The State and Potential of Web Accessibility for Persons with

An Issue Paper on:
The state and potential of web
accessibility for persons with
disabilities in Pakistan
By Muhammad Shabbir
1. Introduction
The Internet offers many new and affordable opportunities to Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) – especially those with visual and hearing impairment or having motor
control difficulties – to be more independent and to contribute productively in the
socio-economic development processes. The Web is an increasingly important
resource in many aspects of life such as education, income generation, governance,
health care, recreation, and much more. While governments, civil society and the
corporate sector in many other parts of the world have taken huge strides to harness
its potential; however, Pakistan is unfortunately lagging behind in this regard.
In this backdrop, this brief paper offers an overview of the current state of web accessibility in Pakistan and provides a list of overarching barriers in Pakistani context
that hamper the access of a PWD to the Internet. The paper highlights the socio-economic potential of the accessible Internet for PWDs and thus for the country. It also
carries some recommendations for policy relevant circles, and particularly for web
and application developers to adopt accessibility standards, so to make the internet
more inclusive and easily accessible for PWDs in Pakistan.
In Pakistani context, the aim of this paper is three-fold: firstly to highlight the web
related accessibility issues faced by PWDs; secondly to provide awareness and direction to the relevant policy formulation and implementation circles about the topic, and
last but not the least to generate a debate on web accessibility amongst all the stakeholders, including but not limited to the government authorities, industry professionals,
policy makers, software developers, and PWDs themselves as a first step towards
accessible web environment in Pakistan.
2. Methodology
During the last month, to assess the state of web accessibility and prospects for its
improvement in the country, a number of telephonic and face-to-face discussions with
web developers and PWDs were held. Besides, an extensive survey of a large number
of websites was conducted during this period whose overarching findings are included
in this paper. The Internet was consulted to seek the guidance about the global
practices on web accessibility. Moreover, the paper includes a literature summary of
W3C Accessibility Initiative and lists some sources in bibliography for further exploration
of the topic.
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3. What is Web Accessibility?
The term 'Web Accessibility' refers to a set of guidelines and tools, that when implemented by either the users or the designers of a website, would remove the obstacles
that prevent PWDs from accessing it. This can include simple website design guidelines, such as: making icons and text more readable; providing text scripts of audios;
software solutions like screen readers, that can convert the text of a website to audible
speech; and providing shortcut keys to navigate the website more easily. WCAG 2.0,
the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, is a standard published by the W3C. That
means it was created with input from people around the world and reflects the best international consensus.
Working to standards and responsive design are both important criteria for accessibility.
One way to think about accessibility is that assistive technologies; for example screen
readers and alternate keyboards are just another kind of device. When a site is
designed to be flexible, it works better on all devices. Accessible domain goes further,
to be responsive to differences in people as well as devices. It is about making sure
that the ways users interact with your site or application, navigate, or read the screen
allow for user preference.
A website should be accessible both in terms of design and content. Design includes
all of the disciplines of accessibility and web design: information architecture, interaction
design, information design, graphic design, and content strategy. Accessible content
relates to the material that is put on the website. There are many reasons why people
have trouble reading: cognitive problems like aphasia or dyslexia, physical or vision
disabilities, low literacy, or reading in a second language. But even skilled readers can
have problems when they are rushed, tired, stressed, or reading on a small screen.
Accessible content is written in plain language and presented clearly and flexibly.
4.
An overview of the Web Accessibility Initiative
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) develop web accessibility guidelines for the different components including:
•
•
•
Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG) address authoring tools;
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) address web content, and is
used by developers, authoring tools, and accessibility evaluation tools; and
User Agent Accessibility Guidelines (UAAG) address web browsers and media
players, including some aspects of assistive technologies.
02
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are developed through the W3C process
in cooperation with individuals and organizations around the world with a goal of
proving a single shared standard for web content accessibility that meets the needs of
individuals, organizations, and governments internationally. WCAG documents explain
how to make web content more accessible to people with disabilities. The "web content"
generally refers to the information in a web page or web application, including: a) natural
information such as text, images, and sounds; b) code or markup that defines structure,
presentation, etc. It is primarily intended for; the web content developers; web authoring tool developers; web accessibility evaluation tool developers; and others who want
or need a standard for web accessibility. As mentioned earlier, WCAG is part of a series
of accessibility guidelines, including the Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines
(ATAG) and the User Agent Accessibility Guidelines (UAAG).
4.1
WCAG 2.0
WCAG 2.0 is a stable, reference-able technical standard. It has 12 guidelines that are
organized under 4 principles; i.e. perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust.
For each guideline, there are testable success criteria, which are at three levels: A, AA,
and AAA.
4.2
Perceivable
•
Provide text alternatives for non-text content;
•
Provide captions and other alternatives for multimedia;
•
Create content that can be presented in different ways, including by assistive
technologies, without losing meaning; and
•
Make it easier for users to see and hear content.
4.3
Operable
•
•
•
•
Make all functionality available from a keyboard;
Give users enough time to read and use content;
Do not use content that causes seizures; and
Help users navigate and find content.
4.4
Understandable
•
•
•
Make text readable and understandable;
Make content appear and operate in predictable ways; and
Help users avoid and correct mistakes.
4.5
Robust
•
Maximize compatibility with current and future user tools.
WCAG 2.0 is approved as an ISO Standard: ISO/IEC 40500:2012. Therefore, ISO/IEC
40500 is exactly the same as the original WCAG 2.0.
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5.
Web Accessibility Barriers in Pakistan
There are multiple barriers in the way of making internet completely accessible for
PWDs in Pakistan. Some of them require immediate attention, several are common
which can be covered with increased information, motivation and awareness; while
some others may take focused attention, bigger budgets and more time.
In this context, during the last month or so, about one hundred websites related to
government and private sectors were visited in order to gauge their accessibility level.
The websites were selected for their usability for general public and interests of PWDs.
The range of these websites included: the senate, national and provincial assemblies,
service commissions, telecommunication sector, departments of special education,
mainstream media, and the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working for
PWDs. The list also included the websites of leading: universities, banks, job portals,
Alexa, transportation companies and frequently used logistical websites. Due to time
constraints, complete audit of these websites was not possible. However, the study
makes an attempt to highlight the most common and pressing issues that emerged
during this survey.
6.
General Accessibility Barriers
The four-fold general accessibility barriers relate to: availability of technology, its
affordability, awareness about the technology, and willingness to adopt it. While there
are screen reading and scanning softwares available for maximum international
languages and some of national languages such as English, French, Arabic, Persian,
Hindi, etc. However, the fact is unfortunate that Urdu screen reading software has yet
not been developed in Pakistan. Over the last eight years, there has been some work
in this regard, but it is yet to come to fruition. On the other hand, the available technologies
such as computers and English screen readers, etc. are out of a common man's
budgetary resources. For example, if the price a reasonable laptop ranges between
Rs. 40,000 and 50,000, one piece of JAWS Screen Reader costs $800, which equals
around Rs. 80,000.
The third barrier relates to industry/Developers willingness to adopt accessibility
standards in their products. Sometimes developers deliberately do not adopt the
accessibility standers claiming that their product does not attract the PWDs. Last but
not the least, sometimes, awareness of web accessibility is also lacking amongst the
developers and end users. Developers do not know that they have to include the
accessibility features in their websites; while at the same times, PWDs themselves
remain unaware of the available technologies that can make their web experience easy
and accessible.
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7.
Situation Specific Issues
A list of common problems is given in the next section of this paper, but some specific
issues that need immediate attention are highlighted here as well:
1. On the websites of all of the services commissions, the information about the vacant
positions, application procedure and online application process (if available) is
unfriendly at best and non-supportive at worst for screen reader users;
2. The tax return filing process – from signing up till the filing of the return on Federal
Bureau of Revenue (FBR) website is completely inaccessible for blind users;
3. The Directorate of Special Education and Provincial Departments of Special Education either do not maintain websites, or in case if they do, the information on their web
portals is outdated;
4. Most of our universities do not have the accessibility wing for PWDs, and thus no
clear policy for them. Therefore, students with disabilities have to face additional challenges in order to enroll themselves in the universities;
5. Print and electronic media websites are heavy and include heavy flash content,
thereby making it difficult to access the available content; and
6. Most banks despite the State Bank of Pakistan's explicit direction and guidelines, at
the first place resist or do not provide the blind customers the services as internet
banking, etc. Therefore, the banks websites for internet banking also carry accessibility
related issues.
8.
Common Issues in the way of Web Accessibility
Some of the common issues that were repeated in most of the surveyed websites include:
1. The page title tags were missing; therefore, screen reader was not able to identify
the exact link or place on the website;
2. Icons and edit fields were unlabeled, due to which form filling and other such tasks
with the screen reader becomes difficult or impossible;
3. Icons were nonfunctional or sometimes even detectable on players with screen readers;
4. Graphics did not have illustrations, attributes or in other words missing text descriptions;
5. Most of the audio content did not have the sign language interpretation or text script;
6. Use of Urdu fonts, which are not readable with screen readers;
7. Inappropriate text descriptions for the links. Some were symbolically displayed; for
example in dots; some with very long or very short text descriptions;
8. Heading tag were not appropriately used. Therefore, it was not easy for a screen
reader user to navigate the site efficiently; and
9. Alternate methods for text verification, such as audio or mathematical options were
not available for blind users.
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9.
Case for Making Web Accessible in Pakistan
In Pakistan, the issue of making web accessible for PWDs is rarely focused and debated
except in the conferences or programs of PWDs. However, in view of the facts, including
but not limited to; the significance of internet for socio-economic development and
growth, large numbers of PWDs in world and in Pakistan, accessibility provisions in United
Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), and potential
of internet to uplift the education and employment opportunities for PWDs, web
accessibility gains a critical importance and make a convincing case for accessible
web in Pakistan.
The significance of Internet and Communication Technologies (ICTs) can be gauged
from the fact that there are more than 122 million mobile users in Pakistan. Moreover,
about a quarter of them use internet. On the other hand, there are varying reports
about the number of PWDs in Pakistan; these range between 2.5 percent, as per official
sources, and 15 percent, as per private and international sources. However, according
to the UN and the World Bank, about ten percent of world’s population consists of
PWDs. If we go by this number, about 19 million would be PWDs out of 190 million
population of Pakistan. Barring some limited initiatives by the government and private
organizations, these people have largely been left out of mainstream development
processes, even though they possess the capacity to be highly productive with
appropriate support mechanisms.
At the same time, the UNCRPD, of which Pakistan is a ratified signatory, makes it
necessary for its parties through Article 9 to ensure the access of PWDs to technologies
including the Internet. On the other hand, there are also numerous educational and
employment opportunities on the Internet. The websites such as Jstore, Questia,
Gutenberg, Bookshare, ProQuest, etc. are information oceans. Besides, people can
find lots of earning opportunities on the Internet without leaving their homes, it can
equally benefit PWDs as source of earning and accessing convenient jobs online.
Truly, the Internet has revolutionized the domains of information and communication
and thus carries large number of opportunities for socio-economic development. Web
being the face of the Internet with which user interacts and uses the Internet, needs to
be accessible. Hence, the Internet accessibility cannot be denied to a very significant
portion of our population; merely because of our lethargic attitudes. Moreover, the
socio-economic benefits of making the Internet accessible outweigh the costs
associated with it.
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10. Way Forward
In view of the above discussion, it is high time that the policymakers and web developers in coordination with the PWDs take tangible steps to make the web accessible for
all in Pakistan. In this regard, the recommendations may be viewed with a six-fold focus:
1. The work on Urdu screen reader, which is being developed with the support of
Research and Development (RnD) Fund, should be expedited to complete it in an earlier timeframe. In this context, an Urdu Eloquence developed on Sappi-5 standers may
be more useful in the long-run. Furthermore, Urdu scanning and reading software and
screen reading applications for iOS and Android devices should also be developed.
These projects need to be started on permanent basis and not as standalone ventures
that are stopped after some time. It will therefore need a sustained effort and funding
to keep it up-to-date and meet the requirements of new technologies;
2. The upcoming IT Policy Framework, which is being prepared by Ministry of Information and Technology (MoIT), must include provisions to ensure the access of PWDs to
the current and proposed ICT and E-services. In this regard, MoIT should also arrange
an interactive session with PWDs as it has done with other stakeholders;
3. The web developers should make their websites more interactive and accessible for
the use of PWDs. In this regard, the question may arise that from where a developer
should start? To start with, the developers can use WCAG 2.0. It is a robust standard
that is flexible enough to apply in different contexts – websites, desktop and mobile
applications can be measured against the WCAG success criteria;
4. The accessibility training centers working for PWDs in Pakistan under the Directorate/Departments of Special Education, whether at federal or provincial level, need to be
re-energize, so as to improve their capacity and efficiency. Additionally, there is also a
need to create new training institutes for PWDs;
5. An RnD center that is tasked to find the ways to make the new technology accessible
for PWDs ought to be established; and
6. Collaborate with organizations/libraries working on web accessibility in the
developed world, so as to take advantage of their achievements. UNCRPD also
encourages collaboration amongst organizations and states through its Article 31.
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Selected Bibliography
• Chisholm, Wendy and May, Matt, Universal Design for Web Applications, 2008.
• Cunningham, Katie, The Accessibility Handbook, 2012.
• Horton, Sarah and Quesenbery, Whitney, A Web For Everyone: Designing Accessible
User Experiences, 2013.
• Hinderman, Bill, Building Responsive Data Visualization for the Web, 2016.
• May, Matt, and Chisholm, Wendy, Universal Design for Web Applications, 2008.
• Thatcher, Jim; Waddell, Cynthia; Urban, Mark; Kirkpatrick, Andrew; Rutter, Richard;
Heilmann, Christian; Henry, Shawn Lawton; Lauke, Patrick H.; Lawson, Bruce; Regan,
Bob; Burks, Michael R., Web Accessibility: Web Standards and Regulatory Compliance, 2006.
• W3C Web Accessibility Initiative http://www.w3.org/WAI/
Acknowledgements
This study would not have been possible without the help of following people and
institutions. First of all, I am thankful to Bytes for All, Pakistan and The Internet Society
(ISOC) Asia Pacific Bureau for jointly holding a workshop on the issue of a very critical
importance and providing me support for this study. In this regard, support of
Naveed Haq, Shahzad Ahmad, Haroon Baloch and Irfan Ahmed was most instrumental.
I am grateful to Ms. Saima Yousaf for auditing the websites and providing crucial
input relating to common barriers in the way of web accessibility discussed in this
paper. Last, but not the least, I am also indebted to these people: Talal Waheed for
sharing his brief work on web accessibility; and Ammara Anwar, Muhammad Shafiq,
Farhan Ahmad, Ahmad Kareem and Iftikhar H. Butt for painstakingly discussing with
me the issues and their solutions in the way of web accessibility in Pakistan.
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Annexure
1. Alexa Websites ( top pakistani sites)
OLX Pakistan
http://olx.com.pk/
Pakwheels
http://www.pakwheels.com/
Daraz.pk
https://www.daraz.pk/
Urdupoint.com
http://www.urdupoint.com/
Hamariweb.com
http://www.hamariweb.com/
Siasat.pk
http://www.siasat.pk/
Zem TV
http://www.zemtv.com/
Awaz Today
http://www.awaztoday.tv/
Tune.pk
http://tune.pk/
Drama Online
http://dramaonline.com/
Zameen.com
http://www.zameen.com/
What Mobile
http://www.whatmobile.com.pk/
2. Government Sites
a. Provincial and National Assemblies, Prime Minister, NADRA and FBR websites
NADRA
https://www.nadra.gov.pk/
FBR
www.fbr.gov.pk
Government of Pakistan
http://www.Pakistan.gov.pk/
Pakistan National Assembly
http://www.na.gov.pk/
b. Public Service Commissions
Punjab Public Service Commision
http://www.ppsc.gop.pk/
(S(1ccikdpsoosvzsucvl25kxfk))/default.aspx
Sindh Public Service Commision
http://www.spsc.gov.pk/
KPK Public Service Commision
http://www.kppsc.gov.pk/
Balochistan Public Service Commision
http://bpsc.gob.pk/
GB Public Service Commision
http://www.cssforum.com.pk/
AJK Public Service Commision
http://www.ajkpsc.gov.pk/home/default.aspx
c. Special Education Departments: Directorate of Special education Islamabad,
Punjab, Sindh, KPK, Balochistan and Kashmir Special Education Departments
Punjab Portal Special Education
Sindh Special Education Department
KPK Social Welfare, Special Education
& Women Empowerment Dept
Social Welfare, Special Education,
Literacy/ Non-F
http://punjab.gov.pk/special_education
www.sped.gos.pk
http://khyberpakhtunkhwa.gov.pk/khyberpk/
homepage.php?deptID=41
http://www.balochistan.gov.pk/index.php?
option=com_content&view=category&id=
54&Itemid=487
Annexure
3. Educational websites: HEC and top Five Public and top Five Private Universities
Selected the most famous universities from the HEC Website
Virtual University of Pakistan
http://www.vu.edu.pk/
Higher Education Commission
http://hec.gov.pk/Pages/HECMain.aspx
Public Universities
Quaid e azam University
https://www.qau.edu.pk/
GIK
http://www.giki.edu.pk/
NED
http://www.neduet.edu.pk/
Karachi University
http://www.uok.edu.pk/
Punjab University
http://www.pu.edu.pk/
Private Universities
National University of Sciences and
http://www.nust.edu.pk/Pages/Home.aspx
Technology
Aga Khan University, Karachi
www.aku.edu
Lahore University of Management Sciences
www.lums.edu.pk
(LUMS), Lahore
Baqai Medical University, Karachi
www.baqai.edu.pk
Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Sc.
www.szabist.edu.pk
& Technology (SZABIST), Karachi
4. Telecom websites:
PTA
http://www.pta.gov.pk/
PTCL
http://www.ptcl.com.pk/
Mobilink
http://www.mobilink.com.pk/
Telenor
https://www.telenor.com.pk/
Warid
http://www.waridtel.com/
Ufone
http://www.ufone.com/
Zong
https://www.zong.com.pk/
5. Media Websites:
a. Print: dawn, the news, observer, express tribune, daily times, Friday times.
Dawn News
http://www.dawn.com/
Express Tribune
http://www.tribune.com.pk/
The News
http://www.thenews.com.pk/
Daily Times
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/
Observer
http://www.pakobserver.net/
Pakistan Today
http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/
The Nation
http://www.nation.com.pk/
Daily Jang
http://www.jang.com.pk/index.html%3f
PakTribune
http://www.paktribune.com/
Annexure
b. Electronic: geo, ary, aaj, express, PTV.
GEO TV
http://www.geo.tv/
Aaj News
http://www.aaj.tv/
ARY
http://www.arynews.tv/
PTV
http://www.ptv.com.pk/
Radio Pakistan
http://www.radio.gov.pk/
6. Banks
Selected randomly from a list of banks operating in Pakistan
State Bank of Pakistan
http://www.sbp.org.pk/
Standard Chartered
https://www.sc.com/pk/
Allied Bank
https://www.abl.com/
National Bank Pakistan
https://www.nbp.com.pk/
United Bank Limited
https://www.ubldirect.com/Corporate/index.aspx
Muslim Commercial Bank
https://www.mcb.com.pk/
7. Famous Job Portals
Selected the top 5 job portals used in Paksitan
Rozee
http://www.rozee.pk/
BrightSypre
http://new.brightspyre.com/
Bayrozgar
http://www.bayrozgar.com/
Mustakbil
https://www.mustakbil.com/
TalentHunters
http://www.talenthunters.com.pk/
Paper PK
http://paperpk.com/
8. Industry Associations
Selected the major contributors in Pakistan
Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan
http://www.ispak.pk/
Pakistan Software Houses Association
http://pasha.org.pk/
All Pakistan Newspaper Society
http://apns.com.pk/
9. NGOs working for Persons With Disabilities
Selected the top 5 from the following link (http://www.ngos.org.pk/health/disability-ngos.htm)
Danishkadah -Empowering persons with
http://www.danishkadah.org.pk/
disabilities (PWDs)
ASHDS - Ahmer Social and Human
http://www.ashds.org/
Development Society
Sindh Welfare Association of the Deaf (SWAD)
http://www.swadeafness.tk/
Pakistan disabled Foundation
http://www.pdf.org.pk/
Annexure
10. Famous Transportation Sites
Pakistan International Airlines
http://www.piac.com.pk/
Shaheen Airlines
https://www.shaheenair.com/
Air Blue
https://www.airblue.com/
Daewoo
http://www.daewoo.com.pk/
Pakistan Railway
http://www.railpk.com/
Civil Aviation Authority
http://www.caa.co.uk/
11. Frequently Used Logistics websites
TCS
http://www.tcscouriers.com/pk/home.aspx
OCS
http://www.ocs.com.pk/
Gerrys
http://www.visadropbox.com/