Digital inclusion & new markets
Digital inclusion is a critical aspect of inclusion for disabled people. For many affected by physical barriers the internet is important to their ability to live independent lives. Innovations in e-commerce and online community building have a disproportionate impact on disabled people for whom previous channels were inaccessible.
- 76% of disabled men and 62% of disabled women use the Internet more than once a week, compared to 58% of men and 48% of women in the general population surveyed by the National Statistics Office in October 2001.
- Nearly 1 in 10 of disabled people surveyed used the Internet to carry out tasks for which they had to rely on others to help them with previously. [i]
- Individuals with disabilities are just as likely to use the Internet to search for jobs as those without disabilities 15.9% and 16.7% respectively. [ii]
- In 2003, 57 million people in the US used some form of accessibility technology - by 2010 the number of accessibility technology users is expected to increase to 70 million. [iii]
EBay
Online entrepreneurship becomes a new way of life Internet selling presents surprising career for many.
Marjie Smith is an eBay Power Seller, the designation given by the San Jose Company to high-volume sellers who maintain at least 98 percent positive feedback from customers. Smith, who lives in Port Royal, S.C., earns her living by selling Etienne Aigner purses and accessories online. In the early ‘90s, she lost the use of her right arm and leg in an industrial accident, and now uses a wheelchair to get around.
"Selling online allows me to do something I love, but still keep my own hours," Smith said. "I can make my own time to go to the doctor or physical therapy. Customers don't have to know about my disability, and that's not what's important. I have something to sell, and they want to buy it." [iv]
www.doua.org
Kyle is very disabled and can't go to school, [but] he built an eBay business and last year my husband and I quit our jobs, and now we help him - we have made more money on eBay than we ever made on our jobs. On eBay Kyle is not disabled.
Whitman, eBay [v]
New markets: Potential for growth
However there are still huge barriers to access which business can play an important part in overcoming. Internet use, particularly for those with more severe impairments, is still lower for people with disabilities.
- 63.1% of Americans aged 25 - 60 had used the internet compared to a range from 30.3% of people with multiple disabilities to 54.8% of people with severe hearing impairments. [vi]
- 17% of computer users who range from 18 - 64 years old have a severe difficulty or impairment, compared to 22% of the overall working age adult population'
- Only 51% of computer users who are likely and very likely to benefit from accessible technology are technology optimists compared to 58% of computer users who are not likely to benefit
What are the barriers?
- Cost - of the computer, internet access and adaptive technology is the most significant barrier to internet use or increasing internet use for disabled people.
- Only 38% of those using assistive devices found most or many websites easy to use or navigate compared to 69% of disabled people who did not use assistive devices. [vii]
- A recent survey found that only 17% of 1800 US state and federal websites were accessible. [viii]
- 81% of FTSE100 companies websites still do meet basic accessibility standards
Cisco Systems
SignVideo (part of Significan't), Britain's only Video Contact Centre for deaf people has launched a specialist video service offering deaf people immediate access to highly qualified sign language interpreters to communicate with their local authorities and other public sector organisations. The contact centre has been developed using a converged voice and data network, based on Cisco's CallManager Video Telephony and Internet Protocol (IP) Contact Centre (IPCC) technology.
The service overcomes the cost and convenience barriers that currently prevent sign language users from dealing with simple issues, such as applying for a parking permit or making a complaint about late collection of rubbish. Users simply connect to the contact centre from a local authority site, using an IP video terminal and gain access to an interpreter, equipped with a Cisco IP Phone and PC with VT Advantage camera, through which they can communicate with council officials. The service also opens up job opportunities for deaf people by enabling them to pursue training and education, and to collaborate with local job centres or careers services.
By deploying a converged voice, video and data network, Significan't cost effectively manages its services from a common communications infrastructure rather than from separate voice, data and video ISDN networks.
"The contact centre interpreters are able to work from the SignVideo contact centre and also log in remotely to work from their own homes, which allows for the service of these interpreters to be much cheaper than they are at the moment and easier to access," says Jeff McWhinney, director of Significan't.
With less than 200 qualified British Sign Language interpreters on the nationally approved register, the UK's 70,000 deaf sign language users can wait up to two weeks for an interpreter, who charge for a minimum period of three hours at between £90-£150 per session, plus expenses. The SignVideo contact centre at the minimum (20 minutes) is charging organisations much less - from a rate that is only a seventh of the costs! Significan't, working together with the Greater London Authority and London Connects, received a £500,000 grant from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) to fund the IP infrastructure set-up, pilot it with London boroughs and cover the first year's running costs of the SignVideo contact centre.
The SignVideo service is the first of its kind within the UK that allows agents to transfer video calls from one agent to another. This ability is crucial since each country has its own form of sign language - (varying even in a number of English speaking countries) - and interpreters that can sign lesser-known languages are extremely scarce. Cisco IPCC utilises skills-based routing technology to make sure that customers are routed to the most appropriate agent.
David Critchley, director public sector, Cisco Systems UK, said: "This exciting announcement highlights the evolution of the remote conferencing industry - from the 'talking heads' of the '80's (costing thousands of pounds per hour) to the easy-to-use, rich media collaborative environment now available costing pence per minute. Using video contact centres for responding to the needs of deaf people in real-time is the perfect use of rich media IP communications - and also highlights that for those not hard of hearing, 60 percent of communication is non-verbal, so by converging voice, video, and data into a single network, video contact centres can vastly improve customer care capabilities, increases productivity, and enhance agility."
The SignVideo Contact Centre has successfully trialed to the 12,000 BSL users in London and is being be rolled out nationwide in the coming year and across many other organisations - from commercial companies with deaf employees to doctors' surgeries to banks and shops. Significan't's McWhinney said: "This is a landmark in the history of the development of access in their own first language for deaf people. We have already received a number of enquiries from private sector organisations wishing to meet their obligations under the Disability Discrimination Act, and we believe this application will progressively become more relevant to a wider audience."
Figures from a similar venture in the US suggest the service will be well received. After its first year in operation the US video relay services recorded 7,000 minutes of video call time per month. By the end of its third year, it was booking 4 million minutes every month. [ix]
www.cisco.com
Useful links
IT Enables, a project funded by the Alliance for Digital Inclusion, is preparing the first "Charter for Disabled People and ICT".
The aim of the charter is to provide clear guidelines on how best to develop
ICT working to ensure it includes and benefits disabled people.
Sources
- [i] Pilling, Barrett and Floyd, ‘Does the Internet open up opportunities for disabled people?' May 2004.
- [ii] Kaye, 2000.
- [iii] Accessible Technology in Computing, 2004.
- [iv] John Koopman, Chronicle Staff Writer - Monday, December 19, 2005
- [v] quoted in Friedman, The World is Flat, p455.
- [vi] US Department of Commerce.
- [vii] Pilling, Barrett and Floyd, ‘Does the Internet open up opportunities for disabled people?' May 2004.
- [viii] West, 2001.
- [ix] Cisco technology provides UK's first IP video call centre for deaf people. Cisco press release 28/09/05.