Project News

On the 13th October, the 1st seminar on information accessibility was conducted in the meeting room in the Ulaanbaatar city. More than 60 participants from the organizations of the blind, deaf, independent living, organizations for intellectual disabilities and autism, NGO working for the elderly, government officers from communication and information technology authority, information emergency management center under policy authority and public companies such as Mongolian TV station have joined. With the counterpart officers from Ministry of Labor and Social Protection and Japanese experts, the participants discussed about the current problems and possible actions to improve the information accessibility for persons with disabilities. In Mongolia, it was the first seminar focusing on the information accessibility for persons with disabilities. Therefore, many Mongolian media representatives came to observe the event.

Talking about the biggest information barrier for persons with visual impairment

The representatives from the group on intellectual disabilities talk about their baseline survey plan

The representative from the communication and information technology authority presented about the current law existing in Mongolia on information accessibility. Then, the chairs from the organizations of the blind and deaf talked about information barriers on public website, TV, hospitals etc. For example, it was mentioned that; "There is no Mongolian screen leader (the software to listen information of computer screen)" and "There is no sign language interpreter and/or subtitle on TV programs" etc. Also, Mr. Hisao Chiba, the Chief advisor or the Project and Ms. Emi Teruya, the JICA Expert shared about law and activities on information accessibility in Japan.

Presentation from Ms. Teruya on Japanese cases

In the afternoon, the participants separated into 3 groups; the group of visual impairment, the group of deaf and the group of others (including wheel chair users, people working for intellectual disabilities and elderlies) to prioritize their problems and next action to change current situation. As a result, it was concluded that to conduct the detailed baseline survey in collaboration with disabled organizations and government organizations. The Project will finalize the check list following week to start survey.