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Zimbabwe to commemorate International Day of the Disabled
National Association of Societies for the Care of the Handicapped (NASCOH)
Extracted from Disability Update, Nov 24-Dec 1, 2006
November 24, 2006

In recognition of the central role that information plays in modern day society, Zimbabweans from all walks of life will commemorate International Day of the Disabled on 3 December, under the theme ‘E-accessibility’. The inception of new media technologies commonly referred to as Information and Communication Technology (ICT), has resulted in the rise of Information Societies or Knowledge societies in the developed information-rich countries, with the developing countries also joining the trend.  

Everywhere we look, ICT has established itself as a driver and multiplier of knowledge, experience, development and inspiration, and the driving forces behind the transformation of societies to Information or Knowledge societies. Increasingly, the world is shifting from an economic divide to an information divide, with information seeking to supplant money as the new medium of wealth. Information has, indeed, become the coin of the new Information Age and the ability of ICT to compress the time required for behavioural and social change and multiplying the impact of development programmes is beyond dispute.  

The ability of ICT, and in particular the Internet, to transcend geographical, cultural, and political boundaries, and in the process making information a common or social good and a freely exchangeable social commodity, has important implications for human relations and development. Those with ready access to ICT will have access to a wide range of vital information, allowing them to move progressively upwards from lesser to greater levels of efficiency, energy, quality, productivity, complexity, comprehension, enjoyment and accomplishment. This is the essence of development. Allied to this capacity for social development that is ushered in by ICT, is the capacity for individual development – the constant awakening, reawakening and development of human ideas, values, attitudes, aspirations, skill, knowledge and initiative. The continuous stimulation of these human values and attitudes is critical, for these are the chief determinants of development, and not the instruments created by development.  

At the other end of the spectrum, because of the peculiar conditions of their disability and also because of their lack of access to the fundamental rights and freedoms that other people take for granted, people with disabilities have little or no access to ICT, which is specifically the state of affairs that ‘E-accessibility’ seeks to address. This lack of access to ICT isolates them from a wide range of information, which is crucial to their individual and collective development. 

At the heart of this year’s e-accessibility theme is a simple and all-too-evident reality that society ironically chooses to ignore – that not everyone can see or hear the text displayed on our computer screens which are our main window to ICT, or reach the computer keyboards with their fingers, and there is need to make available disability friendly technology or assistive technology that would enable people with disabilities to access ICT. Such technology would include the procurement and provision of technology such as ‘JAWS’ which reads aloud the words written on computer monitors for the benefit of the visually impaired while complementary techniques such as text and screen enlargement and speech recognition would go a long way towards ensuring e-accessibility for those with partial sight.  

Access to Braille technology remains elusive for the majority of visually impaired people while Zimbabwean society still has to come alive to the need to produce and make available assistive technology that would allow wheelchair users to be able to reach and use computer keyboards.

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