Here is an article below about the Australian Government will push Information
technology providers to make products disability friendly.
Trudy
Australian Government will push IT vendors to make products
disability-friendly
John Sheridan, Australian government CTO
The Australian government has put technology vendors on notice to make their
software more accessible for public servants with disabilities.
John Sheridan, the Australian government’s chief technology officer, has
revealed that the Commonwealth is poised to launch a public consultation
process in order to bring its ICT procurement standards for accessibility
into line with European and US standards.
Sheridan revealed the plan at the Australian Consumer Communication Action
Network’s (ACCAN) annual conference last week.
He said that the federal government planned to directly adopt the text of the
European standard after what he anticipated to be a short and painless public
consultation process. He said he hoped that the Australian standard would be
in place by the end of the year.
The new standard means that all vendors seeking to supply computers, software
and other IT equipment will have to ensure that it is accessible for public
servants with disabilities.
However, Sheridan said that he believed that the requirements would not be
overly onerous for suppliers. “Consultation looks like it will be relatively
positive because vendors have already indicated to us that they meet these
standards generally.
"Australia isn’t that large a market and they produce equipment with these
standards already for the US and European markets and as a consequence given
the direct text adoption it requires taking the text of the document and
adopting the standard only changing the things that absolutely need to be
changed – references to Europe, for example, in the title and related things.
“We anticipate that direct text adoption and the public consultation will be
achieved relatively soon after going to the public — it won’t be open for all
that long,” Sheridan said.
Other levels of government could also adopt the new standard, he added. He
warned, however, that it would not instantaneously improve levels of
accessibility in Australian government departments.
“Now that won’t mean that things will change immediately – panels need to be
refreshed when their life expires,” he said.
Source:
http://www.crn.com.au/news/australian-govt-will-push-it-vendors-to-make-products-disability-friendly-437434
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