The PIO, Senate Secretariat was directed to provide the Appellant requested information about notes recorded during the proceedings of Senate standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting during its deliberations on the Right of Access to Information Act 2017.
The commission observed that the requested information about “notes recorded during the proceedings of Standing Committee of Senate on Information and Broadcasting during their deliberations on the Right of Access to Information Act” is in the public interest as citizens will be able to know the intent of the legislators on different provisions of the Act.
This commission finds it extremely unfortunate that even ‘The Rights of Persons with Disability Act 2020’, available on the web site of Senate Secretariat is not accessible for the blind and low-vision people. How can persons with disabilities make informed comments and provide feedback on the Act aimed at protecting and promoting their rights when it has not been made accessible to persons with disabilities in alternative formats catering to their needs? The Rights of Persons with Disability 2020 is inaccessible because it has not been made available keeping in minds special needs of persons with disabilities. Most of the Acts and Bills made available on the web sites of the Senate and National Assembly Secretariats are in JPG/image format which is inaccessible for the blind who use screen reading softwares to read documents.
The commission observed that the technology is a great leveller. It needs to be understood that people are not rendered disabled because of physical impairments but because of the barriers in the physical, social and attitudinal environment. In other words, when barriers are removed, people with disabilities can take part in national life as functionally active and productive citizens on equal basis with others.
The commission held that with regard to information access barriers, document in JPG/image format render the blind disabled and not the fact that they cannot see to read the way sighted people read. As such, federal public bodies should avoid putting documents on their web sites in the shape of images. When documents are made available in text formats like .doc, .html or accessible PDF formats, the blind can easily read them with their screen reading software. As such, it is responsibility of Senate and National Assembly Secretariats to ensure that Bills and Acts are made available in accessible formats. It does not require extra resources but sensitivity to the special needs of citizens with disabilities and familiarity with accessibility standards.
Senate and National Assembly Secretariats were directed to ensure accessibility of the information proactively published on their respective web sites under Section 5 of the Right of Access to Information Act 2017 for all citizens, including the blind, low-vision, physically disabled, speech and hearing impaired and people with other disabilities and submit compliance reports to this effect using ‘Web accessibility checklist’. This checklist is available under ‘Information Desk’ category at the web site of the commission www.rti.gov.pk. The compliance reports be submitted to this commission by 17/01/2021.