ICT and Disability

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Disability

Abha Khetarpal1

AbstractDisability is not inability. A disability is only actually a disability only when it prevents someone from doing what they want or need to do. Technologies and communication devices help reduce physical barriers. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) provide a model to allow people with disabilities to better integrate socially and eco-nomically into their communities by supporting personal access to information and knowledge, learning and teaching situations, personal communication and interaction and access to educational administrative procedures. When we talk about accessibility issues, removing barriers to accessing ICTs by persons with disabilities is of paramount importance. Government agencies, NGOs and private sector should all come out to remove barriers to access ICTs and work together with the stakeholders so that people with disabilities are able to live independent life.

KeywordsICT, disability, accessibility, assistive technology

Introduction

The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF), defines disability as an umbrella term for impairments, activity

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DOI: 10.1177/0974929214560117http://rmi.sagepub.com

Article

Corresponding author:Abha Khetarpal, President, Cross the Hurdles. E-mail: [email protected]

1 President, Cross the Hurdles.

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limitations and participation restrictions. Disability refers to the negative aspects of the interaction between individuals with a health condition (such as, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome and depression) and personal and environmental factors (such as, negative attitudes, inaccessible transportation and public buildings and limited social supports; WHO, 2002).1

Contrary to the Medical Model (Wikipedia),2 which tries to find dis-ability inside a person and thinks of disability as a personal problem, Social Model of Disability (UPAIS, 1976) regards disability as the problem of society. Medical Model regards disability to be inability. It becomes a process of invalidation where the person is taken as weak, passive, dependent, unintelligent, problematic and left isolated and stigmatised.

Extent of Disability in India

According to the World Disability Report, 15–16 per cent of the world’s population lives with a disability. This represents about 1 billion people globally. The UN gives a slightly lower estimate of 10 per cent of the population having one disability or the other (the United Nations).3 But Indian figures show a different picture. The number of disabled has gone up from 21.9 million in 2001 to 26.8 million in 2011—from 2.13 to 2.21 per cent of population (Census of India, 2011). The reason behind this underestimation is the stigma attached to the condition of disability as defined by the Medical Model. Moreover there is narrow definition of dis-ability in India where many invisible disabilities go unnoticed and uncounted. The Persons with Disabilities Act of 1995 is based on the medi-cal model of disability; it adopts a welfare attitude, looking at physical impairments of people and labelling them as, ‘disabilities’. Based on the conservative traditional approach towards disability, disability under this Act has been defined in a quite narrow manner confining it only to seven types of disabilities. As per Section 2(i) of the Persons With Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995, ‘Disability’ means

1. Blindness;2. Low vision;3. Leprosy-cured;4. Hearing impairment;5. Loco motor disability;



98 Review of Market Integration 6(1)

6. Mental retardation;7. Mental illness.

Even the enumerators are not well trained in collecting statistics and ask-ing appropriate questions regarding subject concerned.

As people with disabilities are uncounted, they remain invisible in all walks of life. They are the least thought of during policy formulation and hence there is meagre resource allocation for rehabilitating them and providing them with sustainable infrastructure. The range of social protection schemes that cover people with disabilities in India, such as below poverty line (BPL) ration cards for government-subsidised food grains and kerosene, social security pensions, scholarships, and reserva-tions in government jobs, provide some hope for the destitute but they are completely inadequate (Vanmala Hiranandani; Disability, Economic Globalization and Privatization: A Case Study of India; 2010).

Between 1998 and 2003, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MSJE), the nodal agency for promoting the welfare of disabled and other marginalised groups, accounted for only between 5 and 7 per cent of total government spending, signifying the low prior-ity placed by the government on core programmes for people with dis-abilities (World Bank, 2007a). Budget cuts for social programmes of the MSJE have adversely affected non-governmental disability organi-sations that previously depended on government funding. NGOs have been encouraged by the government to seek philanthropic contribu-tions from private wealthy donors and international aid organisations and by collecting fees from few elite clients who can afford to pay for services rather than receiving their funding from the central govern-ment (Erevelles, 2001). National Policy for Persons with Disability 2006 showed a further withdrawal of the state from its responsibility towards disability and a tendency to push that responsibility on civil society and communities.

People with disabilities in India form a weak political constituency without full citizenship rights. Although political party workers conduct house-to-house surveys to register voters, homelessness especially among the urban destitute and disabled combined with social stigma and family shame perpetuates the invisibility and isolation of many persons with disabilities and their consequent absence from lists of voters (Jeffery and Singal, 2008; UNNATI and Handicap International, 2004; World Bank, 2007). Even when disabled people are registered, inaccessible pooling booths, inadequate transport facilities and lack of information in accessible formats hinder their ability to vote. Thus, persons with disa-bilities are politically disenfranchised. This is despite the fact that in by guest on April 8, 2015rmi.sagepub.comDownloaded from


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addition to ratifying international human rights instruments, India has one of the strongest rights-based constitutions in the world that holds the government primarily responsible for the well-being of historically dis-advantaged populations (Thomas, 2004). People with disabilities in India are subject to multiple deprivations and limited opportunities in several dimensions of their lives. Households with people with disabilities are 25 per cent less likely to report having three meals per day year around, more likely to have members who are illiterate and children who are not enrolled in school, have much lower employment rates, and have limited awareness of entitlements and services available by law for people with disabilities (World Bank, 2007b).

There are very few facilities leading to almost no opportunities for them and this again leads to their being uncounted. Inaccessibility and exclusion accentuate their disabling conditions. This biggest minority then remains caught in the vicious circle of exclusion. The adverse con-sequences include:

l Internalisation of oppression and disabilityl Feeling locked in and shut out;l Lack of facilities;l Low efficiency and productivity;l Low national income;l Low economic welfare.

Living a life with disability has its own set of problems but the disabling conditions are accentuated by barriers of all kinds:

l Attitudinal;l Information and communication;l Technology;l Architectural;l Organisational.

Role of ICT in Overcoming Disabilities

Information and communication technology (ICT) expresses the con-vergence of telecommunications, information, broadcasting and com-munications. It is crucially important for sustainable development in developing countries. Mobile phones, satellites or Internet are a unique kind of infrastructure that expands access to key public services, promot-ing digital inclusion. We all are aware of the importance and convenience by guest on April 8, 2015rmi.sagepub.comDownloaded from



that technology can have in our lives, but for persons with disabilities, access to technology can mean living more independent lives, and being able to access the same information, goods and services that oth-ers take for granted.

ICT applications allow people with disabilities to better integrate socially and economically into their communities. The Canadian Association of Speech Language Pathologists and Audiologists (CASLPA) uses social media extensively, for communicating with its professional members and also for ‘consumers’—those who have a com-munication disorder themselves or who have a child or other person in their lives with an associated disorder. In addition to its consumer friendly website, CASLPA hosts a Facebook page4 with more than 900 fans which it is currently using to advocate universal hearing screening for new-borns. The organisation has a Twitter account, followed by over 500 pro-fessionals and consumers, to disseminate news, articles and information about organisation related events.

Similarly Tyze Personal Networks (http://www.tyze.com) is a Vancouver based organisation. It provides social networking software for caregivers of PwDs as well as shut ins with disabilities or illnesses. The software enables these users to communicate with others in a safe, private online social networking environment. Its purpose is to reduce the isolation that often accompanies care giving and disability. They pro-vide access to knowledge, the ability to organise and network. The edu-cation sector is being gradually transformed by technology, providing greater access to a variety of learning materials.

The use of the iPhone, iPod, iPad and other mobile devices has been a revolutionary new platform for assistive technology. Today one can find hundreds of apps relating to disabilities and health. These tools sim-plify many calculations as well as provide valuable information on top-ics concerning disability and/or health issues. Some of the apps cost a couple of dollars to purchase; however, there are also a number of handy apps available that can be downloaded for free. Some useful health and disability apps can be found at the following websites:

l Apps for Windows Phone can be found at—http://www.microsoft.com/windowsphone/en-us/apps/default.aspx

l Apps for Apple devices such as iPod, iPad and iPhone can be found at the Apple App Store for:l iPhone—http://www.apple.com/iphone/apps-for-iphone/l iPad—http://www.apple.com/ipad/apps-for-ipad/l iPod Touch—http://www.apple.com/ipodtouch/features/app-

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l Apps for Android Devices can be obtained from—https://market.android.com/

l Apps for BlackBerry at BlackBerry’s App World—http://app-world.blackberry.com/webstore/

Among other applications there is ezTasker, which reminds Alzheimer’s patients and others with cognitive disabilities to perform daily tasks such as feeding a pet. It also coaches them on and how to perform these tasks. MOCR is an optical character recognition application that allows blind users to take a picture of a menu and have the menu read aloud to them and BrailleLearn offers games that encourage Braille learning among blind children.

Yet another application LocalEyes, which takes advantage of Google maps and GPS and helps the visually impaired to solve the problem of knowing what’s around them. With a phone in hand, a blind user might be able to pinpoint what shops are to the left, which restaurants are on the right or how many blocks to the dry cleaner. All the applications run on Android smart phones, eliminating the need for expensive hardware or software.

ICTs offer high levels of flexibility and customisation for users with disabilities. Digitisation of information has created a kind of paradigm shift. Now users can choose the form in which they want to consume information.

A technology combining a global positioning system (GPS) with an acces-sible PDA, for example, enables users with visual disabilities to navigate and orient themselves, even in unfamiliar settings. With this technology, the PDA issues voice prompts, telling the person where he or she is and how to get to their destination (e.g., ‘turn right’). In addition, users of this technol-ogy can connect to databases containing information about points of inter-est, such as restaurants or transit stations, to find their way to previously unvisited locations. Some regions, including Fairfax County, Virginia, have even compiled databases of obstacles such telephone poles, fire hydrants, and sidewalk cracks to aide with mobility.1 Although a GPS is certainly not intended to take the place of mobility training, it does serve as a helpful electronic guide and tool.5

ICTs are even helping in job exploration. Now they can explore jobs through various job portals. Some of them in India are:

l www.ciispecialabilityjobs.inl www.differentability.in/blogl www.enable-india.org by guest on April 8, 2015rmi.sagepub.comDownloaded from



l www.jobsfordeaf.nic.inl www.jobsfordisabled.org

ICT has made it possible for many types of equipment to be easily modified to the specific needs of the disabled person. For instance a Brain–Computer Interface (BCI), often called a Mind–Machine Interface (MMI), can be used for people who are unable to express through speech. It establishes a real-time interaction between the user and the outside world.6

ICT breakthroughs have brought new opportunities to restructure the learning and knowledge transfer environments along with information dissemination. E-courses and web-based teaching and e-learning resources in all education vocational and higher educational institutions provide an opportunity to the people with disabilities to gain knowledge and enter into the pool of skilled labour. ICT solutions such as word prediction or text highlighting have been shown to help children and teenagers with their reading and writing.

Today, even as people with disabilities take to the streets in their vehicles, they can have the tools at their fingertips to communicate across the world, navigate through dense traffic and find their way in unfamiliar terrain. ICT can help the disabled in learning by customising the computer systems to aid in reading, writing, spelling, visual and hearing problems. The disabled can accomplish most of the office work from the rest of their homes by working online just like able-bodied persons would. Interaction can be realised by connecting with people on the internet even if mobility is not possible. Thus, ICTs are playing a catalytic role in creating opportunities for PwDs in every walk of life.

ICT and Me

I am a polio survivor and a wheelchair user. Before I knew how to use social media and chart forums, I felt cut off from rest of the world. I had limited or almost no interaction with people. With no friends and only parents around me I led a life of seclusion and isolation as physi-cal inaccessibility prevented me from going out for socialising or recreation.

I could not attend a regular or college. I could not go watch movies with my friends. In public I felt embarrassed of my disability. I felt a lack of accessibility, both physical as well as to human interaction. The most common mindset either considered me as an object of pity or an idol of



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strength. I could never be an ordinary human being with my own strengths and weaknesses.

However, a PC and a laptop completely changed the scenario. Social media opened up possibilities of developing friendships and knowing people and their behaviour. Communication which is an essence of all life became easier and manageable. I found the online interaction liber-ating. I am now in a position to enjoy my fundamental right of freedom of expression of thought though I still have not tasted the delicious fla-vour of Right to Movement without any hurdles coming my way. There are more than 2,500 people in my Facebook friend’s list. It has almost become a ritual now to share thoughts, events, news and almost any other happenings everyday with friends on Facebook. I share my pictures and experiences. I regularly initiate and participate in discussions on politi-cal, social and economic issues. Sometimes there is heart to heart talk with close friends and this acts as a stress buster. Receiving comments and acclaim for one’s view or creative outpourings is a heart-warming experience.

On Twitter I have 148 followers. On Linkedin I have 500+ connec-tions. Social media has increased my social and professional connectivity manifold. I find myself to be much stronger and confident person since social media has given me a platform where I can interact as an ‘equal’ with others.

Now I can become aware of my rights, express my opinions and reach out to a large number of people. Career exploration and career develop-ment became possible as I can search for jobs from online job portals. In 2010, I managed to get an online job writing disability related articles for Jagran Publications. Then I started working a career counsellor a job portal www.careerage.com in 2011–12.

Online shopping, bill payment, earning, internet banking, have revo-lutionised my life, making me independent. Earning myself, spending at my own will, having the opportunity to choose like any other consumer, I feel I am part of the economic mainstream.

ICT was quite instrumental in bringing about my political inclusion. I have signed numerous online petitions related to social issues through change.org. I was able to cast my vote in the Lok Sabha elections of 2014 after fighting hard for the accessibility of people with disabilities through such online petitions, RTIs and various campaigns on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. The Chief Electoral Office, New Delhi launched a link on their website by which voters with disabilities could register by visiting http://www.ceodelhi.nic.in/ and could ask for facili-ties needed on the polling day including wheelchair assistance and/or




companion. Figure 1 is the screen shot of the webpage of Chief Electoral Officer showing how persons with disabilities could register their names for the support they would need to cast their votes.

I along with many other disability rights activists also launched a suc-cessful online campaign against passing of Rights of People with Disabilities Bill in December 2013 since the 2011 and 2012 drafts were replete with flaws.

Cross the Hurdles

ICT gave me a chance to give back to the society which has given me so much. I wanted to do something for the people with disabilities and being a qualified counsellor and psychotherapist I launched a web portal by the name of www.crossthehurdles.org where I could provide online and tele-counselling services to other people with disabilities.

Although the concept of online counselling was new in our country, the number of people approaching me steadily picked up because of the

Figure 1. Webpage of Chief Electoral Officer

Source: http://www.ceodelhi.nic.in/



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convenience and easy access of the internet. Online counselling provides a kind of ‘perceived privacy’. My physical absence diminished the initial ‘shame’ or need to ‘save face’ while presenting a problem. People can comfortably vent their inner most feelings to someone who is disabled like them, and hence, someone they could easily relate to. The act of composing, which often includes re-reading and reviewing what is written on both sides, leads naturally to externalising and re-framing, thereby increasing objectivity (Alleman, 2002).

In the act of e-mailing, new associations, memories and insights arise in the contemplative atmosphere of ‘getting it down in writing’. Creative solitude and silence are integral to the process.

In an in-person session, one may talk for an hour and not get to the heart of the matter. On the other hand, an online counselling client may sit in silence for an hour and then say more in one typed line than she has ever revealed to anyone.7

Everyday I get five to ten mails and queries. Most of them reflect lack of information as there are very few reliable and accessible sources of information that are available. The kind of queries that I receive can be summed up as:

Employment 40%Relationship and sexuality 25%Information about facilities available 20%Depression and loneliness 10%Misc 5%

In terms of gender, girls and women with disabilities find online counsel-ling quite convenient as there are many things about their reproductive and sexual health issues which they are unable to ask from anybody else. They are easily able to resolve their apprehensions, fears and insecurities after talking to me.

In my counselling sessions I found myself at a position to guide them with the real advantages of using ICTs. How a person with multiple scle-rosis, visual impairment or spinal cord injury could use a piece of voice recognition software called Dragon Naturally Speaking to simply speak his thoughts, and see them magically transcribed onto his computer screen. How the parents of children with intellectual disabilities could use gamified apps for special education and recreation of their children. While doing career counselling I could tell them how ICT has created




career opportunities for the disabled such as Web Designing and Photography, and is providing a number of employment opportunities like ICT technicians and Call Centre Operators.

Once I received a message from a young girl (name not disclosed for the sake of privacy). She was around 21–22 years old living in the Eastern part of India. Her parents were not interested in continuing her studies on account of her disability. Rather they wanted to send her to some Ashram to live a life of celibacy. They had not even bought her a wheelchair and she used to crawl and drag herself everywhere she went. She was very intelligent and ambitious and earned her pocket money by teaching small students of her locality. I arranged a wheelchair from Delhi and sent it to her. This drastically changed her life as she became independent in mov-ing around. She could to parks and road side eating joints easily. When I started talking to her on chat messengers and phone she had internal-ised her disability. But as time went by, she managed to overcome all the psychological hurdles. She is very active on social media. She has her independent opinions about things and has become bold enough to con-front the challenges coming her way. She wants to get higher education and is working hard in that direction. Now it is so good to see her so strong mentally.

I and my team, through Cross the Hurdles conduct online conferences at Skype. We produced e-books on various issues in accessible formats on topics like Post-Polio Syndrome and Breast Cancer Awareness for the people with disabilities.

Apart from providing counselling services, we have launched a mobile application. The objective of this project is inclusion. This is the first ever mobile application for persons with disabilities in India. It is an information resource containing every information right from accessible places in our country to schools for the children with autism, from blood banks in the country to accessible libraries for people with visual impair-ment. This is free application and is now available for download at Google Play Store. For IOS users with few steps people can install this mobile app on their phone. It has various sections for persons with disa-bilities on Education, Employment, Accessibility, Career Guidance, Health, Assistive devices, Legal aspects, Transport facilities, Social Protection, Disability sports and Disability and Driving.

The Business Insider8 covered the launch of the mobile app by writing,

The new app is an information resource containing everything one needs to know about special education, career guidance, employment opportunities, tax benefits, health tips, legal advice, assistive technology, accessibility and



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more. Simply put, you can find all relevant information here—be it schools for autistic children, libraries for the visually impaired, shops for buying dis-ability aids & equipment or blood banks in your locality.

Cross the Hurdles has also started a Web Network by the name of Cross the Hurdles Web Network9 where persons with disabilities can showcase their talents like writing, painting, sports etc. I intend to develop a kind of Web Entrepreneurship module and start an online marketplace of shops run by people with disability to promote self reliance and finan-cially independence in the community. For this I will provide them with free hosting services and a domain name so that they can promote their work even at their individual level. Figure 2 is the screen shot of the web page of Cross the Hurdles Web Network.

A quarterly e-magazine released by Cross the Hurdles is meant to be a magazine for the people with disability, by the people with disability and of the people with disability which helps them to voice their thoughts and opinions in their own words. Figure 3 is the screen shot of the quar-terly E-Magazine published by Cross the Hurdles.

Cross the Hurdles also has a Facebook page which is like by 1278 people. We post different kinds of disability related news and activities taking place across the world and making people aware and sensitised about relevant issues.

Figure 2. Webpage of Cross the Hurdles Web Network

Source: www.crossthehurdles.org




Cross the Hurdles thus strives hard to achieve a motto, ‘Give me accessibility and I shall give you productivity’.

Access to ICTs for People with Disabilities in India

India ratified UNCRPD on the 1st of October, 2007. India was the sev-enth country in the world and the first significant country to do so. The Convention believes disability results from interaction of impairments with various barriers which hinders full and active participation in soci-ety on an equal basis with others.

The UNCRPD, in its Article 9 on Accessibility says:

To enable persons with disabilities to live independently and participate fully in all aspects of life, States Parties shall take appropriate measures to ensure to persons with disabilities access, on an equal basis with others, to the physical environment, to transportation, to information and communications, including information and communications technologies and systems, and to other facilities and services open or provided to the public, both in urban and in rural areas.10

Figure 3. Screen shot of the quarterly E-Magazine published by Cross the Hurdles

Source: www.crossthehurdles.org



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Unfortunately India has not been successful in implementing this. The proposed drafts of Disability Bill 2011 and 2012 clumsily emphasise only infrastructure and services run by ‘establishments’, which is, in effect, the government. There is no mention of website accessibility. Only a cursory mention is made to the appropriate government ensuring that all content available in audio, print and electronic media are in acces-sible format; and that persons with disabilities have access to electronic media by providing audio description, sign language interpretation and close captioning.

Web sites are critical facilitators for accessing social and economic activities. The way in which websites are designed can have a huge impact on many disabled users, in particular people with dyslexia or sight problems. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)11 has drawn up a set of best practice rules known as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). Websites can be rated against these at various levels—no mark, A, AA and AAA with the latter being the most acces-sible. Despite this, many of the central government websites show that none are AA compliant on every page. Lot of websites do not even reach the A standard.

As far as the market price of assistive technologies is concerned, there is a significant price variation between sophisticated standalone condition-specific solutions and phones or PCs with no embedded accessibility features.

The main challenge to the availability of assistive technologies is the lack of awareness and the lack of effective training, support and a services ecosystem in the country. Typically, there are three channels supporting assistive technologies:

1. Education system,2. Rehabilitation and community centres and3. Employment support services.

In a country with low-income per capita has limited or non-existent assistive technology programmes in those three areas (G3ict, 2012). Even when ICTs are accessible, they are only available in a fraction of the thousands of languages that are spoken and signed all over the world (G3ict, 2012). The teachers lack the required competencies (which include not only ICT command/knowledge, but also skills and positive attitudes towards use of ICTs and assistive technology in educational settings) it is very difficult to use these technologies for setting inclusive classrooms open to the participation of persons with disabilities.




People with disabilities are more likely to be less well socially con-nected than others. Given that most new skills are learnt through friends or work colleagues, disabled people are typically less exposed to ICT, particularly those in older generations. So teaching facilities might be hard to access.

There is shortage of information technology professionals with ICT accessibility skills.

Solutions

Governments can play a key role in stimulating the introduction of ICT-enabled solutions for persons with disabilities, increasing the availability of accessible ICTs and promoting the affordability of assis-tive technologies. Government can take lead in promoting national innovation systems with public–private collaboration.

Policy makers can address market failure in assistive technology through public interventions and mandatory incorporation of accessibility requirements into public procurement policies, the introduction of subsi-dies and the strengthening of research and development.

Maximising the benefits of ICTs requires a proper understanding of challenges and barriers faced by persons with disabilities in each context, as well as a proper definition of disability along with implemen-tation of effective national public policies.

Civil society organisations can bring about awareness of persons with disabilities and their parents of what ICTs can do to bring about their economic and social integration. These organisations can initiate exten-sive training of persons with disabilities on the use of these ICT tools. One more priority action that can be considered by civil society organi-sations is advocacy for the mainstreaming of the use of the universal design principle in all development efforts.

Private sector entities are already playing a key role in designing, manufacturing, developing and putting into the market key ICT-enabled solutions for persons with disabilities. There is one such company in the private sector by the name of Barrier Break that is working very actively in the area of ICT and Disability. It is a Mumbai-based company. It has played the key role in drafting the National Policy of Electronic Accessibility with NCPEDP for the Department of Information and Technology to ensure that persons with disabilities in India are provided access to electronic and information technology on an equal footing as



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any other citizens of the country. It has trained approximately 300 people across India from various organisations to understand WCAG and its impact. The company has also worked with the National Informatics Centre (NIC) in helping them to understand the implication of WCAG which have been reflected in the Guidelines for Indian Government web-sites. We need to establish such companies in greater numbers.

The shortage of information technology professionals with ICT acces-sibility skills can be overcome by organising internal training programmes on ICT accessibility and also by adding this issue to university curricula. Dhirubhai Institute of Information and Technology has worked really well in successful implementation of ICT by developing a device by which a quadriplegic person can type using head and eye movement. The device was joint effort of Professor Prabhat Ranjan, who at present is an Executive Director or TIFAC- Department of Science and Technology (DST), and an international company by the name of Emotiv.

Following Figure 5 is the snapshot of a newspaper cutting of the news about the device developed by Dhirubhai Institute of Information and Technology.

By undertaking the aforementioned priority actions, governments, private sector and civil society will be creating an enabling environment that provides incentives to other stakeholders to advance the inclusion of persons with disabilities in development efforts.

Notes 1. Towards a Common Language for Functioning, Disability and Health;

WHO. 2. Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_model_of_disability). 3. United Nations (http://www.un.org/disabilities/convention/facts.shtml). 4. www.tinyurl.com/caslpaonfacebook. For CASLPA’s Oct. 2010 SlideShare

presentation on social media use see http://tinyurl.com/6cp2lex. 5. Data-enabled Travel: How Geo-data Can Support Inclusive Transportation,

Tourism, and Navigation through Communities. 6. Anupama, H.S, N.K. Cauver and G.M. Lingaraju, Department of Computer

Sc. and Engineering, R. V. College of Engg., Bangalore, India, Department of Information Sc., M.S. Ramaiah Institute of Tech., Bangalore, India; BRAIN COMPUTER INTERFACE AND ITS TYPES-A STUDY; International Journal of Advances in Engineering & Technology, May 2012. ©IJAET.

7. Cedric Speyer & Jason Jack; Online Counselling Beyond Pros and Cons. 8. Business Insider; (http://www.businessinsider.in/Here-Is-An-App-ToHelp-

People-With-Disabilities/articleshow/28948045.cms).



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9. Cross the Hurdles; (http://crossthehurdles.org/cthwn/).10. United Nations ((http://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?id=269).11. W3C; (http://www.w3.org/standards/webdesign/accessibility).

ReferencesAlleman, J.R. (2002), ‘Online Counseling: The Internet and Mental Health

Treatment’, Psychotherapy, 39(2): 199–209.Census of India (2011), available at http://censusindia.gov.in/Census_And_You/

disabled_population.aspxG3ict (2012), ‘CRPD 2012 ICT Accessibility Progress Report’, available at www.

g3ict.org/resource_center/publications_and_reports/p/productCategory_whitepapers/subCat_0/id_244

Jeffery, R. and N. Singal (2008, March 22), ‘Measuring Disability in India’, Economic and Political Weekly, 22–24.

UPIAS (1976), Fundamental Principles of Disability, Union of the Physically Impaired Against Segregation. Retrieved from http://disability-studies.leeds.ac.uk/files/library/UPIAS-fundamental-principles.pdf

Vanmala Hiranandani (2010), ‘Disability, Economic Globalization and Privatization: A Case Study of India’, available at http://dsq-sds.org/article/view/1272/1302

World Bank (2007a), People with Disabilities in India: From Commitments to Outcomes. New Delhi: Human Development Unit, South Asia Region, The World Bank.

World Bank (2007b), ‘People with Disabilities in India: From Commitments to Outcomes’, Human Development Unit: South Asia Region: 1–186.



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