Muhammad and the mountain: people with disabilities in Estonian e-society

Kaido KikkasTLU / EUPMI / EITS

Back to the society

People with disabilities: from Sparta to today

Segregation vs integration Former Eastern bloc – 'society of

universal happiness', no sub-standard people

Gradual return to society during the nineties

NB! At first, both sides were unprepared The road goes on

Splendours and miseries

Estonia: widely praised for transition success Rapid leapfrogging upwards Liberal economy, good standing in

technology

BUT Seriously neglected social security during the

first years of independence Still evident lack of disability access, giving

way to other related problems

The circle

Low level of education

Low level of employment

Low social status

Limited role in society, neglect

Limited access to different parts of society

Muhammad and the Mountain

Traditional work model => 'average citizen' Work: labour => skill => knowledge (Handy

1984) Independence of time and place Freedom vs responsibility Linus' Law, Hacker Ethics (Himanen 2002) Disability as a good indicator Sometimes it is perfectly normal for the

mountain to move, instead of Muhammad...

The Circle revisited

WBC 2004 Lisbon

Low level of education

Low level of employment

Low social status

Limited role in society, neglect

Limited access to different parts of society @

Extra means of access

Distance education

Telework

Means of politics and PR

Powerful, accessible medium

ICT? Sure! But how...?

The Eastern European paradox: hi-tech of the West, social guarantees of the developing countries

1999 survey among Estonian people with disabilities: ~ 75% of the respondents could not afford a PC. The situation has since improved somewhat, but not cardinally. Typical monthly disability allowance is still around 100 EUR

Assistive ICT solutions are still rare and expensive

'Typical' software is too expensive ???

Not that bad, actually New PCs are still a bit expensive – but the state

of the art is pushed by entertainment solutions, not workhorses

Usable for E-services does not need to be new (Commercial) software is expensive – there is a

good news: you do not have to pay tons of good money to be able to work with computers

Yes, you CAN legally use a computer without MS Windows

The computer used for this presentation has no commercial/proprietary software installed

Inexpensive hardware + free software = better access to many services via Internet

Some landmarks 1992 – first computer courses at TUT 1995-2001 – first Estonian server especially

targetted towards people with disabilities; community emerges

The Old Town talker (chatroom) 1995 – hosted by a man with a profound impairment

1995 – Rehabilitation Technology Lab at TUT around 2000 - E- and M-services make many

formerly inaccessible services usable; the broadband and WiFi breakthrough

2000-2003 – the THINK FP6 project 2006 - http://liikumisvabadus.invainfo.ee

Where it still hurts

Assistive IT solutions still almost unknown – there is no easy way neither to test things out nor to obtain the devices

Web standards are still largely ignored => people with disabilities are the first to get hit

The Liikumisvabadus web team is now doing the work that should have been done long before

Too little attention on informing educators and employers on disability-related issues

Decision-makers are vulnerable to lobbyist brainwashing (like everywhere else)

Conclusion

E-Society has enabled many people but not so many that it has potential for

In some cases the preconditions for information society are simply not met yet

Awareness and attitudes still need some work – on both sides

The situation is splendid but not hopeless... :-)

Thank you for your attention!