Educational and Cultural Exchange on Digital Accessibility — Highlights from Hong Kong

Notes

As we celebrate Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), I want to share an exciting opportunity for international cooperation to advance digital accessibility around the world. In late April, I participated in an Educational and Cultural Affairs Exchange Program in Hong Kong on digital accessibility thorough the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) U.S. Speaker Program. It was arranged in partnership with CareER (Care in Education and Recruitment), a charitable organization in Hong Kong that provides training and job-matching services for employers and candidates with disabilities.

A focus of the program was improving the user experience of people with disabilities, along with meeting W3C accessibility standards and international regulations. I provided training on integrating accessibility throughout user-centered design processes and using W3C resources in separate events hosted by:

• MIT Hong Kong Innovation Node
• Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) Department of Computer Science & Engineering, with human-computer interaction (HCI) students and professors
• City University of Hong Kong Department of Computer Science (CS) and School of Creative Media (SCM)
• Arts with the Disabled Association Hong Kong (ADAHK)

There were opportunities to address different aspects of accessibility:

• In a "Digital Accessibility as a Business Imperative – Supporting Organizations in Advancing Digital Accessibility" roundtable arranged by CareER and hosted by Societe Generale, I focused on business perspectives. We addressed issues brought up by representatives from a range of international and local business with a range of roles including digital experience, design, customer engagement, employee development, and social responsibility.
• In a roundtable with disability organizations hosted by the Joint Council for People with Disabilities, Hong Kong Council of Social Service (HKCSS), I shared approaches that have worked around the world to address issues they are facing in Hong Kong.
• I met with staff at the U.S. Consulate Hong Kong and Macau, including the U.S. Consul General, Economic Chief, and Cultural Affairs Officer.
• We had a fruitful lunch meeting with long-time accessibility leaders in Rehabilitation International and the The Hong Kong Society for Rehabilitation — at Museum Café 8, a social enterprise that creates vocational training and employment for adults with learning disabilities and neurodiversities.

This program was incredibly rewarding and especially appreciated since I had not traveled internationally in several years, due to my health and the pandemic. I learned so much! For example:

• Terminology — Locally they strongly prefer "people with disabilities" over "disabled people" and "visually impaired" over "blind". This is different than in some parts of the world, and it highlights the need for cultural sensitivity in terminology. Captions that include important sounds beyond dialog are sometimes called "accessible captions".
• A creative way to provide a descriptive transcript, somewhat like a screenplay script.
• In Hong Kong, there has been a focus on built environment accessibility for some time, and digital accessibility is now getting more attention. The scope includes phone apps, kiosks, and things like digital menus, point-of-sales devices, and ticketing machines.
• International accessibility efforts, such as the European Accessibility Act, impact many businesses in Hong Kong.
• Often accessibility work is just on "compliance" and the user experience of people with disabilities is not well understood or considered. I was asked by several people for approaches to address this challenge.
• AI is a primary focus in the region, and accessibility issues need to be better understood and addressed. I appreciated the opportunity to talk about "shifting left" (that is, addressing accessibility considerations early) and optimizing AI benefits while minimizing negatives. (Some are covered in AI & the Web: Understanding and managing the impact of Machine Learning models on the Web.) It was helpful to learn of first-hand experiences of how AI used for screening job applicants was inappropriately ruling out candidates with disabilities.

I was honored to have this opportunity, and will remember it fondly. Many thanks to Walter Tsui, Veronica Li, and other CareER staff who initiated and helped plan the program; Adeline Fung, Genevieve Siebengartner, Ruby Dennis, and the staff at the U.S. Consulate General Hong Kong & Macau who arranged all the details; the many event hosts; participants who shared their questions and insights; and all who contributed to making this a successful exchange program!

W3C looks forward to continuing to share information and gather information in the Asia Pacific region and  throughout the world.

There are many ways to engage with the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) and participate in WAI, including through the Accessibility Internationalization Community Group and translating accessibility resources.