19 April 2011 | General, ICT, TUD
European Disability Strategy Conference
Almost 80 million EU citizens experience difficulties in using public buildings, facilities and services such as shops, transport and websites because they have some kind of disability. To address this situation, the European Commission launched a 10-year strategy at the end of 2010 to improve accessibility and promote equality. As part of the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, a high level conference on new challenges in the European Disability Strategy has been arranged and will take place on 19 and 20 April 2011 in Budapest, Hungary.
The Conference will focus on the European Disability Strategy (2010-2020), as this document sets out the possible thematic areas for actions linked to the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD). In this context, the Conference will also provide the opportunity to examine the national implementation of the UNCRPD.
The Conference will bring together all key stakeholders, including especially, the relevant representatives of the civil society. The main conclusions of the Annual Report, prepared by the Disability High Level Group, will be shared at the conference. The outcome of this event will feed into the planned Council Conclusions to be adopted by the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO) in June.
Since the primary responsibility for action rests with the Member States, the Community Disability Strategy is concerned to bring as much added value to the process of reflection and change along the following lines:
- Strengthening the co-operation between and with the Member States
- Increasing the participation of people with disabilities
- Mainstreaming Disability in Policy Formulation
Since 1986, COST has continued to address the issue of accessibility of technology for persons with disabilities. COST Action 219 "Future Telecommunications and tele-informatics facilities for disabled people and elderly" started in 1986. A follow-on Action focussing on "Telecommunications: Access for disabled and elderly people" rand from 1996 until 2001 while, finally, COST Action 219ter "Accessibility for All to Services and Terminals for Next Generation Networks" ran until January 2008 with 19 countries as well as some international organisations such as GSA Information Consultants from Australia and the US Trace Center involved.
COST was also active in the TUD Domain with COST Action TUD 349 "The Accessibility of Coaches and Long Distance Buses for People with Reduced Mobility". The Action ended in December 2005 and produced a concept providing guidance on the construction and design of interurban and international coach and bus systems in respect of the needs of people with reduced mobility in order to assist operators, passenger and authorities when developing plans for accessible and high quality transport systems.
Today, within the EU it is being formally recognised that in order to make it easier for disabled persons to get around by themselves, there is a clear and imperative need to improve the accessibility of transport. Indeed, it has already been reported that the EU executive is looking at ways to integrate common standards into public procurement processes and may also draft new legislation - we hope that the valuable work conducted already by COST will be taken into consideration when drawing up these common standards.
European Commission
Accessibility is a precondition for participation in society and in the economy, but the European Union still has a long way to go in achieving this.
