Campaigners call for policies that will enable millions more to access education and employment
Front, L-R: Carlos Leon: NY SCION, Maria Jose Carranza: UNICEF youth ambassador, Guatemala, Anne Wafula Strike: Paralympian, speaker, author and inclusion campaigner.
Back L-R: Maryam Bukar - Hassan: Storyteller, award winning poet-advocate, Fernando Botelho: UNICEF, Sara Basson: Google, Saima Saleem: Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the United Nations in New York, Gopal Mitra, Global Lead on Disability and Development, UNICEF, Irene Mbari-Kirika: inABLE and Dr. Oteri Okolo, Federal Ministry of Health, Nigeria
Campaigners took over Times Square on 23 September 2024 to call on decision-makers gathering for the United Nations General Assembly to prioritise policies that will improve the lives of hundreds of millions of people, including those with disabilities, chronic health conditions, physical impairments, and older people around the world.
Campaigners from across the world and representatives of development agencies with local community groups in New York to sent a strong message to the policymakers gathered for the UN’s landmark Summit of the Future, part of this year’s General Assembly. We won’t achieve the SDGs without increasing access to assistive technology!
Without increased investment and national policies to improve access to assistive technology, they warn that it will be impossible for UN Member States to meet the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – especially overcoming poverty (goal #1), good health and well-being (goal #3) enabling quality education (goal #4), gender equality (#5), reducing equalities (goal #10), and unlocking decent work and economic growth (goal #8).
The Times Square take-over saw advocates unveil a giant eye test, believed to be the largest ever displayed. The eye test transformed into a powerful message: “Need Glasses? one billion people around the world do today”, highlighting one of several life-transforming assistive products campaigners are calling for better access to.
Billboards in Times Square showing the campaign at the top and two sides
Currently, more than 2.5 billion people need one or more assistive product, such as wheelchairs, prostheses, glasses, hearing aids and digital devices, worldwide – expected to rise to 3.5 billion by 2050 if policymakers continue to neglect the issue and choose not to increase investment. It is low-middle income countries that shoulder the highest burden, with only 10% of citizens in low-income countries able to access the products they need, leading to millions of people today effectively ‘locked-out’ of education and the workforce.
The Times Square event was organised by Unlock The Everyday, a campaign backed by health and development organisations from around the world. ATscale’s research has found that for a child in a low- or middle-income country, access to assistive technology can later make a difference of US$100,000 in lifetime income.
Sara Minkara, Special Advisor, Office of International Disability Rights, US Department of State, attended the campaign events in New York and commented:
“In the disability community, we talk about how we not only need to bring our voices to the table, but how that table needs to be made accessible. Assistive technology (AT) is one way we can make that table accessible. When informed by universal design, accounting for the expertise and requirements of the disability community, we can remove the barriers for new generations of policymakers, business leaders, and educators. What ATscale is doing through its Unlock the Everyday campaign is keeping accessibility at the center of the discussion so that anyone who needs assistive technology has access to it.
“I am a proud user of AT. With AT, I can read my crime thrillers, keep up to date with friends and family, and collaborate with my colleagues from around the world. However, if the technology I’m using isn’t being developed with persons with disabilities in mind, suddenly I am excluded from a world I enjoy. That is what happens to the nearly 90% of people in developing countries who don’t have access to AT. Accessibility, whether it’s establishing AT access or incorporating accessibility into AT products, can be what makes the difference in someone leading an enriching and fulfilling life.”
Others gathered for the Times Square take-over and evening reception included:
Christophe Tocco, Acting Assistant to the Administrator in the Bureau for Planning, Learning and Resource Management, USAID
Many representatives from the Unlock The Campaign partners
Anne Wafula Strike MBE – British Paralympian and disability rights advocate
Giles Duly, the first United Nations Global Advocate for persons with disabilities in conflict and peacebuilding situations and CEO of the Legacy of War Foundation
Nigerian poet/advocate and influencer Maryam Bukar Hassan
Members of New York organisations for people with disabilities and members of the public who use assistive technology.
Pascal Bijleveld, CEO at ATscale, who was at Times Square, commented:
“The central promise of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals is to ‘Leave No One Behind’’. As delegates agree upon this year’s Summit for the Future, we remind them that it is impossible to keep this promise without universal access to assistive technology.”
“Gathering together in Times Square, the Unlock The Everyday campaign and its supporters sent a vital message to decision-makers to prioritise funding and policy change to reduce this gap in access, and help to transform millions of lives around the world from a life of dependency to a life of opportunity. We hope they have heard us loud and clear.”
As well as the Times Square event, ATscale and partners hosted a session at UNGA’s Summit of the Future Action Day on 20 September, which focused on exploring how multi-stakeholder partnerships in education and assistive technology can transform education and employment opportunities for children and young people with disabilities. You can watch the session in full on UN Web TV.
More information about the Unlock The Everyday campaign can be found here: www.unlocktheeveryday.org
Assistive technology: Key facts – the global challenge
Today 2.5 billion people need at least one form of assistive technology and most people will require assistive technology at some point in their lifetime, whether because of a disability, injuries or simply old age. By 2050 this figure is likely to rise to 3.5 billion.
Without access to assistive technology, when it is needed, more than 30% of the global population will struggle to meet their most basic human needs.
At least 1 billion people around the world need glasses
Hearing aids are available to just 20 percent of the hundreds of millions of people with hearing loss.
Prostheses are available to just 20 percent of the roughly 65 million people who need them and demand is expected to double by 2050
Wheelchairs are available for just 5 to 35 percent of the 80 million people who need them. Of these 65 million are in low- and middle-income countries
Improving access to AT is a powerful way to accelerate progress towards all of the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly those relating to overcoming poverty, good health, quality education, gender equality, reducing inequalities, decent work and climate action.
-ENDS -
Notes to editor
If you’re a journalist and want to find out more about the campaign or interview a spokesperson, please contact: UnlocktheEveryday@grayling.com / +44 2038613719
About Assistive technology
Assistive technology (AT) is an umbrella term for assistive products such as wheelchairs, hearing aids, prostheses, eyeglasses or digital devices, and their related systems and services. AT can facilitate people’s ability to move, communicate, and see better than before. People in need of assistive technology include people with chronic health conditions or physical impairments, temporary injuries and diseases, older people, and people with disabilities.
The first Global Report on Assistive Technology, published in 2022 by WHO and UNICEF, can be found here: Global Report on Assistive Technology (who.int)
Why assistive technology matters for reaching the SDGs: Why does Assistive Technology matter to the SDGs? — ATscale (atscalepartnership.org)
About the campaign
Unlock the Everyday is the first ever global campaign on assistive technology, which aims to raise awareness of assistive technology and people’s right to access it, no matter their income or where they live.
More information about the campaign can be found here: www.UnlockTheEveryday.org
About ATscale
ATscale is a global partnership working to transform access to life-changing assistive technology across lower- and middle-income countries. Its vision is to ensure every person can access and afford the assistive technology they need, enabling a lifetime of potential. Partners include the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), the US Agency for International Development (USAID), China Disabled Person’s Federation (CDPF) the Government of Kenya, the Southern Africa Federation of the Disabled (SAFOD) the World Health Organization, UNICEF and the International Disability Alliance. The organization is hosted by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS).
About the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and the Pact for the Future
The UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals were adopted in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity. The 17 SDGs are integrated—they recognize that action in one area will affect outcomes in others, and that development must balance social, economic and environmental sustainability. Countries have committed to prioritize progress for those who're furthest behind. The SDGs are designed to end poverty, hunger, AIDS, and discrimination against women and girls. More information on the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals can be found here: Sustainable Development Goals | United Nations Development Programme (undp.org)
More information about the UN’s Summit of the Future and resulting Pact for the Future, can be found here: Pact : Summit of the Future (summitofthefutureun.org)