ITU Regional Workshop on ICT Accessibility for Persons
with Disabilities for the Africa Region
Lusaka (Zambia), 15 and 16 July 2008
Document PwD-08/012-E
Original: English
ICT Accessibility for Equal Education & Employment Opportunities for Persons with
Disabilities
Prof. Licia Sbattella
Dean’s delegate for Disability
Politecnico di Milano - Italy
G3ict Program Committee Member
licia.sbattella@polimi.it
International
Telecommunication
Union
ITU REGIONAL WORKSHOP ON ICT
ACCESSIBILITY FOR PERSONS WITH
DISABILITIES FOR AFRICA REGION
ICT Accessibility for Equal Education &
Employment Opportunities for Persons
with Disabilities
Prof. Licia Sbattella
Dean’s delegate for Disability
Politecnico di Milano - Italy
G3ict Program Committee Member
licia.sbattella@polimi.it
International
Telecommunication
Union
Committed to Connecting the World
Agenda
Specific challenges and opportunities for
accessible and assistive ICT solutions
Italian disability laws and regulations for
Academia
MultiChancePoliTeam: existing ICT
assisitve services and applications
Advanced applied research on wireless
assistive ICTs on campus
Lusaka, Zambia, 15-16 July 2008 www.itu.int/ITU-D/sis 3
Committed to Connecting the World
Academia for adult life, employment
and social responsibility
Adult life and the … “professional self”
The importance of becoming an expert to exercise
specific responsibilities in different social contexts.
Different professional profiles: scientific versus
humanistic ones
The Campus is a small but complex and
significant social context
Where people study, teach, work, cooperate,
communicate, research
Many persons cooperate with different abilities and
disabilities.
Everybody can experience autonomous and
cooperative dimensions possibly supported by
innovative strategies
Lusaka, Zambia, 15-16 July 2008 www.itu.int/ITU-D/sis 4
Committed to Connecting the World
Academia for adult life, employment
and social responsibility
Academia is a “special land” which allows protected
but strategic relationships between:
Learning and professional environments (i.e. schools /
enterprises)
Social and cultural dimensions
Private and public contexts, governmental and non-
governmental partners
The applied research can promote
ICT accessibility and innovation
The analysis of the real impact of ICT and AT and better
evaluation of their efficiency
The harmony between human and technological
strategies
A ‘daily’ confidence with ICT and Assistive Technology
Lusaka, Zambia, 15-16 July 2008 www.itu.int/ITU-D/sis 5
Committed to Connecting the World
At Politecnico di Milano – In Italy
At Politecnico di Milano: MultiChancePoliTeam is the group
of specialists which guarantees services to students with
disabilities (www.polimi.it/disabilita)
In Italy:
A special Law (number 17/99) guarantees financial
supports to organize special services to make the
academic life more and more accessible.
Each university receives funds in relationships to the
number of students with disability, the special projects
which support them in studying and facing the first
employment experiences.
CNUDD groups the Dean’s Delegate for Disability of
each university allowing them coordination, global policies
and exchange of innovative strategies.
Lusaka, Zambia, 15-16 July 2008 www.itu.int/ITU-D/sis 6
Committed to Connecting the World
Special Services:
The MultiChancePoliTeam
The MultiChancePoliTeam guarantees
services to the students with disability:
A psycho-educational counseling
University attendance support (admission test,
tutoring, personalized examinations,
accessibility to the campus, administrative,
accommodation and studying supports)
Teaching aids: conditions specifically suited to
maximize the benefit of classroom and
laboratory work by means of personalized and
innovative technological teaching aids (Text To
Speech & Automatic Speech Recognition
technologies)
Lusaka, Zambia, 15-16 July 2008 www.itu.int/ITU-D/sis 7
Committed to Connecting the World
Special Services:
The MultiChancePoliTeam
The MultiChancePoliTeam guarantees
services to the students with disability:
Technological aids (HW and SW solutions for
personal needs)
The Wireless Campus allows a personalized
fruition of classrooms and laboratory
activities, Internet and local services, ….
Distance Learning (only when strictly needed)
International mobility
Lusaka, Zambia, 15-16 July 2008 www.itu.int/ITU-D/sis 8
Committed to Connecting the World
Special Services
Multimodal fruition of lectures
Recording and Creating guide-lines
converting lectures for teachers (to
Allowing multimodal improve multimodal
cooperation materials and
lectures)
Handling distance
learning
Lusaka, Zambia, 15-16 July 2008 www.itu.int/ITU-D/sis 9
Committed to Connecting the World
Special Services
Natural Language Processing for
Dyslexia
To study a foreign language
To prepare and use accessible
versions of admission tests
To face language complexity
Lusaka, Zambia, 15-16 July 2008 www.itu.int/ITU-D/sis 10
Committed to Connecting the World
“ICT and Disability”:
a new Observatory
A new Observatory on “ICT and Disability” has
been created on 2007
The team of experts: computer scientists (ICT Institute)
experts on management and a non-governmental partner
To monitor the employment (but not only) of people with
disabilities
To share information on (and promote) innovative ICT
To maintain an academic, public and private sectors
network
Lusaka, Zambia, 15-16 July 2008 www.itu.int/ITU-D/sis 11
Committed to Connecting the World
Advanced Applied Research
UBICAMPUS and wireless technology
To navigate and explore the
wireless campus
To reach a complete
accessibility of global and
local information (often daily
changing)
To communicate with the
other protagonists of the
academic life
To handle emergencies
Lusaka, Zambia, 15-16 July 2008 www.itu.int/ITU-D/sis 12
Committed to Connecting the World
Advanced Applied Research
ATONOMA-MENTE
Independent Living
Multimodal Communication
Domotics and Automation
Personal Assistance
Emergency Handling
Lusaka, Zambia, 15-16 July 2008 www.itu.int/ITU-D/sis 13
Committed to Connecting the World
Results
Students with disabilities with technical degrees
from Politecnico di Milano: 0% unemployment
rate over 7 years
First year of employment supported by the
University with government funds
All students, once they have experienced good
assistive technologies keep using it for their
private and professional lives
Programs help employers better adapt the work
environment to persons with disabilities
Lusaka, Zambia, 15-16 July 2008 www.itu.int/ITU-D/sis 14
Committed to Connecting the World
G3ict & ITU
“Digital Accessibility Index for Persons with Disability”
“Toolkit for Policy Makers”
Lusaka, Zambia, 15-16 July 2008 www.itu.int/ITU-D/sis 15