Accessible Technology and the Developing World

When digital content and technologies are designed in a way that is inaccessible for persons with disabilities, they are locked out of commerce, education, employment, and access to government information. In developing areas of the world, as new technical infrastructures are being built, it is especially important to ensure that accessibility is a key design goal. Unfortunately, nearly all research on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) accessibility and innovation for persons with disabilities--whether from the legal, technical, or development fields-has focused on developed countries, with very little being written about developing world initiatives. Accessible Technology and the Developing World aims to change this, by bringing increased attention to ICT accessibility in developing areas. 

As part of its Book Talk series, on September 28th, the Harvard Law School Library hosted a discussion with co-editors Professor Michael Ashley Stein, HPOD Executive Director, and Professor Jonathan Lazar, an HPOD associate and researcher at the University of Maryland College of Information Studies. They were joined by co-panelists Amy Landers of Drexel University Thomas R. Kline School of Law, Deepti Samant Raja of the World Bank, and Raja Kushalnagar of Gallaudet University.