Action - Increase accessibility of government information

The action outlined below will help achieve this outcome. This work was started under the existing Disability Action Plan.

9. Priority: Increase government services’ responsiveness to disabled people

9 A: Increase accessibility of information across government agencies.

Progress update to September 2018

Status: On track - Green (restarted after a delay in progress)

Action Milestones:

Develop a positive statement for CEs to sign up to about what we want to achieve (September 2016) [on-going, original timeframes pushed back by 8 months]

Accessibility Charter launched on the 15 February 2018 by Brendan Boyle, CE of MSD.
The expectation is that most agencies, CE, IT and Communications Managers sign by 12 April. Report to the Minister has been sent and she sent out letters to thank those who have signed.

Following CE support, engage with stakeholders on 14 November 2017 [Completed]

Meet with our DPO and agency stakeholders to discuss:

the case for change, including the priorities DPOs have identified
current practices to meet their obligations and how they would rate themselves
accessibility tools/resources they use or have tried to use
their successes and frustrations with current resources
additional support they may need to improve the reach of their communications.

Agencies to complete a stocktake of existing accessibility resources [Ongoing]

To be completed by individual agencies as part of implementing the signed Charter
Part of each agencies development of their Action Plan
A report to be sent to the Minister in December on each agencies progress.

Develop a package of resources and include it in the Lead Toolkit [October 2018]

Developing a package of materials:
- Guidelines for creating accessible material
Training package for IT and Communications personnel in government agencies.
Presentation to the Digital Inclusion Forum

Follow up with agencies and DPOs [date TBC]

Continue to follow up with agencies to see how they are incorporating the tools into their communications.
Seek feedback from DPOs to see whether they notice changes overtime.

Lead: Ministry of Social Development

DPOs lead: Blind Citizens

Scope of action

The revised scope of this action was approved by the governance meeting of the Chief Executives' Group on Disability Issues and Disabled People's Organisations on 19 August 2016.

Lead: Ministry of Social Development and DPOs.

1 The purpose of this work is to improve disabled people’s access to government information

The purpose of this work is to improve disabled New Zealanders access to information provided by government agencies for the public. It also aims to provide disabled people with a consistent experience when accessing information.

By working with other agencies and stakeholders we will be seeking to develop a shared understanding and commitment to producing accessible communications, as government expects its information to be accessible and useable by as much of the public as possible.

We will identify and provide clear, practical advice to support agencies to meet minimum accessibility requirements for all their communications with the public. This includes identifying the types of communications products that need to be accessible.

2 We will involve our Working Group and Stakeholders

Advice on this action will be sought from:

DPOs: Association of Blind Citizens, Deaf Aotearoa, People First, Deaf Blind and Kapo Maori
Government agencies: the Ministries of Health, Social Development, Culture and Heritage, and the Department of Internal Affairs.

We will also involve other stakeholders, including:

The State Services Commission, MBIE and DPMC
Local Government New Zealand
Office for Seniors
Blind Foundation
National Foundation for the Deaf
Age Concern New Zealand.

3 The Senior Officials Group and DPOs will oversee this project

Governance and oversight of this project will be provided by the Senior Officials Group on Disability Issues and Disabled People’s Organisations.

4 Consistently accessible information is the desired outcome of this work

We are seeking to deliver the following:

Disabled people consistently experience improved access to government information produced for the public
Government agencies understand that the information they produce for the public is required to be accessible to as many people as possible
Government agencies know where to find the tools and supports they need to build their capacity and ensure their communications are accessible to a wide audience.

5 What is included in the scope of this project

To achieve the desired outcomes, we have identified the following key phases to this work.

Engage with our stakeholders to get their buy in

Work with DPOs to develop a common accessibility statement for the CEs Group on Disability Issues to sign up to.

Following CE agreement, engage with key stakeholders to get them on board. We have extended our list to include SSC, MBIE and DPMC (with its emergency management hat on). When we meet with agencies and DPOs we will discuss:

the case for change and the priorities identified by DPOs
their understanding of their obligations
current practices when it comes to making communications accessible – how would they rate their performance?
any tools/resources they may be using or aware of and what works and doesn’t work
additional support they may need to deliver more accessible communications.

Work with DPOs and government agencies to identify common problems and priorities for change

Identifying common accessibility problems experienced by disabled people, including the types of communication products that need to be accessible. This will help us to build our case for change when we engage with agencies.

Working with DPOs and agencies to identify key priorities for change. Which changes would make the biggest difference for disabled people? If we are able to identify priorities to be our first cabs off the rank, what would they be?

Working with agencies to understand whether they have an accessibility policy, understand their obligations, and what they are currently doing to make their communications accessible to as many people as possible. Identifying where might they need further support and any barriers/frustrations that make it difficult for them to be accessible.

During this phase it would be useful to know which agencies/organisations are considered by DPOs to be exemplars and champions of accessible information.

Find out what accessibility resources and tools already exist

A stocktake of existing tools/resources available to agencies and publishing houses. When we engage with agencies, it would be useful to know whether they use these tools, and if not, why not?

We will also link in with the NZ Sign Language Advisory Board, which has a priority on promoting greater use of NZ Sign Language; and the work on Better Public Service Result 10: New Zealanders can complete their transactions with the Government easily in a digital environment.

Develop a package of practical resources and discuss it with stakeholders

Develop/collate a package of accessibility guidelines and support tools for communications’ teams to discuss and use.

The shape of the package will depend on the existing tools and any gaps we identify.
Potential to host a ‘best practice’ workshop involving government and non-government stakeholders, particularly those who work in communications teams. This would be an opportunity to share excellence in this area, but also to look at how making your information accessible should be business as usual.
These stakeholder discussions would include targeting your audience and using appropriate communications products to reach as many people as possible.

Add the guidelines/tools to the Lead Toolkit.

6 Follow up with agencies and DPOs

Follow up with agencies after the launch of accessible communications package/workshop to find out what changes they are making, or how useful they find the package/champion examples of best practice

Check in with DPOs to see whether disabled people are noticing a difference.

New funding and NGOs are not within the scope of this project

New funding for the production of accessible communications products is outside the scope of this project, as it should be business as usual.

Communications products produced by non-government organisations, that receive funding from government, are not within the scope of this project. However NGOs will be encouraged to use any of the resources developed in order to better meet their public service obligations to disabled people.

7 Reporting and key milestones

The key milestones for this project are outlined beneath each of the phases of work.

Develop a positive statement for CEs to sign up to about what we want to achieve

Work with DPOs to develop a positive statement about what we want to achieve and why it is important. This statement will also reference existing public sector obligations on accessible information. At their next scheduled meeting in September, we will ask the CE’s group on Disability Issues to support and sign a ‘common accessibility’ statement.

Following CE support, engage with stakeholders

Once we have the support of the CE’s group, we (MSD and DPO reps) will begin meeting with our stakeholders.

Meeting pre-work for agencies: Prior to meeting we will ask agencies to complete a template to record relevant information, e.g. their understanding of their obligations, whether they have an accessibility policy, the communications tools they have used, as well as any successes or difficulties they have experienced.

Meeting pre-work for DPOs: before we meet with agencies we will ask DPOs to identify:

common accessibility problems experienced by disabled people
the key priorities for change
examples of agencies/organisations that provide consistently accessible communications.

During our meetings we will discuss:

the case for change, including the priorities DPOs have identified
current practices to meet their obligations and how they would rate themselves
accessibility tools/resources they are aware of and use or have tried to use
their successes and frustrations with current resources
additional support they may need to improve the reach of their communications.

Complete a stocktake of existing accessibility resources

After we have met with agencies and DPOs we will complete a stocktake of existing accessibility resources.

Following the stocktake, we will assess which tools make it easy for agencies to meet their obligations and produce accessible information, highlighting these tools as ‘the ones’ to use.

Develop a package of resources and include it in the Lead Toolkit

Following the stocktake, we will have developed a package of accessibility resources for communications’ teams to use to make government information more accessible. These guidelines should be incorporated into business as usual over time.

We will host a ‘best practice’ workshop involving government and non-government stakeholders, particularly those working in communications teams, and include the package in the Lead Toolkit.

Follow up with agencies and DPOs

We will continue to follow up with agencies to see how they are incorporating the accessibility tools into their communications. We will also seek feedback from DPOs to see whether they notice changes overtime.

This check in process will be an opportunity for us to see what is working and what we might need to change.

8 Resources to inform this work

Is there any research or information (whether qualitative or quantitative) informing this action?

United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 2014. “General comment number 2 (2014) Article 9: Accessibility”.
Office for Disability Issues, 2011. “Make your communications more accessible: Quick tips for writers, communicators, designers and production houses”.
People First, 2014. “A guide to making Easy Read information”.
Department of Internal Affairs, 2013. “Web Accessibility Standard 1.0” and “Web Usability Standard 1.2”.
Human Rights Commission, 2012. “Better Information for Everyone: Disabled People’s Rights in the Information Age”.

9 Is there any research or information which represents the lived experience of disability?

Round Table on Information Access for People with Print Disabilities (http://printdisability.org/ ).

New information on what is reasonable accommodation of disabled people’s needs http://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/system/paperclip/document_files/document_files/1120/original/imm_reasonable_accommodation_guide.doc?1448405458

In employment specifically: http://www.odi.govt.nz/what-we-do/making-it-easier-to-employ-disabled-people/index.html#Providingreasonableaccommodationforemployees2

10 Related work

Is there any other work in the Disability Action Plan 2014-2018 that this action relates to or which contributes to this action? None.

Is there any other work (outside of the Disability Action Plan) that this action connects with or which contributes to this action? Better Public Service result 10: New Zealanders can complete their transactions with the Government easily in a digital environment.

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Page last updated: 2.03.2019