Speaker: Judith Hellerstein — Coordinator, IGF Dynamic Coalition on Accessibility and Disability (DCAD)
Opening thanks
Thank you to the WSIS+20 Co-Facilitators — the Ambassadors from Albania and Kenya — and to the Informal Multistakeholder Sounding Board (IMSB) for holding this consultation and ensuring that voices from civil society, the technical and academic communities, and the private sector are included.
Position
Despite years of advocacy, the digital divide facing persons with disabilities is only mentioned tangentially throughout the WSIS+20 text. If WSIS+20 is to fulfil its promise of a people-centred, inclusive and development-oriented Information Society, disability inclusion must move from footnotes to the main agenda.
The document addresses wide-ranging ambitions — from AI governance to digital finance — yet says very little about persons with disabilities and makes no mention of leadership by people with lived experience of disability.
For twenty years, we have built a digital world that has systemically excluded an estimated 1.5 billion people. The divide is not only rural connectivity or 4G coverage; it is millions of uncaptioned videos, unnavigable websites, and inaccessible apps affecting people with visual, auditory, motor, and cognitive disabilities.
Paragraph 66 reaffirms the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) as an indivisible part of international human rights law. When public digital infrastructure is inaccessible, this is not just poor design; it is a human-rights violation.
Specific textual suggestions
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Para 22 — Implementation and enforcement of accessibility standards is missing.[ADDED] We call for the adoption, implementation, and enforcement of international accessibility standards and guidelines — including the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1/2.2) — across public and private digital services, with compliance reporting and regular review.
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Para 27 (Local content)[ADDED] Local content initiatives shall ensure delivery in formats compatible with accessible technologies (e.g., screen readers, captions, sign language, and simplified language) to meet the needs of persons with disabilities.
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Para 38 (Emergency services)[ADDED] We further commit to ensuring that emergency systems and interventions are accessible, inclusive, and responsive to the needs of persons with disabilities; and that early-warning communications, evacuation processes, recovery tools, and digital information channels adhere to accessibility standards and are compatible with assistive technologies.
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Para 39 (Resilience/response)[ADDED] We further commit to ensuring that such systems and interventions are accessible, inclusive, and responsive to the needs of persons with disabilities; and that early-warning communications, evacuation processes, recovery tools, and digital information channels adhere to accessibility standards and assistive-technology compatibility.
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Para 60 (Capacity building)[ADDED] We will co-design and deliver digital capacity-building and leadership-development programs for persons with disabilities, ensuring that lived experience informs policymaking, including in emerging areas such as AI, cybersecurity, and data governance.
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Para 86 (Fellowships)[ADDED] New and existing fellowships shall include persons with disabilities as beneficiaries and contributors, and establish leadership pathways for experts with lived experience of disability to shape inclusive and ethical AI governance frameworks.
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Para 90 (Participation and leadership)[ADDED] We will ensure the participation of persons with disabilities — particularly those with lived experience — not only as beneficiaries but as equal contributors and leaders in Internet-governance and standard-setting bodies.
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Para 116 (Metrics)[ADDED] Member States and stakeholders will develop and report disability-disaggregated indicators and metrics on digital access, usage, accessibility, and affordability, in line with CRPD obligations.
Closing
The WSIS+20 review is a historic opportunity to move beyond tokenism and enshrine digital accessibility at the heart of an inclusive Information Society. Without explicit commitments, concrete actions, and active leadership by people with lived experience of disability, the vision of universal, meaningful, and affordable access cannot be realized.
We urge the Co-Facilitators and all stakeholders to ensure that accessibility and disability inclusion are not afterthoughts but core priorities throughout the WSIS+20 outcome documents and in the future mandate of the IGF. Only then can we achieve a multistakeholder, inclusive governance model that serves everyone.