Make Development Inclusive
11:19, 10 June 2009
.. Posted in Development, Relief and Advocacy Efforts.. Link
Differences are a fact of life. Differences are normal. Unfortunately, people are often excluded from society, education and work because of their difference, such as a disability. But the good news is that addressing the needs of one group of people deemed "different" often makes a project or product more accessible and useful to everyone: that bathroom stall for people in wheelchairs gets used by a woman with children; closed-captioning for the hearing-impaired is used much more by people learning English and on TVs in bars and restaurants; offering a text transcript of a podcast allows people who prefer to read than listen, or who don't have headphones and are sharing an office, to access the info; and on and on.
Make Development Inclusive is a project working to ensure that people with disabilities are served by the development policies of the European Union Member States, the European Commission, and European non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working in the fields of development cooperation and humanitarian aid. The site has great resources for anyone working in aid and development, not just people from the EU or funded by the EU.
Just as I mainstream gender issues but I'm not a gender specialist, you can make your development and humanitarian aid work accessible and inclusive for people with disabilities, without being an expert in such. It's all about your approach and your attitude. Why leave anyone out?
