6 Feb 2012

Dear Mr. Elanthiraiyan,

Thank you for your openness and willingness to incorporate further inputs from people with
disabilities in the Metro Rail planning process itself. We are happy to hear that all accessibility
features of the Delhi Metro will be present, if not improved upon!
As discussed in our meeting there is much interest in the universal design of the Chennai Metro,
but unfortunately your website is currently inaccessible - depriving people with disabilities the
chance to track your progress and participate in this process.
While initial documents / stakeholder inputs for accessiblity elements in station design and
rolling stock are being prepared this week, we @ DRA thought this would be a great place to
start!
The Internet has revolutionised the lives of disabled persons throughout the world. More
than others, it has enabled and liberated them in the most complete sense of the words and
succeeded in elevating levels of independence, competence and confidence.
Unfortunately, while the internet can solve most of the access to information challenges
faced by disabled persons, the hurdles in the form of navigation or comprehension problems
pose as severe barriers to placing complete reliance on it as a tool for managing ones work
and academic pursuits for visually and print disabled persons. It is not only sad but also
disappointing to see that in India a lot of government & private websites are inaccessible for
people with visual and reading disabilities, defeating the very purpose of ICT for development!
India ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in October 2007.
According to Article 21 of the convention "Freedom of Expression and Opinion, and Access to
Information" covers the provision of public information to persons with disabilities in accessible
format and appropriate technologies, encouraging private enterprises providing services,
including via the internet, to enable such services in accessible and usable formats, and
likewise for mass media providers.
Under the CRPD, India is required to improve and monitor the accessibility of its web sites.
Courts in India can use both The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection
of Rights and Full Participation) Act,1995 as well as the UN CRPD in discrimination cases
involving agencies that fail to do any reasonable efforts to make their website accessible.
By adherence to web accessibility standards these problems can be avoided.
To help better understand the issue, we are enclosing a few documents that mention some of
the features which are problematic for persons with disabilities, and also suggest some simple
solutions which can be easily incorporated by web page creators right from the very beginning.
Sample accessibility tests of the CMRL website are also attached. Do see the resources at the
end of this letter as well.
If CMRL is to be an example of equal opportunity and equal access; this will be best shown by
its efforts to make its web presence accessible to everyone including persons with disabilities.
We look forward to your leading the way for others to embrace a digital inclusion policy.
Thanking you.
With regards,
Team Disability Rights Alliance - Tamil Nadu
For Management Video on how disabled people access the Web Before & After Demo on 'bad'
website vs 'good' website
For web tech personnel only
For an Intro http://webaim.org/intro/#principles For Standards, tools, guides etc
Accessibility - W3C http://www.w3.org/standards/webdesign/accessibility.html
Introduction to Web Accessibility http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/accessibility.php
Developing a Web Accessibility Business Case for Your Organization
http://www.w3.org/WAI/bcase/Overview.html
How People with Disabilities Use the Web http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/people-use-web.html
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Overview http://www.w3.org/WAI/
intro/wcag.php ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Alone we can do
so little; together we can do so much." Helen Keller Hi all,
Instead of peppering you with email unsolicited, future emails on this topic will be sent to the
egroup https://groups.google.com/group/AccessibleChennaiMetro?hl=en
Do join the group to input and be informed on what's happening!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Alone we can do so little;
together we can do so much." Helen Keller
5 attachments Download all attachments
CmrlWholeWebsiteTestReportEvaluate.pdf 8K View Download
Guidelines_for_Government_websites.pdf 1615K View Download
On 31 January 2012 17:54, Vaishnavi Jayakumar <jayakumar.vaishnavi@gmail.com> wrote: A
few of us are dropping in at Chennai Metro office tomorrow to dialogue on accessibility
features.
Anyone with experience in metro accessibility in Delhi / Bangalore pls do email whatever info's available.
Will keep you posted on what happens.
CmrlWebsiteTestReportCSays.pdf 138K View Download
A_Complete_Beginners_Guide_to_Web_Accessibility.pdf 501K View Download
UnderstandingWcag2_20081211-a4.pdf 1695K View Download