To: [email protected] Cc: We the Pwd Egroup <[email protected]>, [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], vickybotha < [email protected]>
Dear Mr. Jain, It is deplorable that what was touted as *the first website of a Ministry of the Government of India to fulfill accessibility norms for Persons with Disabilities* is now not just inaccessible but is hardly serving its purpose of informing citizenry. Below is the undated mess that is the homepage where every entry even if a year old is prefixed 'NEW'! Additionally some of the PDFs (for example *CSS of establishment of 5 deaf colleges nationwide <http://socialjustice.nic.in/pdf/admnappro-collegefordeaf-DA.pdf> *or the OM bemoaning lack of applicants for SIPDA <http://socialjustice.nic.in/pdf/sipda1995.pdf>) are crooked pictures of printed documents rendering them unreadable by screen readers for blind or even automated OCR for that matter. I am willing to wager that you have received little or no sectoral feedback on the *DDRS (deadline 23rd March)* unless you have directly solicited it. Nor Gurgaon's *Raahgiri Day (deadline 20 March).* Most likely we are all completely unaware of the same (assuming in the first place that we would be able to provide feedback in the short turnaround time of 1 week given.) I would urge the following changes immediately : - Accessible PDFs (properly tagged and bookmarked from soft copy) should be printable versions of text content which is SEO friendly, i.e. more for verification rather than duplication or substitution. Given that very few people exist who know just how to make PDFs accessible, this would open up content to all print disabled citizens. - Keep only month-old links marked as new, in chronological order. - Adopt a better structure for live and archived documents - tagging may be one way to go. - Provide an email signup system where citizens can subscribe to any website updates categorywise. - Make use of free publicity offered by Press Information Bureau everytime you are seeking public feedback on something and when a single window public engagement portal comes up, submit the same there. - Conduct periodic accessibility tests to ensure that the website stays accessible - WCAG 2 AA / GIGW compliance is not a one-time contracted job but a sustained, inclusive process costing nothing to keep content accessible, but a little care, awareness and attention from all. In closing, some of us are apprehensive about the large sums of budgeted items on Awareness Generation / Publicity <http://socialjustice.nic.in/pdf/awareness-dd.pdf> discussed in your recent meeting, *close to Rs. 1 crore* to be precise, on *nothing* that will enhance the life of the average disabled Indian! The talk about brand ambassadors for Sugamya Bharat awareness campaigns is also worrisome with the attendant costs that come along with large 'inspirational' advertising campaigns, assuming the brand ambassadors come free of course. This is money easily spent and *could* be beneficial, but only after expenses on high-priority tangible, unfulfilled areas are met. Some clarity on the proposed roadmap vis a vis Sugamya Bharat is suggested to be made accessible in the public domain so that we can all be aware what is planned in our name, for us. Sincerely, Vaishnavi Jayakumar WHAT'S NEW - *Two Departments : "Department of Social Justice and Empowerment" and "Department of Disability Affairs" <http://socialjustice.nic.in/subject.php>created under the Ministry with effect from May 14th, 2012* (New) - Addendum for the Post of Director, Swami Vivekanand National Institute of Rehabilitation Training & Research (SVNIRTAR), Cuttack. <http://socialjustice.nic.in/pdf/Addendum-NI.pdf>(New) - Invitation for Expression of Interest (EoI) for acting as Nodal Bank to Implement the Dr. Ambedkar Central Sector Schemes of Interest Subsidy on Educational Loan for Overseas studies for OBCs & EBCs. <http://socialjustice.nic.in/pdf/invitforEoI-OBCandEBC.pdf>(New) - Inviting Suggestions to Improve the Deendayal Disabled Rehabilitation Scheme (DDRS). <http://socialjustice.nic.in/pdf/invitsugg-ddrs160215.pdf> (New) - Raahgiri Program for PwDs in Gurgaon. <http://socialjustice.nic.in/pdf/raahgiri-160215.pdf>(New) - Appointment of Chairperson, National Trust for the Welfare for Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities. <http://socialjustice.nic.in/pdf/nt-chairperson.pdf>(New) - Minutes of Third meeting of the Committee for Grant in Aid under Awareness Generation & Publicity Scheme <http://socialjustice.nic.in/pdf/awareness-dd.pdf>(New) - Notice for Hiring of “Consultant” in National Institute of Social Defence (NISD) on contractual basis <http://socialjustice.nic.in/pdf/consult-nisd.pdf>(New) - Administrative approval for the Central Sector Scheme of "Establishment of college for deaf in each of the five regions of the country" (effective from 2014-2015). (New) <http://socialjustice.nic.in/pdf/admnappro-collegefordeaf-DA.pdf> - Vigyapan for Hindi Patrika. (New) <http://socialjustice.nic.in/pdf/advt-hindipatrika.pdf> - Notice - "Scheme of National Awards for outstanding services in the field of Prevention of Alcoholism and Substance (Drug) Abuse. (New) <http://socialjustice.nic.in/pdf/NAnotice-SD30115.pdf> - *Conference of State Ministers - Postponed for 18.2.2015.* (New) <http://socialjustice.nic.in/pdf/letterforcon-postpone18215.pdf> - Publicity of Facebook page for Rahgiri Day for PwDs on 01.02.2015. (New) <http://socialjustice.nic.in/pdf/rahgiridd.pdf> - Revision of Regulations governing the Central Sector Scheme of National Overseas Scholarship for SC etc. candidates for XII Plan period(2012-13–2016-17). (New) <http://socialjustice.nic.in/pdf/revised-noc-sc-012015.pdf> - Consultation Workshop for National Action Plan for Vocational Training of Persons with Disabilities. (New) <http://socialjustice.nic.in/pdf/consulworkshop-DA.pdf> - *Conference of State Ministers regarding Manual Scavenging.* <http://socialjustice.nic.in/con-statemin-MS.php>(New) - Raahgiri Day for Persons with Disabilities in Bangalore, Mumbai and Ahmedabad. (New) <http://socialjustice.nic.in/pdf/raahgiriday-14115.pdf> - Minutes of the Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) meeting held on 29.12.14 for the Post of Member Secretary, Rehabilitation Council of India. (New) <http://socialjustice.nic.in/pdf/DPC-RCI-291214.pdf> - Minutes of the Screening Committee meeting held on 18.12.14 for the Post of Member Secretary, Rehabilitation Council of India. (New) <http://socialjustice.nic.in/pdf/msrci-181214.pdf> - Scheme "Research on Disability related Technology, Products and Issues". <http://socialjustice.nic.in/pdf/scheme-proandissues-DDIII.pdf> (New) - Welfare of Backward Classes - Schemes/Programmes. <http://socialjustice.nic.in/schemespro.php>(New) - Observance of Good Governance Day by Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities on 25.12.2014. <http://socialjustice.nic.in/pdf/goodgovernance.pdf> (New) - Administrative approval for the Plan Scheme <http://socialjustice.nic.in/pdf/forwardingl-inservice.pdf> Scheme of In-Service Training and Sensitisation of key functionaries of Central & State Government, Local Bodies & Other Service Providers. <http://socialjustice.nic.in/pdf/Sch-inservicetrg-PwDs.pdf>(New) - Applications are invited for appointment of two post of Data Analysts on contractual basis in the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities Affairs. <http://socialjustice.nic.in/pdf/data-analyst.pdf> (New) - Application form for Assistance under Central Sector Scheme of Support for Establishment/Modernisation/Capacity Augmentation of Braille Presses (Effective 2014-15). <http://socialjustice.nic.in/pdf/appform-191214.pdf>(New) - Inviting Proposals for Cultural/Sports Programmes and other activities for "Raahgiri Day for Persons with Disabilities". <http://socialjustice.nic.in/pdf/raahgiriday.pdf>(New) - Advertiesement for the post of Director, Swami Vivekanand National Institutes of Rehabilitation Training and Research (SVNIRTAR), Cuttack. <http://socialjustice.nic.in/pdf/adv-dir-nirtar.pdf>(New) - Central Sector Scheme of Assistance for Prevention of Alcoholism and Substance (Drugs) Abuse for Social Defence Services (effective from 01.01.2015). <http://socialjustice.nic.in/pdf/sch-drug-1115.pdf> (New) - Draft Standing Finance Committee (SFC) Note for continuation of eight Composite Regional Centres for Persons with Disabilities. <http://socialjustice.nic.in/pdf/ni-sfc.pdf> (New) - Central Sector Scheme of "Support for Establishment/Modernisation/Capacity augmentation of Braille Presses". <http://socialjustice.nic.in/pdf/braillescheme-da271114.pdf> (New) - The application form One Year Post Graduate in Integrated Geriatric Care. <http://socialjustice.nic.in/pdf/nisd-igc.pdf> (New) - National Trust for the Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities (Amendment) Rules - 2014. <http://socialjustice.nic.in/pdf/ntamendrules-2014e.pdf> Hindi <http://socialjustice.nic.in/pdf/ntamendrules-2014h.pdf>(New) More on What's New <http://socialjustice.nic.in/Latest_events.php> This website is now accessible! *This website has been re-designed w.e.f. 5.1.2010 so as to meet Guidelines for Indian Government Websites and also adheres to Level AA of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0) of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).* *This is the first website of a Ministry of the Government of India to fulfill accessibility norms for Persons with Disabilities.* Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of mobile phones / Tabs on: http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. 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