Open source software is the solution to making information technology accessible to people with disabilities.
That’s the word from the Global Forum for People with Disabilities. The group held a series of presentations, debates and workshops at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) today about their role in the information society.
Secretary General of the Digital Accessible Information System (DAISY) George Kerscher said open source software is a key component in ensuring that a developing country’s disabled citizens can be part of the digital information revolution.
Unlike proprietary software – for instance, the software put out by IT giants like Microsoft – open source software has a source code, which the user can manipulate and customise to suit his or her needs, instead of searching for highly specialised digital tools, which are generally more expensive.
‘We’re taking people from developing countries and focusing on training them to contribute to open source activities, and within the DAISY consortium we’re going to be championing open source technology in the multimedia field,” Kerscher said.
Director of the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative Judy Brewer says although open source software is an important way of making information technology available for people with disabilities, there are technological holes left where many companies have failed to consider her constituents.
Brewer pointed out that a problem still to be solved by software developers is the interface, such as voice recognition, between technology (mainstream or otherwise) and the disabled.
President of the World Blind Union Kiki Nordström, who represented civil society at the opening plenary on the first day of the Summit, said at a press conference today: ‘It is very important for people with disabilities to be seen, recognised and respected as human beings with full rights. If we are excluded from the information society, we will also be excluded from participation, knowledge, human rights and job opportunities which everybody else is being given.” — Hana