Workbook final

055 – Philippines’ Accessible Web Design Guidelines, Philippines

Responsible body:

The National Council on Disability Affairs and DOST-Information and

Communications Technology Office (ICTO); implemented by government

agencies

Country of implementation:

Philippines

Beneficiaries targeted:

Persons with disabilities

UMMARY

Philippines’ Accessible Web Design Guidelines Joint Circular No. 1 of 2010 makes it mandatory for all government

agencies to implement an accessible website design that makes website information accessible to persons with

disabilities. It is a strategy to make government offices aware of website accessibility and to provide web designers with

clear cut guidelines that can easily be followed, without the need to make drastic changes to the relevant websites

which would entail a lot of costs.

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ROBLEMS TARGETED

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In 2010, the National Council on Disability Affairs (NCDA, formerly National Council for the Welfare of Disabled Persons)

issued a joint Circular with DOST-Information and Communications Technology Office (ICTO, formerly National

Computer Center) - the Accessible Web Design Guidelines Joint Circular No. 1, series of 2010 - enjoining all government

agencies in the Philippines to implement an accessible website design to make website information accessible to

persons with disabilities in accordance with the technical guidelines set in the policy.

Persons with disabilities have been involved in every stage from the interregional workshops to the drafting of the

recommendations by the web designers up to the board level for the approval of the policy. During the workshops

persons with disabilities served as resource persons and they demonstrated how they are using technology to access

websites, the blind introduced their screen reader software and demonstrated how it reads web information. The deaf

also expressed their issues especially with motion pictures and on the necessity of video captions. During the drafting of

the policy, persons with disabilities were represented at the NCDA board level and were very vocal on accessibility

issues and concerns prompting both government agencies to issue a joint circular on web design accessibility.

The policy is the result of collaboration between two government agencies based on an interregional workshops done

across the country participated by web masters coming from different government agencies.

The recommendations were based on the perceived difficulties being encountered in each government institution

considering that most government executives have limited understanding about accessibility for persons with

disabilities. Moreover, this policy is also a reflection of the commitment of government webmasters to make their

websites accessible to persons with disabilities even without the instruction from their upper management.