50% of people in developing countries will use the internet by 2020, by some estimates. But what does this mean for the developing world’s 800 million people with disabilities? People with disabilities (PWD) are over-represented among the chronically poor and marginalised, and the world will be unable to meet the post-2015 development goals unless people with disabilities are empowered and included in development work.
UNESCAP considers PWD to be "among the poorest of the poor and the most marginalized in the society”. PWD have limited access to education, employment, housing, transportation, health services and recreation, leading to their economic and social exclusion. PWD experience disproportionate levels of unemployment: in Asia and the Pacific, for example, the unemployment rate is estimated to be double that of the general population, and often as high as 80% or more (ILO). Women and girls with disabilities in developing countries face triple discrimination due to their status as females, PWD and their over representation among the poor. Women & girls with disabilities are largely excluded from educational opportunities; as well as facing the risk of higher risk of gender-based violence, sexual abuse, neglect, maltreatment and exploitation.
154 countries have ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), a legally binding commitment to promote, protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights by persons with disabilities. Moreover, in Asia and the Pacific, UNESCAP extended from 2002 to 2012 the Decade for PWD and resolved to implement the Biwako Millennium Framework for Action towards an Inclusive, Barrier-free and Rights-based Society for Persons with Disabilities in Asia and the Pacific (BMF).
Implementation of the 50 Articles of the CRPD, and the seven priority areas of the BMF, remains a challenge - but ICTs can be part of the solution, as mandated by the WSIS agenda.
This workshop will discuss how suitably designed ICT can empower people with disabilities to challenge injustice; give people with disabilities access to development programmes; and ultimately help overturn social prejudices surrounding disability. It will draw on practical success stories not only from the Datamation Foundation but from other parts of India. It will also consider how policy changes can help create the right enabling environment to bring accessible ICT into the mainstream.
Session's link to the Sustainable Development Process
If people with disabilities are excluded from the digital revolution, they will continue to be marginalised and left out of development programmes. Access to technology is therefore an important means of implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, and our policy discussion will touch on the importance of including accessibility in the post-2015 framework.