With more than one billion people around the world living with some form of disability, work is underway to support the development of standards that encompass the widest range of users to ensure that more people can access, identify, and operate products, goods, and services. The Strategic Advisory Group on Accessibility (SAG)in its second yearsupports this mission, and aims to bring awareness on accessibility and to provide information and guidance to the technical community on how to consider accessibility issues when developing new standards or when revising existing standards.
In a recent development, the SAG has mapped existing International Organization for Standardization (ISO) deliverables on accessibility, found on ISO Connect. The group is also developing tools to assist the technical community to consider accessibility issues when developing new deliverables. Some current ideas under discussion include revisions to the current ISO NWIP form and the addition of an ICS code to categorize standards with accessibility focus.
In developing these tools, the SAG has drawn from experience from the CEN/CENELEC Strategic Advisory Group on Accessibility (SAGA).
The SAG anticipates the delivery for proposals to the Technical Management Board in June 2020, with a final report to be published by September 2020. ANSI currently has a Virtual TAG to provide input to its representatives. Those interested in learning more can contact Rachel Hawthorne ([email protected]).