Proposal

APrIGF 2023 Session Proposal Submission Form
Part 1 - Lead Organizer
Contact Person
Dr. Wayne Hawkins
Email
Organization / Affiliation (Please state "Individual" if appropriate) *
Australian Communications Consumer Action Network ACCAN
Designation
Director of Inclusion
Gender
Male
Economy of Residence
Australia
Primary Stakeholder Group
Civil Society
Part 2 - Session Proposal
Session Title
The role for government purchasing of accessible Information and Communications Technology (ICT)
Session Format
Panel Discussion
Where do you plan to organize your session?
Onsite at the venue (with online moderator for questions and comments from remote participants)
Specific Issues for Discussion
• With the push to deliver public services online how do governments ensure that people with disability are not excluded?
• what role does government purchasing of accessible ICT play in making services usable for all?
• What role does government purchasing of accessible ICT play in increasing employment opportunities for people with disability in the public service?
• what are the policy interventions across the Asia Pacific Region being used to address these issues?
• what role can civil society play in encouraging governments to adopt these interventions?
Describe the Relevance of Your Session to APrIGF
There are more than 650 million people in the Asia Pacific Region living with disability. Online government services provide both benefits and barriers for people with disability. Many of the barrier’s stem from inaccessible digital equipment and services. This session will discuss and investigate how government purchasing practices across the region can alleviate some of the digital inclusion barriers faced by people with disability in relation to employment opportunities and accessing and benefiting from digital-first government services. The session will discuss the role governments can play to lessen some of these barriers by adopting policies and initiatives that focus on purchasing ICT equipment and services that are accessible by all. The diversity of the panellist expertise will highlight examples of success as well as where more focus needs to be directed. The session will provide opportunity for participant participation both in-person and online. A proposed outcome of the session is to develop a framework for stakeholders to progress greater digital inclusion of people with disability in their own regions.
Methodology / Agenda (Please add rows by clicking "+" on the right)
Time frame (e.g. 5 minutes, 20 minutes, should add up to 60 minutes) Description
Introduction to topic (5 Mins) The moderator will introduce the panellists, introduce the topic, provide a brief background of the issue and facilitate audience questions and discussion with the panellists.
Presentation by panellists (25 mins) Each of the four panellists will give a 5-7 minute presentation. providing expertise on a range of government policy and advocacy interventions from a diversity of stakeholder and regional perspectives.
Questions and discussion (25 mins) The moderators will facilitate both in-person and online participation from the audience. Providing an opportunity to ask questions and engage in discussion with the panellists.
Conclusion and next steps (5 mins) The moderator will summarise the session, thank the panellists for their presentations and participation and thank the audience for their participation.
Moderators & Speakers Info (Please complete where possible)

  • Moderator (Primary)

    • Name: Wayne Hawkins
    • Organization: ACCAN
    • Designation: Director of Inclusion
    • Gender: male
    • Economy / Country of Residence: australia
    • Stakeholder Group: Civil Society
    • Expected Presence: Online
    • Status of Confirmation: Confirmed
    • Link of Bio (URL only): https://au.linkedin.com › wayne-hawkins-4a0aba30

  • Moderator (Facilitator)

    • Name: Gunela Astbrink
    • Organization: GSA
    • Designation: Chair: ISOC Accessibility Standing Group
    • Gender: female
    • Economy / Country of Residence: Australia
    • Stakeholder Group: Civil Society
    • Expected Presence: In-person
    • Status of Confirmation: Confirmed
    • Link of Bio (URL only): https://www.linkedin.com/in/gunela-astbrink-150a63a/

  • Speaker 1

    • Name: Greg Alchin
    • Organization: Service NSW
    • Designation: Principal Accessibility Specialist
    • Gender: male
    • Economy / Country of Residence: Australia
    • Stakeholder Group: Government
    • Expected Presence: In-person
    • Status of Confirmation: Confirmed
    • Link of Bio (URL only): https://www.linkedin.com/in/ibuddha/

  • Speaker 2

    • Name: Brigitta Norton
    • Designation: Digital Strategist
    • Gender: female
    • Economy / Country of Residence: Australia
    • Stakeholder Group: Private Sector
    • Expected Presence: In-person
    • Status of Confirmation: Confirmed
    • Link of Bio (URL only): https://www.linkedin.com/in/brinorton/?originalSubdomain=au

  • Speaker 3

    • Name: Vashkar Bhattacharjee
    • Organization: Aspire to Innovate (a2i) program
    • Designation: National Consultant
    • Gender: male
    • Economy / Country of Residence: BangladeshNirmita Narasimhan
    • Stakeholder Group: Government
    • Expected Presence: Online
    • Status of Confirmation: Confirmed
    • Link of Bio (URL only): https://www.linkedin.com/in/vashkar-bhattacharjee-086023a/?originalSubdomain=bd

  • Speaker 4

    • Name: Nirmita Narasimhan
    • Organization: G3ICT
    • Designation: Senior Fellow/ Program Director Asia-Pacific
    • Gender: female
    • Economy / Country of Residence: India
    • Stakeholder Group: Intergovernmental Organizations
    • Expected Presence: Online
    • Status of Confirmation: Confirmed
    • Link of Bio (URL only): https://www.linkedin.com/in/nirmita-narasimhan-ba921816/?originalSubdomain=in
Please explain the rationale for choosing each of the above contributors to the session.
Wayne Hawkins has been leading ACCAN's disability and inclusion policy and advocacy for over 12 years. He brings a broad understanding of digital inclusion and the barriers that many people with disability face in getting and staying connected to digital services.
Gunela Astbrink has been a leading voice in Australia's digital inclusion policy and advocacy landscape for many years. Gunela led much of the research and advocacy that resulted in Australia's adoption of the AS EN 301 549 Standard - Guideline for the Procurement of Accessible Information and Communications Technology.
Greg Alchin is an award-winning inclusioneer, keynote speaker, author and disability advocate with over 30 years’ experience across education, community, commercial and government contexts. Greg’s rich and diverse experience provide invaluable insights that can be applied from one context into others.
Bri Norton is an UX Researcher and Designer, Accessibility Specialist and Digital Strategist Her experience across the public service sector, business and advocacy sectors continues to influence and impact programs and policies focusing on increased digital participation for people with disability.
Vashkar Bhattacharjee’s current work in training in accessible and usable ICT public procurement in addition to his many years of interest in ICTs for development and his passion for e-accessibility and information accessibility for persons with disability, make him an ideal participant for this session. Vashkar is the country representative of G3ict and the focal person for DAISY), Accessible Books Consortium (ABC) of WIPO, Book share, and the Federation of DPO's Sitakunda in Bangladesh.
Nirmita Narasimhan has considerable expertise in Policy making, Capacity building for multi-stakeholder groups and researching various aspects of digital inclusion for persons with disabilities.
Please declare if you have any potential conflict of interest with the Program Committee 2023.
No
Are you or other session contributors planning to apply for the APrIGF Fellowship Program 2023?
No
APrIGF offers live transcript in English for all sessions. Do you need any other translation support or any disability related requests for your session? APrIGF makes every effort to be a fully inclusive and accessible event, and will do the best to fulfill your needs.
Given that this session will be of interest to delegates with disability it is important that all communications needs are acommodated. As such, it would be terrific if this session was able to provide real time captioning and sign language interpretation, specifically International Sign.
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      Consent
      I agree that my data can be submitted to forms.for.asia and processed by APrIGF organizers for the program selection of APrIGF 2023.