Localisation to Close the Global Accessibility Gap - Amplifying voices and stocktaking of innovations, approaches, and local practices to leave no one and no place behind

Discuss learnings with key stakeholders placing accessibility, inclusive design, and disability inclusion at the heart of localization, urban policy and practice towards reshaping urban development to be truly inclusive and accessible for all.

Marc Workman

Facilitator

November 6, 2024 | 13:00 - 14:30

Multipurpose room 04

World Blind Union

Canada

English

Reference:

NE 04-04

WUF12

Networking Events

Summary

The current urban development practices are spurring a growing global accessibility crisis. By 2050, over two billion older persons and persons with disabilities will reside in urban areas, increasing the demand for inclusive and accessible infrastructure and services. The world is off-track on SDG 11 and the New Urban Agenda (NUA), and persons with disabilities continue to face significant barriers in accessing housing, transport and public spaces, protection from natural disasters and participation in urban planning and management. Strategies to build back better, climate adaptation and resilience policies also often ignore disability inclusion, accessibility, and universal design, resulting in the creation of new inaccessible infrastructure and consequently deepening inequalities. Despite global agendas being roadmaps to implement the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities across governance levels, progress remains slow.

Towards closing these gaps, localisation serves as a vehicle to accele

Objectives

1. Unpack and discuss key findings from recent initiatives on accessibility and engagement of persons with disabilities, specifically approaches, innovations, solutions, and practices undertaken locally to translate global agendas into reality across diverse contexts.

2. Exchange of partners’ and practitioners’ learnings on practical implementation of existing recommendations to address accessibility barriers across communities, including on evidenced actions to strengthen policy coherence and mechanisms for meaningful community engagement.

3. Elaborate on key recommendations for tangible and evidence-based practices for local, regional, and national governments to ensure localisation strategies and plans incorporate a whole-of-society approach to accessibility to leave no one behind.