United Nations
30 November 2006
Press Release
Note No. 6054
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Department of Public Information o News and Media Division o New York
Note to Correspondents
UN TO FOCUS ON IMPROVING WEB ACCESS, TECHNOLOGY STANDARDS
FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES ON 4 DECEMBER
E-Accessibility Is Theme of International Day of Disabled Persons
The need for improved accessibility by persons with disabilities to
the Internet and other information technologies will be the focus of
the United Nations International Day of Disabled Persons (3 December),
which will be observed at Headquarters on 4 December. Two events are
planned for the Day:
-- Conference on e-accessibility -- 1:15 - 2:45 p.m., Conference Room
4; and
-- First Meeting of the Global Initiative for Inclusive Technologies
-- 3:30 p.m., Conference Room 8.
In addition, a new report, "Global Audit of Web Accessibility",
commissioned by the United Nations and conducted by the British firm
Nomensa, will be launched on Tuesday, 5 December at 11:00 a.m. in room
S-226, by two of the report's authors.
"Access to information and communication technologies creates
opportunities for all people, perhaps none more so than persons with
disabilities," said Secretary-General Kofi Annan in a statement issued
for the International Day. "As the development of the Internet and
these technologies 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, e-mail 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 that countries agreed upon
this summer, and which the 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.
The International Day will be marked at Headquarters on 4 December
with a panel discussion on e-accessibility taking place from 1:15 to
2:45 in Conference room 4. Speakers will address e-accessibility from
a variety of perspectives:
-- What does the user experience if websites 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,
two of the authors of the Nomensa report on global accessibility;
-- Why should businesses care? Preety Kumar, Founder, President and
Chief Executive Officer, Deque Systems;
-- Setting the standards for web accessibility. Judy Brewer, of the
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which sets the standards for web
accessibility; and
-- Achieving web accessibility. Frances West, Director, World Wide
Human Ability and Accessibility Center, IBM.
Dr. Harold Snider, World Blind Union, will moderate.
Following the panel discussion, the first meeting of the Steering
Committee of the Global Initiative for Inclusive Technologies will
take place at 3:30 p.m. in Conference room 8. 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 United Nations Global
Alliance for ICT and Development and the Digital Inclusion Forum, a
Division of the Boston-based Wireless Internet Institute, in
partnership with the Secretariat for the Convention on the Rights of
Persons with Disabilities of the Department of Economic and Social
Affairs.
The Nomensa report to be launched on 5 December looks at 100 major
websites in 20 countries to see whether they meet international
guidelines for e-accessibility. The report sought to determine
whether websites met de facto international standards on web
accessibility. The websites were chosen because they are likely to be
accessed by persons with disabilities as part of their daily
activities, and include leading newspapers, banks and retail outlets.
For information, please visit www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable or contact,
at the Department of Public Information, Edoardo Bellando, tel.:
212.963.8275, e-mail:
bellando@un.org; or Daniel Shepard, tel.:
212.963.9495, e-mail:
shepard@un.org.
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For information media o not an official record
