At the first Global Forum of the UN Global Initiative for Inclusive ICT, disability advocates and leading experts from around the world will come together to assess the status of accessible and inclusive technologies for persons with disabilities. As the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities opens on 30 March, participating corporations will showcase their latest innovations in the field of inclusive technologies.
"The forum will examine how best to support the development of accessible and assistive features for ICT products," said Sarbuland Khan, executive coordinator of the UN Global Alliance for ICT and Development. "There are core areas of opportunities, as well as specific funding and research and development resources which industry could benefit from."
Morning panels of the will examine the scope for ICT industry of developing inclusive products and services, the pervasive impact of ICT on the lives of persons with disabilities, current research to reduce accessibility gaps among common ICT products and successful applications regarding the workplace, home, media, e-government and public services.
Afternoon panels will address how to harmonize and standardize accessible and assistive technologies to make them work on a global scale, as well as the role of the public sector in fostering innovation and compliance through legislation, regulations and procurement rules.
The UN held a similar conference in December in recognition of International Persons with Disabilities Day which dealt with the issue of E-Accessibility.
