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Making ITU an accessible organization for persons with disabilities

ITU logo with the text "ICTs for everybody" surrounding itFollowing the instructions of Resolution 175, ITU has been engaged in efforts to ensure the accessibility of the organization to persons with disabilities, including, staff, delegates and the general public. Therefore, undertakes to progressively address the barriers that limit the full participation of persons with disabilities in ITU activities and to apply the principle of “universal design” whenever a service is reviewed or introduced in ITU. 
 
Key progress on this domain was the adoption in 2013 of the ITU Accessibility Policy  for Persons with Disabilities, endorsed by ITU’s council, and the establishment of the ITU Accessibility Fund.

ITU Accessibility Plan


Following the adoption of the Accessibility Policy in 2013, ITU has produced an Accessibility Plan, a consolidated plan of activities that will gradually remove existing accessibility barriers in ITU.

The main actions included in the plan include:

    • provide basic training in disability awareness for all staff;
    • incorporate a reference to reasonable accommodation in registration forms and invitation letters to ITU events and conferences;
    • assess the opportunity for improving the efficiency of ITU internal processes regarding the provision of captioning services;
    • improving the accessibility of Word documents used in ITU meetings and conferences;
    • defining an action plan for the provision of reasonable accommodation during PP14;
    • organizing a side-event during PP14 to inform ITU Membership on the implementation of the ITU Accessibility Policy
    • organizing a showcase-demos on specific areas related to accessibility;
    • setting a process to systematically collect information on needs and preferences of meeting and conference participants concerning accessibility;
    • inviting ITU Member States to allocate a budget line for the implementation of the Accessibility Policy in the Union's budget
    • conducting an assessment of the level of accessibility of ITU recruitment process;
    • adjusting ITU procurement processes to incorporate the accessibility requirements (focus on IT equipment);
    • mainstreaming accessibility in ITU programmatic activities.