منطقة عربية قابلة للنفاذ الرقمي - تكنولوجيا المعلومات والاتصالات للجميع 2022

Ms Sara Minkara the Special Advisor on International Disability Rights at the United States State Department presented the keynote speech. Ms. Minkara emphasized that technology accessible is not a favour but a right to the person with a disability that needs to be upheld. She highlighted that by not making technology accessible we are losing the talent, innovation and creativity of persons with disabilities that they would have contributed to our societies. Technology is a defining feature of our age, it is used and found everywhere, so let’s make it accessible for all. She emphasized that not only persons with disabilities benefit from digital inclusion, rather, when technology is accessible everyone benefits.  She concluded by highlighting the business case for e-accessibility; technology can widen the market which will lead to better economic circulation that will lead to better living standards for all.

Under the “Arab Digital Inclusion Platform” (ADIP) initiative launched in 2020, ESCWA aims to promote digital accessibility in the Arab region, Through the ADIP project, , and within its technical cooperation program ESCWA is supporting policy and decision makers in the Arab counties to develop or improve their national policies and to devise related action plans and guidelines for adoption and implementation for enhanced e-Accessibility, which will contribute to bridging the digital divide and enable all society members to equal access. In this context, ESCWA developed templates for national policies and technical guidelines on e-accessibility. As part of the ADIP project, ESCWA is currently conducting national rollouts of the templates, and working with three member countries to develop their national e-accessibility policies, namely Syria, UAE, and Palestine. In this session, representatives from Syria, UAE and Palestine presented the work in this field and gave an overview about the main components of the e-accessibility national policies, their status, in addition to highlighting the main role the government can play in in promoting digital accessibility to accelerate the achievement of 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

This session began with a brief introduction about the ICT accessibility in the global context, bringing in some information about G3ICT and its initiatives, before presenting the ICT accessibility innovation ecosystem in the Arab region. The session also discussed the progress of digital accessibility in the region and gave an overview about the progress of digital accessibility initiatives in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. In this context, the session highlighted some of the common challenges that face the promotion and implementation e-accessibility policies and programs in the region and provided thoughts on how to overcome them and what are the main opportunities that would help the region move forward in promoting and implementing ICT accessibility on different levels.

A good and quality education system includes all students and welcomes and supports them to learn regardless of their abilities or requirements. This session described the opportunities, challenges, and emerging initiatives for using ICT to create more inclusive learning environments. Speakers in this session presented the main components of digital Inclusion in the Education sector and overviewed on the different aspects related to its ecosystem. Different initiatives in the field of Digital Inclusion in the Education sector from the region were presented highlighting perspectives for the future and recommendations to boost the role of ICT in supporting learners with disabilities.