The Cabinet Division has approved the guidelines for building a disabled citizen friendly smart Bangladesh to ensure inclusive digital services for the people with disabilities. Through notification on July 31, instructions have also been given to ministries, departments and agencies under the jurisdiction or divisions and districts to follow the guidelines.
According to the new guidelines, the web and digital services of all public and private institutions of the country have been opened to be usable for disabled people.
Thea2i has provided technical assistance in the preparation of this guideline named ‘Digital Service Web Designing for Inclusive Accessibility’ with the aim of building a Smart Bangladesh by 2041. The guideline is formulated according to the International Web Accessibility Standard Accessibility Guidelines for Web Content (WCAG) 2.1.
6 points have been mentioned as content of the guide line, which stipulates conditions for ensuring enclave accessibility in web, mobile apps, and digital services. As stated, web, mobile apps and digital services must be compatible with screen reading software under these guidelines. Also WCAG 2.1 guidelines or its updated version should be followed while developing web, mobile apps and digital services.
The Policy Wing of the ICT Division with the technical assistance of a2i formulated the guidelines through year-long consultation with various stakeholders, which was then approved by the Information and Communication Technology Division.
After taking the views of the participants, the web accessibility framework has been laid down in the guidelines by mentioning 8 barriers to online services or web usage. It also provides for the provision of text alternatives or conversion to other forms for any non-text content. This will give the user access to lowercase letters, braille facilities, audio and simple sign language. Audio, phone calls, text messages, equation solving as well as alternative easy entry facilities are also mentioned as captchas for user identification. The guidelines contain instructions for using simple and understandable digital service tools including keeping the ground noise below 20 decibels, setting colors according to the user’s wishes, keeping zoom facilities up to 400 percent.
In fact, the guidelines were formulated based on the WCAG’s four principles, which ensure that all web and digital services in the country are accessible to all, including people with disabilities. Through this, nearly 5 million disabled people of the country will be given the opportunity to benefit from digital services.