Dear Accessibility Standing Group member,
Thank you for your participation!
‘Access’ and ‘Accessibility’ are both vital factors of the Internet Society’s credo of “The Internet is for Everyone’. However, the distinction between the two is sometimes overlooked.
Access is the process of connecting to the Internet, using a terminal device (laptops, mobile phone, tablet…) by the user. Internet access is related and subject to infrastructure and signal availability, data transfer speeds and costs. There is a SIG dedicated to Internet access called “Affordable Internet Access”: https://www.internetsociety.org/sigs/affordable-internet-access/
Accessibility means that platforms, content, communication channels and physical spaces can be effectively used by people who have hearing loss, are Deaf, have a vision impairment or a physical disability as well as persons who are neurodiverse or have a learning impairment. Good accessibility guarantees usage in an equitable manner to the whole community. This means that all sources of information can be used by a person with a disability in the same way like a person without a disability. The Accessibility Standing Group addresses accessibility for persons with disabilities: https://www.internetsociety.org/sigs/accessibility/.
What has become evident, as our group grows, is that this distinction is not readily understood, even by some of our own members!
To remove that confusion, we have brainstormed two solutions. We would like to hear your opinions about them, as well as your suggestions:
- Change the name to “Disability Standing Group”
- Keep the name “Accessibility Standing Group”, but with a slogan that highlights our mission.
We would also like to take the opportunity to learn more about your particular area of accessibility interest or expertise.
We would be very grateful if you could take a few minutes to give us your opinion on these critical topics by taking the following survey.
