Inclusive E-government: steps towards the E-inclusion of disabled persons in the WWW Age.

Abstract

The Internet has become an omnipresent and integral part of the information society, with an ever increasing role in the delivery of learning, professional industry, recreation and a myriad of other aspects of life. Internet enabled services provided by governments have been identified as possible tools that could help to bridge the socio-economic divide. Sir Berners-Lee’s original vision for the Internet was “humanity connected by technology”. A recent issue of concern worldwide is the growing digital divide for people with disabilities. Thus the e-inclusion of disabled persons should be an integral component of information society strategies. Consequently, legislation and policies have been enacted to guide the roll-out of universally accessible e-government services. However, legislation and policies are not enough without the necessary implementation. This paper assesses South African government legislation and policies aimed at the e-inclusion of persons with disabilities. Using the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), we use the South African Revenue Services as a test-bed to assess the accessibility of South African e-government websites. Furthermore, the paper assesses the requisite technologies needed by disabled persons to effectively participate in the WWW era society. In conclusion we advocate for the inclusion of “technical illiteracy” as a disability, and the redefinition of disability in the context of WWW use.