Legal

Are airline check-in kiosks onboard with accessibility?

Source: 
E-Access Bulletin

Readers who have travelled by air in the past few years are likely to have come across new technologies designed to enhance the convenience of travel such as automated kiosks where people can check in without queuing for hours in a barely-moving queue of bored passengers.

As so often with new technologies, however, it seems that their accessibility for people with disabilities was not always considered when they were first being developed. And now, in the US, the issue is about to hit the courts.

Top e-Book Reader Makers Contest US Accessibility Law

Source: 
E-Access Bulletin

Three of the biggest e-book reader manufacturers – Amazon, Kobo and Sony – have petitioned the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to ask for exemptions from US laws requiring products to be accessible to users with disabilities.

A Long and Arduous Journey: the Fight for Equality in Canada and Worldwide

Source: 
E-Access Bulletin

By Donna Jodhan.

In 2000 I embarked on a journey to encourage the Canadian Government to work with blind Canadians to make their websites more accessible to all Canadians. At that time, my main objective was to raise awareness of the inaccessibility of government websites, and to convince officials of the importance of making their websites fully accessible as soon as possible.

‘Historic’ Accessible Copyright Treaty is ‘Miracle In Marrakech’

Source: 
E-Access Bulletin

An historic international treaty to increase book access for blind and visually impaired people has finally been adopted at a meeting of the World International Property Organisation (WIPO) after almost six years of wrangling, negotiations and setbacks.

Accessible Copyright Treaty Hits New Roadblock

Source: 
E-Access Bulletin

The World Blind Union (WBU) has reacted angrily to a new setback to long-running work on an international copyright treaty which could improve access to accessible books for blind and visually impaired people.

Courts Freeze Samsung Battle Against Apple Screen Reader

Source: 
E-Access Bulletin

A lawsuit in Germany in which mobile handset maker Samsung is attempting to force its rival Apple to remove the VoiceOver screen reader function from its iPhone smartphones in the country has been halted by the courts.

VoiceOver allows users to have content on the screen read aloud to them. It is marketed as an accessibility aid for blind and visually impaired users, since it can help people use and navigate an iPhone by touch and audio alone.

NL: ‘New laws’ app for entrepreneurs downloaded 15 000 times

Source: 
ePractice.eu
2 - Summary: 

The New Laws app (NieuweWetten-app, in Dutch) - a smartphone application launched by the Dutch government about a month ago to facilitate entrepreneurs - has been downloaded nearly 15 000 times, as reported in December 2012.

“Finish Line In Sight” for Accessible Copyright Treaty

Source: 
E-Access Bulletin

After what will have been five years of negotiations, an international treaty to allow the sharing of accessible copyrighted material across borders for use by blind and visually impaired people could finally be signed in 2013, E-Access Bulletin has learned.

A “roadmap” for formalising a treaty, which would increase book access for disabled people including blind and visually impaired people, has finally been approved at this month’s World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) general assembly in Geneva ( http://www.wipo.int/meetings/en/doc_details.jsp?doc_id=213442 ).

Go ON Gold Supporter Diane Mulligan Elected to UN Committee

Source: 
E-Access Bulletin

Diane Mulligan OBE, one of the UK’s leading national and international disability rights campaigners and advisors, has been elected to the United Nations Expert Committee on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Long Legal Battle Ends for Blind Accessibility Advocate

Source: 
E-Access Bulletin

The long legal battle between Donna Jodhan, a blind accessibility advocate from Canada, over the inaccessibility of government websites – as chronicled by E-Access Bulletin over several years – is over. With the Canadian government having now taken satisfactory remedial action, Jodhan has decided not to take any further legal action, declaring her victory “an opportunity to create a more accessible environment for all Canadians”.

DOTCOM Maps Out European Disability Laws

Source: 
E-Access Bulletin

A searchable online database of laws, policies, strategies and initiatives upholding the rights of people with disabilities has been launched to measure how well European nations are implementing the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

“DOTCOM: the Disability Online Tool of the Commission” has been developed by the Academic Network of European Disability Experts (ANED) – in collaboration with the European Commission and EU Member States – building on the commission’s European Disability Strategy 2010-20.

Final Draft of Mandate 376 Set For Review

Source: 
E-Access Bulletin

The latest and final draft of a new European Standard for the accessibility of ICT products and services procured by the public sector – known as “Mandate 376” – is to be placed online next week, E-Access Bulletin has learned.

Users, developers, manufacturers, public bodies and procurers will have until October to offer feedback on the standard and associated documents before formal work begins on legislation this autumn.

Appeal Court Upholds Canadian Woman’s Web Access Case

Source: 
E-Access Bulletin

A blind accessibility consultant who took the Canadian Federal Government to court over the inaccessibility of its websites has won a second victory, after the Canadian Federal Court of Appeal upheld an initial decision in her favour.

Digital books in Italy: Reading Without Barriers

Source: 
E-Access Bulletin

By Michele Smargiassi

They can’t see their books: maybe this is why they read them with such an extraordinary passion. On average, in Italy, a blind person reads 9.2 books a year, while among sighted Italians only two in ten people read so many. Six blind people out of ten read a few pages of a book at least once a week, while 53.2% of Italians never, ever, read. In short, the blind read much more than the sighted.

New Setback For Global Copyright Exception Treaty

Source: 
E-Access Bulletin

Moves to create an international treaty to allow accessible versions of copyrighted works to be shared across borders, giving people with print disabilities wider access to books, received a setback this month following “aggressive” intervention by EU negotiators.

Between 21 November and 2 December, the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) held a meeting in Geneva of its standing committee on copyright and related rights that negotiators for the World Blind Union (WBU) had hoped would clear the way for agreement on a copyright treaty.

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