”Select ALL” e-Accessibility Assessment Report for South Eastern Europe
This first report makes little reference to aspects of the UNCRPD that relate to e-Accessibility.
e-Accessibility in Telecommunications and Media Although one mobile and one fixed line operator do provide a tariff discount for people with disability, it is not obligatory. Assistive technologies are not subsidized for telephony or ICTs. However, the EU’s Universal Service Directive is being transposed into law, and this is likely to make a difference in the future. Three news broadcasts a day are subtitled in Croatia, also with an interpreter/translator of Croatian sign language. The Teletext service also provides some information and news.
e-Accessibility and e-Government Services It is accepted officially that few people with disabilities have the skills required to access and use e-Government services effectively, and that “e-services are specially useful as they enable 47 performing a range of tasks over the Internet from their homes.” 48
Some progress has been made on this front. e-Croatia, the government programme responsible for promoting the Information Society and for the development of the e-Government Portal, choose the theme of people with disabilities for 2010, and supported activities in the area including the upgrading of their portal in terms of e-Accessibility and the W3C guidelines. However, there is no major initiative to promote e-Accessibility among ministry websites and e-Services. In 2011, e-Croatia focused on older people, offering a one-month training programme (two classes a week) in basic computer and Internet use, with volunteer trainers. Their target of training 200 people was far exceeded, so they are hoping to replicate the course in the future.
Good Practices and Resources A number of NGOs and others involved in third level education, some working closely with each other, are providing support for people with disabilities to gain access to and achieve success in third level education. The NGO Zamisli (IMAGINE), the Association for the Promotion of Quality Education for Young People with Disabilities, established a youth centre with a special focus on those with disabilities, providing information and support on higher education. Currently they have funding for three years, beginning in mid-2010, from the Ministry for Health and Social Security to offer a range of concrete assistance actions including: •
a captioning service, for deaf students, in which a typist sits beside the student in class and types out what is being said so that the student can read it simultaneously. Three typists are on call for this;
•
digitization of books for text-to-voice readers.
47 Ibid. page 30. 48 See http://www.e-hrvatska.hr.
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