Hello there!  I'm Matt Chadwick at the business desk and I hope that everyone had a very enjoyable Thanksgiving. 

I did, and now it's back to work for me.  Today I'd like to bring home the message that the United Nations is endeavouring to spread and it concerns the importance of access to information technology for all.  Such an important topic and so important for us all.  So many of us take it for granted but believe it or not, there are millions of Americans who continue to be denied proper access to information technology and as a result of this they are unable to adequately and fully access the Internet.  Not very nice and not very good when you consider how important the Internet has become. 

Proper access to information technology means that oodles of opportunities would be opened up to those who can take advantage of information technology but for millions of persons this is still a problem.  We hope that the message from the Secretary General of the United Nations will bring this home to everyone.

Have a great weekend. 

  Access to information technology creates opportunity for
all, especially persons with disabilities, Secretary-General says in
observance of Disabled Persons Day

 

Following is UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's message on the International
Day of Disabled Persons, observed on 3 December:

 

The theme of this year's observance of the International Day of Disabled
Persons, "E-accessibility", reminds us of the need to make the Internet
available to everyone.

 

Access to information and communication technologies creates opportunities
for all people, perhaps none more so than persons with disabilities.  And,
as the development of the Internet and these technologies takes their needs
more fully into account, the barriers of prejudice, infrastructure and
inaccessible formats need no longer stand in the way of participation.

 

This is a welcome change.  As information and communication technologies
spread across the world, drawing in more and more users every day, most
websites remained inaccessible to the millions of people who have difficulty
manipulating a mouse, or who are visually impaired and need a "screen
reader" or large fonts to read the page.  Slowly, Governments and the
private sector have been recognizing the economic and social benefits of
making websites fully accessible,
and have been putting in place changes involving software and hardware
alike.

 

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which is expected
to be approved by the General Assembly later this month, can give additional
impetus to this trend.  States that choose to become party to the Convention
will thereby commit themselves to taking steps to provide "information
intended for the general public to persons with disabilities in accessible
formats and technologies appropriate to different kinds of disabilities in a
timely manner and without additional cost".  The Convention urges private
businesses and mass media to do the same with their services.

 

On this International Day, let us pledge again to do our utmost to achieve
the vision of an inclusive, people-centred, development-oriented information
society.  And let us redouble our efforts to ensure that persons with
disabilities can exercise their human rights and play their full part in the
economic, social and political lives of their societies.