G. Anthony Giannoumis

Regulating web content: the nexus of legislation and performance standards in the United Kingdom and Norway.

Despite different historical traditions, previous research demonstrates a convergence between regulatory approaches in the United Kingdom and Norway. To understand this convergence, this article examines how different policy traditions influence the legal obligations of performance standards regulating web content for use by persons with disabilities. While convergence has led to similar policy approaches, I argue that national policy traditions have an impact on how governments establish legal obligations for standards compliance. The analysis reveals that national policy traditions influenced antidiscrimination legislation and the capacity and authority of regulatory agencies, which impacted the diverging legal obligations of standards in the United Kingdom and Norway. The analysis further suggests that policy actors mediate the reciprocal influence between national policy traditions and regulatory convergence mechanisms.

Fostering accessible technology and sculpting an inclusive market through regulation

Technology has attracted an increasing level of attention within disability studies. Even though an ambivalent attitude towards technological innovation still remains (Sheldon 2003; Macdonald and Clayton 2013), several scholars appreciate that advances in technology have enabled more persons with disabilities than ever before to actively participate in society (Halvorsen 2010; Blanck 2014; Giannoumis 2014). Disability studies’ scepticism towards technology derives from the fear that technology becomes another way to ‘fix’ impairments, perpetuating and reinforcing the outdated medical approach to disability, which identified disability with impaired invalid bodies that needed to be cured, helped, assisted, ‘supplemented’ (ex pluribus Barnes and Mercer 2010; Oliver and Barnes 2012). In addition, some scholars see technology as another impairing barrier, rather than a facilitator or a tool to overcome existing obstacles (Jaeger 2013; Blanck 2014). Goggin and Newell (2003, 131 ff.), for example, affirm that digital technologies, have created a system of exclusion, further isolating people with disabilities.

Transnational convergence of public procurement policy: a ‘bottom-up’ analysis of policy networks and the international harmonisation of accessibility standards for information and communication technology

This article seeks to examine how public procurement policies for information and communication technology (ICT), aimed at improving the accessibility of ICT for persons with disabilities, have converged internationally. Convergence, in this instance, refers to the international harmonisation or acceptance of common standards and norms. Distinguishing itself from the predominant authorship in the area, this article seeks to explore convergence from a ‘bottom-up’ perspective, by examining the influence of networks of public and private actors on the design of public procurement standards for accessible ICT. Specifically, it will seek to answer how these actors and networks (varying in their level of coordination) have contributed to policy design in a unique area, public procurement of ICT goods and services. The influence of these networks will be discussed through the use of policy documents and semi-structured interviews, to provide empirical support for examining this ‘bottom-up’ analysis and distinguish it from the standard ‘top-down’ model usually employed in this field. This article also focuses on the role of policy actors in the United States and European Union that participated in the harmonisation of public procurement policy and the legal norms and instruments that give these policies their legal effect.

The web as a site of intractable governance

© 2014 The authors and IOS Press. This article is published online with Open Access by IOS Press and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License.

Using non-speech sounds to increase web image accessibility for screen-reader users

Screen-reader users access images on the Web using alternative text delivered via synthetic speech. However, research shows that this is a tedious and unsatisfying experience for blind users, because text-to-speech applications lack expressiveness. This paper, poses an alternative approach using an experiment that compares audemes, a type of non-speech sounds, with alternative text delivered using synthetic speech. In a pilot study with fourteen sighted users, findings show that audemes perform better across many areas. Specifically, audemes required lower mental and temporal demands and led to less effort and frustration and better task performance. Moreover, participants recognized audemes with higher accuracy and lower errors. Audemes were also perceived as more engaging compared to alternative text delivered using synthetic speech. Additionally, audemes were found to be richer in delivering information. This study suggests that non-speech sounds could substitute or complement alternative text when describing images on the Web.

Articulating a right to the Web for persons with cognitive disabilities

Given major developments in the field of technology, law, policy and disability rights, this book review examines the recent publication by Cambridge University Press of eQuality: The Struggle for Web Accessibility by Persons with Cognitive Disabilities, by Peter Blanck. This review analyses the contribution of eQuality as a basis for future research in universal access law, policy and technology development. The analysis demonstrates that while Blank’s proposed legal and technical solutions have yet to emerge substantively, eQuality will nonetheless become an anchor for future research at the intersection of technological innovation, human rights, intellectual property and anti-discrimination regulation. This review argues that eQuality provides a substantial academic basis and acts as a seminal starting point for articulating a right to the Web for individuals with cognitive disabilities.

Universal Design of User Interfaces in Self-driving Cars

Self-driving cars are already being tested in our roads, and several benefits to society are expected with their mainstream use. They also present an opportunity to increase independent mobility for people with disabilities and the elderly. To achieve this, however, the in-car interaction should be redesigned to be suitable for these groups of previously excluded car users. An investigation of existing literature helped us identify two main challenges that could impact the adoption of self-driving cars by such users, namely, their acceptance and multimodal in-car interaction. To mitigate such challenges, we propose in this paper a model that frames the process of universally designing the in-car interactions to increase usability for everyone, while maintaining safety. We argue that integrating universal design early in the development of in-car interaction will ensure their accessibility and usability by all people.

Self-Regulation and the Legitimacy of Voluntary Procedural Standards

Human rights obligations require legislation and standards to ensure access to the web. To understand how standards support human rights obligations, this article uses a framework that differentiates the legal or practical use of mandatory and voluntary standards. This article demonstrates how voluntary web accessibility standards emerged from legislation in the United Kingdom, which suggests standardization processes mediate a standard’s use in law. Data from policy analyses and semistructured interviews demonstrate the association among policy actors, social institutions, and the use of a standard in law. This article recommends evaluating the impact of standardization processes in realizing human rights obligations.

Transatlantic Learning: From Washington to London and Beyond

Abstract Previous research refers to the influence of ideas and values on policy design as policy learning. For 25 years, the values and ideas of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) have influenced disability law and policy globally and, as several authors have emphasized, have served as inspiration in European antidiscrimination legislation. This article explores the influence of the ADA on disability policy learning in Europe and the European policy traditions that have defined policies regulating the accessibility of information and communication technologies (ICT) for persons with cognitive disabilities. It attempts to demonstrate that ADA policy values have influenced antidiscrimination legislation in the United Kingdom and Norway and that European policy traditions have shaped the extension of antidiscrimination legislation to ICT accessibility for persons with cognitive disabilities. Finally, this article seeks to provide a useful basis for further informing the implementation of the ADA.