ESCAP celebrates 2015 International Day of Persons with Disabilities

ESCAP is pleased to mark the 2015 International Day of Persons with Disabilities by launching both a new publication and a newly improved and relocated Accessibility Centre. The theme of the day is ‘Inclusion matters: access and empowerment of people of all abilities’. The day raises awareness about the many barriers faced by more than one billion persons who live with disabilities around the world – 650 million of whom live in the Asia-Pacific region.

ESCAP’s new publication, Disability Inclusive Meetings: An Operational Guide, provides meeting organizers with step-by-step, comprehensive advice for the planning of disability-inclusive meetings. The Guide builds on the Incheon Strategy goals to promote the participation of persons with disabilities in decision-making processes and to enhance the accessibility of both the physical environment and knowledge, information and communication services. Crucially, the Guide reaffirms that meetings across all themes are enriched by the full and equal participation of persons with disabilities. The Guide is available in PDFDAISYDAISY Express, EPUB, EPUB for web and braille formats.

ESCAP is also pleased to announce the relocation of its newly improved Accessibility Centre, at the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok. Today ESCAP launches the integration of a new, interactive touchscreen platform, featuring videos that welcome visitors to the Accessibility Centre, and inform them about the function of each of its assistive devices. The platform also features video statements from ESCAP’s Executive Secretary, Dr. Shamshad Akhtar and the Minister of Health and Welfare of the Government of the Republic of Korea, Mr. Chung Chin-youb – in support of accessibility and the empowerment of persons with disabilities.

The Accessibility Centre was launched earlier this year as the first of its kind in Asia and the Pacific, and followed the establishment of the Accessibility Centre at United Nations headquarters in New York in 2013. The Centre features a range of assistive devices that can be used to facilitate the greater participation of persons with disabilities at intergovernmental processes and meetings at the UN. The devices, generously donated by the Government of the Republic of Korea, include screen reading software, DAISY players, a braille printer, audio assistive devices, a touch monitor and both manual and motorized wheelchairs.