Accessibility with Reasonable Adaptation

Expert Group Meeting on ICT for Persons with Disabilities
(Beirut, 25-26 May 2004)

Background

The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) organized a regional expert meeting on "Information and communications technologies (ICT) for persons with disabilities” from 25 to 26 May 2004 at United Nations House in Beirut.

Meeting Agenda

The regional expert meeting was organized in response to mandates of the United Nations General Assembly on advancement of persons with disabilities and development. The meeting also responded to recommendations of Arab regional meetings on disability that emphasized the critical role of training, education and technical exchanges in new technologies and their contributions to furthering the full and effective participation of persons with disabilities in social life, development and sustainable livelihoods.

The regional expert meeting was inaugurated by HE Mr. Asaad Diab, Minister of Social Affairs of the Republic of Lebanon.

The basic objective of the regional expert meeting was to provide a forum for the exchange of knowledge and experiences on equalization of opportunities for persons with disabilities through the use of appropriate information and communications technologies (ICT) with special emphasis on accessible ICT and blind and visually impaired persons and the deaf.

The meeting considered the following topics:

1. introduction and regional launch of the specialized ESCWA Web site, “Net forum for the Visually Impaired” that had been developed jointly with the Al Hadi Institution for the Deaf and Blind (Beirut) <http://www.escwa.org.lb/nfb>;
2. exchange of knowledge and information on information and communication technologies that provide accessibility with reasonable adaptation;
3. review of current situation concerning ICT accessibility in the Arab region, with special attention to visually impaired and blind Arab men and women;
4. discussion of potential impact of ICT accessibility on quality of life and livelihoods of visually impaired and blind persons in the Arab region; and
5. formulation of vision statement on ICT accessibility , policy options and recommendations for practical action to promote and provide as appropriate assistive ICT technologies with special attention directed to visually impaired, blind and deaf persons in the Arab region in the light of rights based approaches to development and advancement of persons with disabilities in the context of the process of elaborating a new international convention to promote and protect the rights of persons with disabilities, and approval by the 16th Summit Conference of the Arab League Council (Tunis, 22-23 May 2004) of the decision of the Council of Arab Ministers of Social Affairs to proclaim the period 2004-2013 the “Arab Decade of Disabled Person”.

Participants in the meeting included representatives of selected Arab governments, in their individual capacity, regional and international organizations, bodies and organizations of the United Nations System, Arab experts in ICT and assistive technologies as well as individuals with visual or hearing impairments, representatives of the non-governmental community, academia and the private sector.

A report of the regional meeting will be available from the Social Development Division of ESCWA and on its Web site.

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Last updated 08/25/04. Contact information