Background information

ICT accessibility plays an important role in building inclusive societies in the digital economy globally.​​ BDT's digital inclusion activities are designed to promote ICT accessibility and use for the social and economic development of persons with disabilities (PwD) and other persons with specific needs.
This session aims at strengthening ITU Members capacity and overall understanding of ICT accessibility ecosystem. The first presentation will offer a general overview on the implementation process of ICT accessibility globally. The second presentation from ITU/​BDT will focus on recent trends, tools and key resources developed to help ITU Members in the implementation process of ICT accessibility in their countries including:

• A nat​ional programme on web accessibility "Internet for @ll", a capacity building program which includes: a political buy-in session aimed at raising awareness among government representatives and national stakeholders on the need and benefits of providing accessible websites and digital content to all citizens, without discrimination, followed by two face-to face train-the trainers trainings on the "Development of accessible digital content and remediation" and "Design and development of accessible websites".
• Three self-paced online courses entitled “ICT Accessibility: the key to inclusive communication" which aim to develop a good understanding of ICT accessibility among all relevant stakeholders, in particular focusing on related policies, regulations, technology trends and public procurement rules. These free online certificate courses consist of three modules as follows:
       Module 1: Enabling communication for all though ICT accessibility
       Module 2: ICT accessibility policy regulations and public procurement standards
       Module 3: Achieving ICT accessibility through public procurement
• ​Five video‒tutorials about the creation of accessible digital documents which aim to develop an understanding of the accessibility criteria and provides recommendations for generating documents in any office format or PDF.
  

At the end of the session, participants are expected to have a clear vision of the role and related key actions that all stakeholders (governments, private sector, industry, academia and others) can play in promoting ICT accessibility as an enabler for digital inclusion of PwD towards building national and regional inclusive societies.