Accessibility Toolkit

The importance of open standards on accessibility

Frances W. West CNET News

Published: 03 Aug 2005 12:50 BST

Now the technology industry is concerned that the positive impact of Section 508 may be disrupted or side-tracked: several governments in Europe are in the process of exploring or establishing their own accessibility policies. Some are similar to the US standard, but others offer new, divergent or conflicting accessibility guidelines for public procurement.

The technology sector wants the US government to convey to the European Commission the importance of creating policy that removes existing barriers — and does not create new barriers to accessibility. In addition, we have major concerns about the European Commission's consideration of enforcement based upon labeling and certification of products as "accessible".

Even when people have similar disabilities, every individual is different. Given the enormous range of functional limitations that exist, even within a single disability or impairment type, it would be nearly impossible to create a label or mark that could provide sufficient information to buyers regarding a product's conformance with evolving accessibility standards. In fact, labelling products as "accessible" could set false expectations for consumers.

Making technology accessible to all is best met by technologies and solutions that are committed to interoperability based upon open standards and have been developed via collaborative processes.

Without a harmonised approach to procuring information technology, each government could adopt a different technical standard. If various governments mandate different regional or country technical requirements, industry will be forced to focus on multiple compliance efforts, rather than pushing beyond compliance and investing in new technology and solutions. Most likely, some companies would choose not to invest in some markets, and the people who need the technology most will lose out on its benefits.

However, if European technical specifications for accessibility are in harmony with global standards, it would enlarge the market of conforming IT products and would create an even greater incentive for manufacturers to compete globally on the basis of accessibility.

Industry has made much progress, but there is more to do. Given the broad implications that accessibility has on society in general, industry wants to move beyond mere compliance and bring innovative solutions to the marketplace. Agreeing on global standards will enable society to derive benefits from more involved citizens, more contributing workers and more enabled workers.

Frances W. West directs IBM's Worldwide Accessibility Center.