Kenya To Develop Digital Accessibility Standards Targeting Persons Living With Disability

NAKURU,Kenya, Oct, 27 – Plans are underway by the The Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) alongside stakeholders to develop the first ever digital accessibility standards in the country targeting persons living with disability.

Once fully developed it will also be the first in Africa.

The move is aimed at ensuring persons living with disability have equal access to digital products and services. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic the group is said to have experienced difficulty in accessing various services online.

“The new standards are meant to make it mandatory for public or private organizations to make it easier for people living with disabilities to get online services,” said Zacharia Lukorito,a senior manager at KEBS.

Persons that are visually impaired are said to have been the most affected often turning to family and friends to assist them access one;anew services nd even attend virtual meetings.

Senior KEBs officials, inABLE organization, advocates of the high court and persons living with disability converged in Naivasha to discuss the proposed standards saying they now expect the changes to be gazetted into law by April 2022.

“We shall make sure that there is public participation before the standards come into force making Kenya the first ever African country to develop such regulations,” he said.

The founder and Executive Director at inABLE, Irene Mbari, noted that over 30 per cent of persons living with disabilities could not access online services at the height of COVID-19.

This exposed them to various security concerns as they were forced to allow other people to assist them obtain certain services.

“For the last 13 years inABLE has been using assistive technology to put blind and visually impaired youth on a level ground with their peers,” said Mbari.

The digital accessibility standards is expected to target all sectors nationwide including: education, banking, healthcare services among others.

“The standards are meant to create independence among the disabled and we are appealing to the government to make sure procurement procedures are included here,” she said.