eInclusion Charter calls for greater focus on disabled and elderly

Technology firms and Government have a role to play in developing software and hardware that is easier for the elderly and disabled to use.

A new initiative launched last week, called the eInclusion Charter, calls for manufacturers to design devices such as PCs, phones and TVs in a way that makes them easier for these groups to use.

But it is not only manufacturers who have a part to play, according to the organisations behind the charter. The Government must also do more to ensure these people are not excluded from the benefits that technology can bring.

Guido Gybels, Director of New Technologies at the Royal National Institute for the Deaf (RNID), said: "Currently people are still being excluded, and their needs are not being met."

The charter was commissioned by the Alliance for Digital Inclusion (ADI), and developed by the RNID, the Disabled Living Foundation (DLF) and technology consultants Scientific Generics It asserts that achieving the required changes will require some major changes in Government procedures.

At grass roots level, local government services must be made fully accessible and usable for disabled and older people. However, according to Gybels, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

He said national Government had to take the lead by shaking up its procurement processes. And it should be mandatory that goods and services bought for use within Government also reflected the needs of disabled and older people in society, he added.

"The Government purchasing power should be more like section 508 of the US Disability Act, which sets minimum standards," Gybels said.

These standards cover technology bought by US Federal agencies and establishes a minimum level of accessibility.

Agencies are required to ensure that electronic and information technology they develop, procure, use or maintain are accessible to both Federal employees with disabilities and to members of the public with disabilities.

Gybels said this would have an important knock-on effect, because if the Government insists on companies meeting this type of standard, it would be reflected in the mainstream market.

He also called on Government to provider a better funding framework to cover not only employment and education, but also the subsidising of specialised access technologies for niche disabled groups.

"New technology has great potential to overcome barriers in education, the workplace and social life for disabled and older people," he added.