Sara Gabai and Kamolrat Intaratat
VISUALLY IMPAIRED STUDENTS IN THAILAND EXPLORE THE WEB’S WONDERS AND LEARN THE TRICKS OF WEB DEVELOPMENT
Access to media and information has become critical in our daily lives. As the Internet grows exponentially and becomes more accessible in Thailand (23.86 million Internet users in 2013, according to TrueHits), more people are expected to use ICT to communicate with others, participate in society and do business. However, inequalities and digital divides are still very strong, particularly among the most vulnerable and disadvantaged groups.
Web accessibility, the ability for an individual to access information and content online, becomes an important issue when it comes to the visually impaired. Since the majority of web designers do not follow the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), most online content is still inaccessible to these groups. In addition, the high costs and the lack of screen reading software that reads the content on the page in a synthesized voice or magnifies content for easier viewing, have excluded the majority of visually impaired people from accessing web content.
Recognizing the importance of creating websites that are fully functional for all people, sighted or visually impaired, CCDKM has been working with the Ministry of ICT : Information Communication and Technology as well as the others such as the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, the NBTC : National Broadcasting Telecommunication Council and others in Thailand, as well as the other network such as the Asia-Pacific Telecentre Network (APTN) and New Media4D, organized and delivered a training on website development and Joomla software for visually impaired students under the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) principles so that they can build websites which are accessible to the visually impaired.
Awareness was created among all Government agencies to create their websites with the principles of WCAG, then followed by training them to check their own websites with the WCAG’s indicators, and then train them and their networks to create and use websites with the WCAG design. The pilot workshop took place at the Pattaya School for the Blind in Chonburi. 30 students and all teaching staff were trained on the WCAG system, how to make use of their basic knowledge of content management system (CMS) and fundamental principles of website development using Joomla software, how to promote websites through Search Engine Optimization (SEA) strategies, the Computer Crime Act B.E. 2550 (2007) and the implications of freely expressing their views and opinions online.
“I never had the chance to learn about website development in my school. I now realize how important it is to create my own website not only for my future career but also to share information and communicate with others”, said Bank, one of the trainees from Srisakate, Nortteastern part of Thailand.
“My friends and I have shared our experiences among us after we were trained to use computer with special software. We had the same feeling about seeing a ‘MIRACLE’ which we had never felt before. ICT can waken up our inner power to be strong again, it can waken up my hopeless life to be more inspired. We have discussed among us that, if we got more chances to learn and practice more, we can be the web designer for the blind. We can be the content developers for the blind, and most important is that we can continue our education as far as our capacity can. So, I would like to say that ICT can really give us new hope, new life…” said Pitak, the leader of the blind class from the Blind school, Mahatai Foundation and School, Pattaya, Chonburi, Central region of Thailand.
“ As a teacher taking care of visually-impaired students, I would like to confirm that our students are happy to run their imagination along with the ICT that they are using. They have requested more learning hours to reach their dreams. Some want to be programmers, some want to be graphic designers, some want to operate their own e – business shops to sell their family’s products and services. They love ICT, they are curious to test and try but they weren’t given a chance before this. But once they got a chance, they know that they can use ICT to help their family’s business and even develop themselves. So, as a teacher, I do want to inform the government and all relevant agencies to provide ICT for this disability group because they have huge potential,” said Weera, Chaingmai, North of Thailand.
After we launched this campaign of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and convinced the policymakers to incorporate the accessibility issue into the Fundamental Acts under the National Constitution of Thailand, all government agencies must oblige to offer their websites under the WCAG principle. The implication is that all disabled in Thailand have to be protected and served equally as any other Thai citizens. All the web designers who play an important role in improving visually impaired people’s access and use of information on the web have to follow the WCAG in creating, accessing, using and sharing information and knowledge to all people as it is the fundamental human right for Thai citizens.