invites interested stakeholders, such as organisations representing the elderly and patients, hospitals and care service providers, health and care professionals, insurers, Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) and health companies, public authorities and individual citizens, to help identifying current barriers to innovation and opportunities in the field of active and healthy ageing. Contributors can also share existing and future initiatives which could be undertaken at European level and advanced in a collaborative way. These should focus on how innovative solutions can bring promising and tangible outcomes to benefit the elderly.
The European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing, as a headline target, aims to increase the average healthy lifespan in the EU by two years by 2020. It seeks to improve older people’s quality of life and to lead to more efficient care solutions. It will focus on applying innovation on a larger scale than today in areas such as health promotion, prevention, early diagnosis and treatment, integrated and collaborative health and social care systems, independent living and assistive technologies for older people.
The Commission will analyse the responses to the consultation, in order to obtain a clear view of the innovation potential and capacity in the multiple areas that affect ageing today. The responses will help the Commission to plan the next steps for the EIP.
The online consultation runs in parallel to a Conference on the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing, which is taking place in Brussels today. More than 150 stakeholder representatives are due to discuss their ideas for the partnership to convert into concrete actions.
Background
The European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing is part of the EU’s “Innovation Union” strategy, one of the Europe 2020 flagship initiatives, to turn ideas into jobs, green growth and social progress (IP/10/1288). The Innovation Union has a three-fold goal: making Europe into a world-class science performer; revolutionising the way public and private sectors work together, notably through Innovation Partnerships, and removing bottlenecks – like expensive patenting, market fragmentation, slow standard setting and skill shortages – that currently prevent ideas getting quickly to market.
This corresponds to the Digital Agenda for Europe’s objective to harness the potential of ICT to boost prosperity and improve people’s quality of life (see IP/10/581, MEMO/10/199 and MEMO/10/200). The Digital Agenda seeks inter alia to ensure that ICT allows a more independence for people who are frail or suffer from chronic conditions and for persons with disabilities. It aims to double the take-up of independent living arrangements for the elderly by 2015.
Similarly, “fostering good health in an ageing Europe” was identified as one of the three main objectives of the EU’s Healthy Strategy “Together for Health”.
The consultation document is available here.

eAccess+ thematic network

admin — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 13:49:30 +0000

The EU eAccess+ thematic network is developing a range of support systems for co-ordinating, supporting and improving the implementation of eAccessibility throughout Europe. The network has a special focus on three topics within eAccessibility (Web accessibility, Accessible convergent communications and accessible digital audio-visual systems, Self-service terminals (SSTs) and devices for banking and financial services, public transport, tourism and cultural heritage, e-government).

The network will involve all stakeholder groups (including legislators, regulators, policy makers, commissioners, owners and deployers of systems, developers of hardware and software, user organizations, researchers, accessibility and usability experts, educators), analyse the state of the art on eAccessibility, and analyse the obstacles and missing links hindering the uptake of eAccessibility

To address the current problems of improving eAccessibility, the network will develop online resources such as a website, wikis, and podcasts to address key eAccessibility topics, gather and review relevant information such as standards and guidelines, seek out examples of good practice and relevant case studies, and provide initial advice and links to appropriate more detailed advice services when needed.
More information on the project website.

A gap of 31% separates the online access of people with disabilities from those without disabilities

admin — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 06:49:09 +0000

The Kessler Foundation and the National Organization on Disabilities commissioned Harris Interactive to conduct the 2010 Survey of Americans with Disabilities. Among the findings they identified that employment represents the largest gap between the two groups. Of all working-age people with disabilities, only 21% say that they are employed, compared to 59% of people without disabilities – a gap of 38 percentage points. People with disabilities are still much more likely to be living in poverty. People with disabilities are less likely than those without disabilities to socialize with friends, relatives or neighbors, once again suggesting that there are significant barriers to participation in leisure activities for this population. The second-largest gap between people with and without disabilities is regarding Internet access. 85% of adults without disabilities access the Internet, whereas only 54% of adults with disabilities report the same – a gap of 31 percentage points.
Source: Kessler Foundation