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 reflects the institutional commitment through three main priority axes: (1) strategic planning and results-based management, (2) institutional commitment for the inclusion of disability in all the pillars of ECLAC’s work, and (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 knowledge, committing to move towards full accessibility of its knowledge products and information channels. Among the activities undertaken within the framework of CEPALDIS, the publication, by 2025, of half of ECLAC’s flagships in a format that is accessible to people with visual disabilities stands out. The launch of the introduction to 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 and in an accessible format for people with visual disabilities is the launch of a ECLAC’s new editorial line and the first step in the process of advancing towards the accessibility of ECLAC’s production. This first accessible ECLAC publication has been the result of the joint work of the Publications and Documents Division, the Social Development Division, the Web and Library Unit, under the leadership of the Assistant Executive Secretary for Program Administration and Analysis, and constitutes a progress in fulfilling the commitments for the inclusion of ECLAC.
