Global Resources and Promising Practices for Building and Refining Accessible and Inclusive Smart Cities from Darren Bates LLC.
Accessibility can be viewed as the “ability to access” and benefit from some system or entity. Accessibility involves removing the barriers faced by individuals with a variety of disabilities (which can include, but is not limited to: physical, sensory, cognitive, learning, mental health) and the various barriers (including attitudinal and systemic) that impede an individual’s ability to participate in social, cultural, political, and economic life. Disabilities can be temporary or permanent.
The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers).
Accessibility is not to be confused with usability, which is the extent to which a product (such as a device, service, or environment) can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction in a specified context of use.
Accessibility is strongly related to universal design which is the process of creating products that are usable by people with the widest possible range of abilities, operating within the widest possible range of situations.
A key challenge faced by Smart Cities is to ensure the engagement and inclusion of all people including citizens with disabilities and those that are aging. An accessible Smart City is purposefully designed to include all people and equitably meets the needs of both people with disabilities and people who self-identify as non-disabled.
A Smart City isn’t smart if it doesn’t support the needs of all citizens.
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As a student, the daily walk up London’s Exhibition Road, past its profusion of popular museums, was hindered by groups of tourists that stood four-abreast on the pavement, eager to learn more about the cretaceous period, or space flight, or ornamental Renaissance metalwork. I was therefore pleased when, one spring, the street was quickly transformed from a bustling thoroughfare for…
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Erich Manser has run 18 marathons and set an Ironman world record for a physically-challenged athlete. He’s also legally blind. For him—and all athletes who are blind—carefully navigating the swirling stampede of runners, the chaotic cowbell-banging crowds, and the crush at water stations can be exceptionally tricky, even with the help of a guide. So when Manser ran the Boston…
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OASC Brazil publishes a Manifesto to raise awareness among city leaders and stimulate the implementation of social, economic and digital policies. The Manifesto has been shared with Brazilian authorities. A joint collaboration of OASC Brazil and OASC Portugal: Cláudio Nascimento (at speaker desk, left) and Margarida Campolargo (1st from the right) have presented the Brazilian Manifesto for human, creative, and…
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An Overview for Legal Teams on ADA, Section 508 Issues Affecting Websites and Other Digital Assets Business owners, legal teams, web and communications teams, and developers are experiencing a wave of legal actions and civil rights complaints. These actions—and the resulting court decisions—are stretching society’s understanding of what constitutes online discrimination and how the ADA and related laws apply to…
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Technology can help people with disabilities get around cities – but it must provide reliable information tailored for varying needs BARCELONA – Entrepreneur Josep Esteba became so frustrated trying to get around his native Spain in a wheelchair for more than 20 years that he embarked on a mission to map cities for disabled people all over the world. “Many…
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The 7th M-Enabling Summit opened its doors to around 600 participants from 30 countries. The opening panel on Artificial Intelligence (AI) heard representatives of Microsoft, Amazon and Oath (the company coming out of the merger of AOL and yahoo) talk about the immense and exciting potential of AI. These included how Amazon’s Alexa is helping in speech therapy for autistic…
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Pokémon Might Become the New Smart City Urban Accessibility Master Not just a child’s game anymore. For the estimated 53 million U.S. adults living with disabilities, moving around and within a city may feel like an obstacle course. Hilly terrain and elevated pathways can prove daunting for people with disabilities (PWDs). There’s also the problem of cracked sidewalks and poorly designed…
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For many people, the work day doesn’t begin without addressing a serious challenge: commuting. This can mean highways stacked with traffic, or crowded trains and buses. For people who are blind, everything is more complicated. They must rely on a ride from someone else, or if traveling by rail, someone to lead them to and from the train. Soon, this…
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As government spending on the internet of things is expected to reach $12 billion in 2020, creating smart infrastructure is a topic of concern for officials at all levels of government. At Bloomberg Government’s “Women in Smart Cities Forum,” sponsored by Verizon on June 15, 2018, women working at the city, state and federal levels of government shared their strategies…
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Today marks the seventh Global Accessibility Awareness Day, a celebration of inclusion and digital access for people with disabilities. Microsoft took the opportunity to unveil the Xbox Adaptive Controller, a gaming controller designed to accommodate a range of special needs, and Apple announced that its Everyone Can Code curricula for the Swift programming language will come to schools with vision- and hearing-impaired students.…
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Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly being built into our digital world. And there are great opportunities to maximise AI to make the digital world more accessible for people with disabilities. Here, AbilityNet’s senior accessibility and usability consultant Joe Chidzik explores some of the possibilities and some of the ways AI is already changing things for disabled people. 1. AI could…
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The winner of this year’s HealthHack Smart Cities Challenge is aiming to make Edmonton more accessible to those who use wheelchairs. Professor at the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Alberta, Martin Ferguson-Pell, and his team have developed Click N’ Push – an app that shows just how difficult it can be to get around the city in a…
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The Internet of Things (IoT) is expected to have an unprecedented impact on our daily lives. In particular, “smart environments” will change how we interact with our surrounding and with each other, including at home, in public spaces, and at the work place. This provides an opportunity to ensure equal access for people with disabilities. For example, operating doors, windows,…
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Abstract The present work discusses the possibilities offered by the evolution of Information and Communication Technologies with the aim of designing a system to dynamically obtain knowledge of accessibility issues in urban environments. This system is facilitated by technology to analyse the urban user experience and movement accessibility, which enabling accurate identification of urban barriers and monitoring its effectiveness over…
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Implementing #ICT #accessibility standards & procurement policies, requiring documents, presentations, web content, apps & software solutions be created & maintained in a manner consistent with applicable #accessibility guidelines also contributes to a more #inclusive #SmartCity https://t.co/hnvFKcL3Gf — Smart Cities Library™ (@SmartCitiesL) May 7, 2018
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Share buttons by maFounded in 2006, the United Nations Global Alliance for ICT and Development, in partnership with the Global Initiative for Inclusive ICTs, and World Enabled, put together the SmartCities4All toolkit. The toolkit is one of many attempts to engage the wider urban community to use technology in a way that makes smart cities accessible for the differently abled.…
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At a recent user experience-focused meetup group in PhillyCHI’s “Designing for Accessibility” Mikey Ilagan, an accessibility specialist at Think Company and Comcast. led a panel to discuss why accessible design matters. The panel shared insights and key factors for why accessible design matters. Checkout the full article below from Generocity to discover four key takeaways to to help you become an accessible design advocate…
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Accessibility Guidelines Making all things accessible creates a better experience across the board. Use this checklist to help build accessibility into your process no matter your role or stage in a project. There’s information and resources for: Designers, Engineers, Project Managers and more. There’s a a Quality Assurance Section and links to relevant Accessibility websites and toolkits. While visiting the…
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Nearly one in five individuals report having a disability. This number is expected to rise as the baby boomer generation continues to age. Technology is part of the answer to addressing the lack of overall accessibility the disability community faces on a daily basis. Tech companies have taken note and entered into a market that represents $1 trillion in annual…
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My background is in web design and development. These days, I’m an Accessibility Specialist advocating on behalf of the user. I use assistive technology to audit, review, and examine software the way a person with a disability might use it. I then work with product teams to identify and resolve these issues. And I’ve noticed a recurring theme. Issues identified…
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