“We send people to the moon, to space but the majority of children with disabilities still do not go to school and it is the 21st Century.” These words were from Gopal Mitra, an officer in UNICEF's inclusive education program. And this was how he started his speech at the Forum hosted by the Global Alliance on Accessible Technologies and Environments, GAATES, during the 8th Conference of States Parties to the United Nations Conference on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, at the UN Headquarters in New York, on June 8. The topic was Accessibility and Education: Challenges and Solutions, and the panelists included partnering UN Agencies, NGOs and Country Representatives from Latin America and Asia. Today, even when children go to school, children with disabilities lag far behind in learning outcomes as compared to their nondisabled peers. When we talk about accessibility and especially in the area of education, we are talking about a comprehensive approach and not only overcoming physical barriers for children with disabilities who cannot go to school. Those who do go to school often cannot learn because the textbooks are inaccessible. The built environment, as well as information and learning materials, must be accessible to all. We hear so often from adults who, as disabled children, grew up integrated into mainstream school and how that affected their life and opened so many possibilities for them. We also hear from people who were sent to separate schools and were segregated and denied education and how without an education they could never get a job and could never actually thrive. So it really is accessibility that provides that opportunity not only to learn but to share and to grow with your fellow students and to prosper in life. Accessibility is a continuum of all kinds of aspects of life from the beginning to the end and from the moment you go out the door and try to get to school, through to actually accessible transportation, the accessibility of information within the school, teacher training, the size of the classroom, the access to websites, provision of assistive devices, and then playing with colleagues and learning in an inclusive way. So accessibility is a multifaceted mosaic. But the good news is that inclusive education is gaining momentum all over the world. Countries are becoming aware of the challenge and are starting to ask what to do and how to technically address this issue. Accessibility is a key component for mainstreaming the participation of people with disabilities into society and it is a crucial factor in achieving the rights of all persons with disabilities, starting with full access to education and learning. Several countries worldwide are starting to realize this and it is important that countries in the Middle East, many of them having signed the UN Disability Convention, strengthen their efforts to create a humanitarian society in which people with disabilities can fully participate. Mukthar Al-Shibani GAATES President and CEO of Almodon Engineering Consultancy
