BDT Director Doreen Bogdan-Martin delivered remarks at the opening of ITU's regional event, ''Accessible Europe: ICT 4 ALL.'' The event was organized by ITU and the European Commission as part of their joint initiative to accelerate digital accessibility across Europe, targeting both EU and non-EU countries of the continent. It was supported by the Government of Portugal, and marked an important milestone of the Portuguese Presidency of the EU Council.
Ms Bogdan-Martin highlighted that an estimated 80 million people with disabilities live in European countries. While persons with disabilities already face discrimination and exclusion, the COVID-19 pandemic has had an exacerbated impact in terms of their access to education, health and employment opportunities.
As part of efforts to transform this situation, Ms Bogdan-Martin announced the launch of the ICT accessibility assessment for the Europe region. She mentioned that this comes as a result of several months of work with European administrations and regional organizations. ''Together, we were able to get a clear picture of the status of digital accessibility across the region, and identify gaps that we still need to fill through concrete actions,'' she said.
Ms Bogdan-Martin underscored that technological advancement and innovation must prioritize people, the users of technology, and their diverse needs. She noted, ''This goes in line with Europe's human-centred digital agenda, and EC President Ursula Von Der Leyen's apt description of the European way to digital innovation – one at which human beings are at the centre.''
Digital inclusion has been recognized as an important connectivity enabler in the ''Road to Addis'' series of events, as ITU along with partners prepare for the 2021 World Telecommunication Development Conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Referring to the important insights shared by ITU's partners in preparation for WTDC-21, Ms Bogdan-Martin emphasized that ''we need to come up with accessibility solutions not for, but with the diverse groups of people that are going to use them.''
