The Fourth Workshop

Information Accessibility: Areas Being Developed and Progress Toward the Paralympics

The United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies (ITU) is working towards establishing an international standard for information and communication technologies, including standardization requirements of wireless interface for mobile phones and data communication over telephone lines. In Japan, a government approved committee has been established to discuss standardization measures and present proposals to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

Measures and their progress were presented in the workshop. For example, an automatic translation application that combines automatic speech recognition with translation is being used at Narita International Airport. In the future, communication using automatic translation technology will become possible throughout the world, and in Asia, it is aimed to be put in use by 2020. IPTV, useful for people with visual and hearing impairments, has been commercialized by Japanese manufacturers and is widely used, and experiments are underway to further cut costs. Its use is also being promoted internationally through for example ITU application contests.

Lowering cost is essential for improving information accessibility. In Japan, television subtitles and sign language interpretation is not advanced due to high cost. These services will spread if improving information accessibility is seen as a demand of an aging society and is supported by a public program.

Less than 20% of people with hearing impairments use sign language. About 10% of people with visual impairments can read Braille. Furthermore, depending on the kind of impairment, there are different ways of using Braille. Ways of communicating with people with disabilities are diverse, and depend on the type and degree of disability. It is necessary to have accessibility and services that meet the needs of each context.