A step at the counter, a form with no readable version, a classroom with no ramp: places create most of the obstacles. According to the World Health Organization, 1.3 billion people, sixteen per cent of humanity, live with a significant disability. President Macky Sall makes their inclusion a commitment of his candidacy for the office of UN Secretary-General.
The Convention and the states. Adopted in 2006 and in force since 2008, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has been ratified by the great majority of states. It sets a simple principle: every right applies to everyone, whatever their health. What remains is to write it into budgets, schools and transport.
The Organization first. Since 2019 the United Nations Disability Inclusion Strategy has set standards for the Organization itself, from recruitment to the accessibility of its meeting rooms. The next Secretary-General will report on it each year.
Situations of crisis. In conflict or disaster, people with disabilities are often missing from evacuation plans and from censuses. The humanitarian programmes the Organization funds must count them from the first distribution.
Digital, with them. Screen readers, subtitles, online public services: digitization excludes when it is designed without the people concerned, and supports their independence when they take part. The same rule holds for artificial intelligence.
No one outside the count. Twelve years as head of state teach that a policy is judged by the person furthest from the counter. The vision statement filed with the United Nations makes inclusion an obligation of result.
Africa at its heart, the world in its sights.
The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006), the United Nations Disability Inclusion Strategy (2019) and the WHO global report on health equity for persons with disabilities (2022) are public. Read all public positions at www.mackysall.net