New Delhi - 04.Dec.06

Cause an Effect created the world’s first model for internet fund raising - www.causeaneffect.org which was instrumental in raising almost $1.5million in less than 45 days. Its contributions have been recognized worldwide and the founders were declared winners of the prestigious Kauffman Community Award for Social Entrepreneurship in the year 2004 http://www.iridiuminteractive.com/others/social.html. Founder Mr.Sriram Bharatam is the youngest and the first non American to receive this prestigious award. Under his leadership Cause an Effect has picked up a new cause. This time, as part of its corporate social responsibility, it is the initiative of making web sites accessible to the disabled and differently abled of various hues.

Speaking on this initiative Sriram Bharatam, founder Causeaneffect Foundation said, “Most people today can hardly conceive of life without the Internet. It provides access to information, news, email, shopping, and entertainment. The Internet, with its ability to provide information at any hour of the day or night on just about any conceivable topic, has become a way of life for an impatient, information-hungry generation. Now, at the click of a mouse, the world can be "at your fingertips"— if you can use a mouse... and if you can see the screen... and if you can hear the audio—in other words, if you don't have a disability of any kind”

Falling Short of Web’s Potential

Despite the Web's great potential for people with disabilities, this potential is still largely unrealized.
1. Where can you find web-based video or multimedia content that has been fully captioned for the deaf?
2. What if Internet content is only accessible by the use of a mouse?
3. What do people do if they can't use a mouse?
4. And what if web developers use only graphics instead of text?
5. If screen readers can only read text, how would they read the graphics to people who are blind?

As soon as you start asking questions of this nature, you begin to see that there are huge gaps and potential glitches in the universal accessibility and overall friendliness of the Internet for people with disabilities. The Internet has the potential to revolutionize disability access to information, but if we're not careful, we can place obstacles along the way that destroy that potential, which leave people with disabilities discouraged and dependent upon others as before.

What is Web Accessibility?

Web accessibility is the practice of creating web pages so that the widest number of users can interact with them, especially persons with disabilities. The scope of web accessibility is primarily focused on helping people with disabilities; in particular, around design considerations that help web sites become accessible, usable and friendlier to all - irrespective of their disabilities.“Accessibility” refers to the process of enabling everyone, especially people with disabilities, to access and use technology and information products. A Web site or an item of software is fully "accessible" only if it can be accessed by people with any of the mentioned disabilities.

Cause an effect has been working on this cause for the past 20 months. A dedicated team of the disabled fraternity have been researching and working upon the best possible way to make web sites accessible. To begin with, the team is currently working with some of the national level governing bodies in raising awareness in designing and putting a framework and policy in place. The team at Cause an Effect is conducting workshops, seminars jointly with NGOs, responsible corporates, and active stakeholders from the disabled fraternity.

Cause an Effect has a close and ongoing relationship with Nasscom Foundation, AICFB (All India Chess federation for the blind, The national disability film and communication resource center (ww.thendfc.org), iCongo, iTeam and EMMA Awards as their preferred Online Empowerment Partner and making their portals accessibility compliant.

Cause an Effect and Brotherhood have got into a long term association of creating an online platform using which the community of young film makers can showcase their works to the world wide audience.