Digital Accessibility Guidelines for Persons with Disabilities (ID0141)

Brief Description of the Commitment

Preparation of Guidelines related to Digital Accessibility for groups with disabilities to achieve proper information transparency and access for all levels of society.

Problem Definition

1. What problem does the commitment aim to address? The population of people with disabilities in Indonesia is currently 26 million people (BPS, 2021). Persons with disabilities are a vulnerable group due to a lack of access to adequate information. Each type of difficulty has accommodation in the form of assistive technology used in daily accessing digital information. However, this assistive technology can only work optimally if the digital information is made in compliance with digital accessibility principles and standards. Currently, the government has designed an Electronic-Based Government System (SPBE), which began in 2018. In its journey, efforts to implement digital transformation have not yet included elements of digital accessibility as an essential part of the digitalization process of an inclusive government. This impacts disabled groups who have difficulty accessing critical government services through digital platforms developed by the government because they do not meet accessibility standards. These obstacles affect equal opportunities to improve the quality of human resources and competitiveness, especially in obtaining access to information in the education sector, employment, transportation, banking, and other essential matters.

2. What are the causes of the problem? The low participation of persons with disabilities stems from environmental conditions that still regard disturbances as minority users of digital products/services. Disabilities are not considered the intended target user group when building digital web/applications. Then there is interest in persons with disabilities, for example, non-disabled persons who rarely interact with persons with disabilities. This causes them to have a limited understanding of how persons with disabilities interact with digital public services. This stems from a lack of knowledge regarding digital accessibility in the education system and professional standard procedures. In addition, the government and private sectors perceive the development of digital platforms, including accessible digital documents, as requiring new tools and resources. In reality, improving accessibility does not necessarily require additional tools and resources at a high cost. Another challenge faced is the limited number of experts in Indonesia who understand digital accessibility topics, both including developers, designers, disruption experts, and policymakers. Not all experts have trouble being aware of digital accessibility guides as they are highly technical in content and are aimed at developers and designers of websites and applications. Even so, more general guidelines can be applied in everyday life, such as for creating digital documents and social media content. Common misconceptions around digital accessibility include providing different websites/apps/digital documents for each problem, provision of information to persons with disabilities should be segregated from the non-disabled population; as well as the need for additional resources such as special tools that require substantial funds to develop the information. When in fact, it is not necessary to send web/applications/digital documents or different information between problems and non-problems. Meanwhile, resource requirements can be adjusted according to organizational capabilities. In addition to the lack of understanding, it was also found that the implementation of digital accessibility was not appropriate. For example, a website has an accessibility overlay, a tool placed on website pages as a form of accommodation. This feature is quite helpful for low vision and dyslexia, but it still needs readjustment in conditions with screen readers. Blind and low vision generally access information independently using screen readers pre-installed on their respective digital devices (smartphones and desktops) so the implementation of accessibility overlays can cause audio overlap, which interferes with user’s understanding of the information being accessed on the site. Even though the website does not meet accessibility standards, both WCAG 2.0 and WCAG 2.1. Furthermore, compared to the United States, Europe, and Australia, Indonesia does not yet have government regulations regarding digital accessibility. Currently, Indonesia already has a regulation on distraction (UU No.8/2016) ratified by the UN CRPD but it does not mention digital accessibility for inclusion issues. The law only says the accessibility of physical infrastructure but has not yet reached non-physical or digital infrastructure that deserves access to disturbances. This misunderstanding and limitation of competence occur due to the absence of technical guidelines for implementing national accessibility levels. The lack of this guide provides a gap in perception interpretation for each K/L or other implementing agencies. Proposals regarding guidelines and standardization of accessible digital content were also made by participants consisting of agencies and participants when Suarise was involved in the Dialogue of Stakeholders XIII last June. This guide serves as a technical reference in its implementation from the central and regional levels in distributing information that can be disseminated, studied, and reviewed for each re-implementation of accessibility needed.

Commitment Description

1. What has been done so far to solve the problem? The government has made efforts to create a voice-over feature owned by all fields in the Supreme Court. However, the voice-over impacts the accessibility features owned by each software overlap, so these features cannot function optimally. The commitment through the Ministry of Communication and Informatics (Kominfo) to bridging digital government tensions for Indonesia's future is proven by the formation of the Indonesian Telecommunications Accessibility Agency (Bakti Kominfo). Bakti Kominfo focuses on increasing information and communication literacy (ICT) for internet disruption and provision in the 3T (outermost, frontier, lagging) areas. Adequate digital accessibility for persons with disabilities has excellent potential to be developed because it has a direct impact not only on the technology sector but also on the economy and education and the development of inclusive smart cities. Suarise actively advocates for accessibility to various professionals in the technology and application development field through the A11yID (Accessibility of Indonesia) community initiative. Suarise regularly holds discussions and sharing sessions regarding the urgency of digital accessibility every month for students, professionals, UI/UX designers, developers, and anyone interested in accessibility issues for distractions. Until now, community members via the a11yID telegram have reached 485 members with 22 sharing sessions and presenting technology expert speakers at national and international levels, such as eBay and ASOS.

2. What solution are you proposing? Provision of Digital Accessibility Guidelines for groups with disabilities in every public service sector so that all levels of Indonesian society can access them.

3. What results do we want to achieve by implementing this commitment? Preparing Guidelines for Digital Accessibility in Indonesia can be used as the primary guide for all elements of the government in making Digital Accessibility appropriate for all groups of people, especially persons with disabilities, to create access to information for all groups of people.

Commitment Analysis

1. How will the commitment promote transparency? The preparation of Digital Accessibility for Disabilities can encourage presenting public information that is easy and friendly for people with disabilities to access. This is because all Public Bodies are expected to be able to adjust the development of their digital accessibility so that they can be accessed independently by all troubled groups.

2. How will the commitment help foster accountability? Preparing Guidelines for Digital Accessibility for Disabilities can increase the participation of groups with disabilities proactively and independently in learning information obtained in digital format. Thus, the difficulty group can also evaluate the achievements of programs and development carried out by the government

3. How will the commitment improve citizen participation in defining, implementing, and monitoring solutions? Digital accessibility helps all people, including people with disabilities and the elderly, to know about various public policy programs. In the end, this can encourage community participation in multiple fields, including political participation, the digital economy, public transportation, and an inclusive workforce. In political participation, digital accessibility can fulfil and protect people's voting rights, including people with disabilities. The participation rate of persons with disabilities in 2019 in exercising their right to vote has increased, but the challenges they face are limited information. Persons with disabilities experience limitations in accessing election information, as well as information about candidates for legislative and executive members. In the digital economy, digital accessibility can help people with disabilities to optimize the use of relevant digital devices and maximize their abilities in economic inclusion. Digital accessibility allows persons with disabilities to access e-commerce, digital banking services, digital wallets, digital stock, and money management to soft loans for business development needs. In addition, accessibility opens up opportunities for increasing online economic transactions. The use of e-commerce that problems can access will help them find detailed information about a product, for example, information on color, size, weight, shape, price, and other information. The more complete the information obtained on a product, the more it can increase the economic turnover of society. In public transportation, digital accessibility makes it easier for people with disabilities to find information about routes, schedules, and fares, including information in case of unforeseen circumstances such as delays/changes/delays in schedules and accident info. Digital accessibility also opens up information opportunities regarding integrated transportation modes more broadly. Digital accessibility can create a workforce including. A study by the International Labor Organization (ILO) states that the exclusion of persons with disabilities from the workforce can lead to a reduction in GDP of 3 to 7 percent. Through digital accessibility, opportunities for employees, including developing competencies, submitting job applications, working remotely, as well as new professions in the digital field, will open wider. At present, competency and professional development for people with disabilities tend to be monotonous and special sessions are made for them. With digital accessibility, every person with disabilities can study the scientific fields and expertise they are interested in independently without waiting for a special session.

Commitment Planning (Milestones | Expected Outputs | Expected Completion Date)

Provision of Digital Accessibility Guidelines for Disabled Groups | Developed Guidelines for Digital Accessibility for Disability Groups | December 2024

Action Plan Review

Commitment 7. Digital accessibility guidelines for inclusive public communication and information services for persons with disabilities

• Verifiable: Yes
• Does it have an open government lens? Yes
• Potential for results: Modest