The need for improved accessibility by persons with disabilities to the Internet, cell phones and other information technologies will be the focus of the United Nations International Day of Persons with Disabilities, which the United Nations will mark on Monday, 4 December.
"Access to information and communication technologies creates opportunities for all people, perhaps none more so than persons with disabilities", said UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. "As the development of the Internet and ICT takes their needs more fully into account, the barriers of prejudice, infrastructure and inaccessible formats need no longer stand in the way of participation."
The Internet, email, and cell phones played a vital role in allowing members of the international disability movement to communicate and coordinate their activities during the negotiations for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which the UN General Assembly is expected to adopt in mid-December. Because of the widespread use of new technologies in the course of forging the agreement, some observers have called the treaty the first "e-convention."
But many persons with disabilities still encounter numerous obstacles on the Internet, particularly due to websites that do not provide options for persons who are blind, visually impaired, and those who cannot use a mouse to navigate the web.
At a panel discussion at the United Nations on 4 December, speakers will address e-accessibility from a variety of perspectives:
- What does the user experience if sites are not accessible? Dr. Betsy A. Zaborowski, Executive Director, Jernigan Institute, National Federation of the Blind;
- How many websites are accessible? Simon Norris and Leonie Watson, Nomensa, authors of a report on global accessibility to be launched on 5 December;
- Why should businesses care? PreetyKumar, President and CEO, Deque Systems;
- Setting the standards for web accessibility. Judy Brewer, of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which sets the standards for web accessibility;
- Achieving web accessibility. Frances West, Director, World Wide Human Ability and Accessibility Center, IBM.
Dr. Harold Snider, World Blind Union, will moderate.
This will be followed at 3:30 pm by the first meeting of the Steering Committee of the Global Initiative for Inclusive Technologies. The meeting will launch an effort to standardize technology for persons with disabilities to dramatically lower production costs. A similar initiative to harmonize standards for microchips brought down the cost from $45 to $3. The Global Initiative is led by the UN Global Alliance for ICT and Development and the Digital Inclusion Forum, a division of the Boston-based Wireless Internet Institute.
Website: www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable
Contact: Edoardo Bellando, tel. (212) 963 8275, e-mail bellando@un.org, or Daniel Shepard, tel. (212) 963 9495, e-mail shepard@un.org.