Research & policy

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Women with disability disadvantaged in ICT

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The digital divide experienced by people with disability is wider for women, new research finds. A report released by Women with Disabilities Victoria and the Self Advocacy Research Unit has found that the perception of women with disabilities being less capable of operating computers perpetuates disadvantage.

Access to information communications technology (ICT) including computers, mobile devices, social media and websites is becoming increasingly vital for participation in society. The research identifies a vicious cycle of disadvantage. Women with disability are more likely to face poverty, unemployment and under-education than their male counterparts. This means they are less likely to have access to ICT which, in turn, means they are less likely to overcome socioeconomic barriers.


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SBS falls short with DVD access

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As part of a series of home entertainment accessibility reports outside regular entertainment DVD titles, Media Access Australia has collated information around the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) and its level of DVD accessibility, showing whether its titles have closed captions and audio description.

In looking into the accessibility of DVDs of programs previously broadcast, it is noteworthy that audio description is not yet broadcast on television as part of a full time service, but captioning has been mandatory under the Broadcasting Services Act for many years. With this in mind, it is perhaps not surprising that the level of audio description on SBS titles is very low at 1%.


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Television access in the UK: 2012 in review

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Ofcom, the UK’s communications regulator, has released its final report on the provision of access services on television for 2012. As in previous reports, most broadcasters were found to be exceeding quotas for captioning, which range from 70 to 100 per cent for most channels.

The Television Access Services: Final report on 2012 also shows that audio description levels are high. While their mandatory quotas are 10%, a number of channels, including ITV1 (in England and Wales), Channel 4, Sky (for its non-sport channels) and the BBC have committed to audio describing 20% of their programs.


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US senator introduces legislation for accessible entertainment

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The impact of access legislation in the USA has had a ripple effect around the world. The 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act, introduced in 2010, has seen a flood of captioned video reach the web. Now two bills being put forward by an Iowan senator could see progress in cinema and in-flight entertainment.

Senator Tom Harkin, who was responsible for introducing the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1989, has introduced the Captioning and Image Narration to Enhance Movie Accessibility (CINEMA) Act to amend Title III of the current ADA. The CINEMA Act will require cinema complexes with two or more screens to offer captioning and audio description for all movies at all sessions.


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