Acknowledgements endorsements Background methodology executive Summary 11 Recommendations 22 Article — general obligations 38

Government Information

376. 
     Information is typically provided in accessible formats only when the information relates to disability itself. It is not usually made available at all in Australian Sign Language (Auslan) even when this is requested. The vast majority of other information intended for the general public remains in an inaccessible format and language.³⁹⁵ Problems are not simply limited to government policy brochures and information documents, but extend to information given at police stations, hospitals, schools and other support services.³⁹⁶
     

Case Study

“I was 9 before a grandmother told my mother that we could claim a carer’s pension from Centrelink. I didn’t find out for years that after the age of 16 that I could get a disability pension. Not everyone is an active person in the community to go find out the information. Rotary give funding for vehicle modification but I didn’t find out until I had my car modified. I think it is a procedural concept: ‘this is how we do it, you don’t fit into our box, therefore, go away’ ... Who do you go to, who do you talk to?”³⁹⁷

Case Study

John is blind and cannot access the vast majority of information provided by government departments online. There is no standard format between agencies. John has thrice requested a Western Australian Government department to provide him with the ‘equity benchbook’ in alternative text. He has as yet received no response or acknowledgement of his request.³⁹⁸

377. 
     People who are Deaf or have a hearing impairment are not being provided with information in sign language or information that is augmented with written text or equivalent.
     

Case Study

“Many government announcements, advertisements and information on TV is not captioned so deaf and hearing impaired people like me cannot access them. The most blatant one currently is the information about bushfire safety — surely a fundamental issue that ALL the community [needs] to know about.”³⁹⁹

378. 
     Many people with vision or hearing impairment cannot view or listen to government information and videos that are provided on various government websites. Few government websites have content interpreted in Auslan, while only some have audio descriptions or equivalent.⁴⁰⁰
     
379. 
     Government information in a format that is easy to understand, or in Easy English remains one of the biggest barriers to people with intellectual disability. Printed and written government information is often not in plain English or Easy English and contains complex, jargonistic language. Websites are too complex to navigate or understand.
     

Case Study

We live with our daughter in the Torres Strait. Our daughter has cerebral palsy and speaks Creole. Very little information is provided in Torres Strait Creole. Many websites have information brochures that can’t be made large enough to see. Almost no information is available in pictorial format (like Boardmaker) for our daughter’s access.

380. 
     A study assessing the accessibility of 45 Australian university websites found that 98 percent failed to comply with basic W3C standards of web accessibility.⁴⁰¹
     
381. 
     Australia has not taken action to ensure mass media make services and communication technology accessible to people with disability. Beyond the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth) (DDA), businesses and organisations are not specifically required to make their information and websites available in alternative formats.