G3ict is the Global Initiative for Inclusive ICTs

Access Israel is a non-profit organization dedicated to making Israel accessible to all its citizens and visitors. The organization runs a website providing users with free information about accessible tourism in Israel, highlighting general information about Israel, and providing a database of accessible accommodations, transportation, featured itineraries, and general trip-planning assistance for persons with an array of disabilities.

The organization also spreads awareness to the public and to policy-makers about the importance of accessibility and the potential that citizens with disabilities have to impact society. The organization recognizes the enormous human and business value in the 600,000 persons with disabilities living in Israel and addresses the issue not with pity or dependence, but rather with recognition of the vast potential that can be reached by incorporating persons with disabilities in to all walks of life.

In addition to a website on accessible tourism, Access Israel also works with e-accessibility, provides employment for persons with disabilities, offers web-based accessibility training, lobbies for greater accessibility throughout the state, and raises general accessibility awareness throughout Israel.

AMIS, the Adaptive Multimedia Information System, is an open source initiative hosted by the Japanese Society for Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities. In collaboration with the DAISY for All Project and individuals across the world, AMIS gives users an open source software product that provides a flexible user interface for reading DAISY content. As part of the DAISY for All Project, whose goal it is to bring DAISY talking book technology to persons with disabilities in developing countries, AMIS facilitates the provision of playback software in local languages and addresses multiple disabilities by offering a variety of ways to interact with a DAISY publication. Modular AMIS features, such as skins and plug-ins, allow the interface to accommodate a range of needs. Skins define the on-screen interface (visual, textual, and auditory), and plug-ins allow the software to communicate with external devices (e.g., joysticks and Braille displays).

The Adaptive Technology Center for the Blind (ATCB) in Ethiopia is a NGO sponsored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), developed in 2001 to address the needs of the 500,000 blind and visually impaired individuals in Ethiopia. The purpose of the organization is to use adaptive technology with ICTs to help the visually impaired participate to their fullest potential in society. The ATCB is dedicated to making adaptive technology available to Ethiopian society, thereby replacing old, tedious, and inefficient Braille transcription technologies that often leave visually impaired individuals without access to a large amount of information.

In 2003, the ATCB partnered with UNESCO to create a computer training center for blind users in Ethiopia. ATCB now trains visually impaired citizens in the use of various ICT solutions, giving them the necessary access and skills to compete equally and to provide financially for themselves and for their families.

ATCB is also a public awareness initiative, challenging age-old beliefs and unfavorable social attitudes towards the visually impaired in Ethiopia – a set of ideas that has historically marginalized those with disabilities. The partnership between ATCB and UNESCO will also be launching a training program to create employment opportunities for visually impaired individuals through ICTs.

ASK-IT is an integrated project, partly funded by the European Commission under the 6th Framework Program, e-Inclusion. The driving vision behind the project is to create a service using ICTs to help improve the everyday lives and independence of mobility-challenged individuals in European cities.

The service connects to the individual through a mobile device such as a cell phone or PDA, providing them with access to relevant and real-time information – primarily for traveling, but also for transportation, leisure activities, local services, and other everyday necessities that are wheelchair accessible. Furthermore, the device keeps a personal profile on the user, noting his or her preferences and requirements. Everything from preferred mode of transportation to wheelchair turning radius is stored. The ASK-IT system caters to all the needs and conditions of the user and has the ability communicate information in all European languages in written format, spoken format (for visually impaired individuals) and graphic format (for illiterate individuals).

The system is currently being tested in eight different European cities and has thus far yielded exceptional results. The intelligence of the system is second-to-none in helping persons with disabilities find accessible resources and facilities while traveling. The organization currently has links to more than 360,000 individuals with disabilities and is active partners with a number of federations and social organizations that seek to ensure a better quality of life for all.

BIME, the Bath Institute of Medical Engineering, has pioneered numerous design and development projects in the field of medial and rehabilitation engineering, working with users and medical professionals to solve problems of disability and healthcare with practical technology. “Football Player”, one of the Institute’s current projects, highlights this type of innovation. After receiving many requests for a device that would allow wheelchair users to play football (soccer) – as there is currently no such product available – BIME hopes to engineer a pioneering product which will allow those who are wheelchair-bound to play football (soccer) in their own way. Two prototype devices – one for powered wheelchair users and one for manual wheelchair users – which trap an incoming ball and fire it out again at the push of a button, have already been developed.

BlueEar, part of the Bluetooth Assistive Listening System, aims to develop an open system for assistive listening devices based on the new industry radio standard known as “Bluetooth” (digital wireless communication). BlueEar envisions that, in ten years’ time, persons will be able to switch their hearing aid to a common channel and pick up sound. The project runs in two parts: first, an investigation of the end-user needs of hard-of-hearing persons, and second, the demonstration of the technical viability of using Bluetooth for assistive listening devices. The first part of the project has already been completed with the production of BlueEar prototypes. Ties to the hearing aid industry have also already been made.