The Executive Secretary, José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, released the first ECLAC document in an accessible format for people with visual disabilities

ECLAC has assumed the commitment to advance towards the inclusion of persons with disabilities, as part of the mandate of the United Nations Strategy for Disability Inclusion (UNDIS) and in line with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. On this basis, in December 2021 the “ECLAC Disability Inclusion Strategy” (CEPALDIS) was launched for the period 2021-2025, which seeks to promote the rights and effective and full inclusion of people with disabilities to achieve the sustainable development. This strategy places people with disabilities at the center as holders of rights and expresses the institutional commitment through three main priorities:

1. Strategic planning and results-based management.
2. Institutional commitment to include disability in all the pillars of ECLAC’s work.
3. Organizational culture.

These pillars are complemented by two transversal axes, without which the effective inclusion of people with disabilities is not possible; these are: accessibility and the participation of people with disabilities, echoing the well-known motto “nothing about us without us”.

The implementation of CEPALDIS implies addressing the management and dissemination of the knowledge generated by ECLAC, committing to move towards the accessibility of its intellectual production and information channels. Among the activities undertaken within the framework of CEPALDIS, progress in the publication of ECLAC flagships in a format that is accessible to people with visual disabilities stands out. The launch of the introduction of the Social Panorama of Latin America and the Caribbean 2022. The transformation of education as a basis for sustainable development As a version compatible with screen readers, it constitutes the beginning of a new editorial line of ECLAC that will allow progress towards the accessibility of ECLAC’s knowledge production. This first accessible publication for people with visual disabilities has been the result of the joint work of the Publications and Documents Division, the Social Development Division, the Library and Web Services Unit, under the leadership of the Deputy Executive Secretary for Administration and Analysis of Programs and constitutes progress in the fulfillment of the commitments for the inclusion of ECLAC.