(ISO: Geneva) -- Using computers and the Internet can be a challenge for anyone, let alone the elderly or people with disabilities. The International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission are contributing to a technical report on accessibility icons and symbols that will make information technology products easier to use for the elderly, the disabled, and everyone else.

The technical report contains a survey of icons and symbols currently used to provide access to functions and facilities of IT products by people with visual, hearing, motor, or cognitive disabilities, and also by the elderly, the temporarily disabled, and by those with no disability at all.

“This technical report is part of a series of standards aimed at making IT more usable,” says Yves Neuville, Ph.D., chair of the subcommittee that is responsible for its development. “We are not solely concerned with ensuring that the elderly and people with disabilities are treated the same as other users. We want all users to be able to use and contribute to IT services more effectively.”

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