Universal Design

INTERNATIONAL: As the world urbanizes rapidly, international experience has shown that economic activities concentrate in a relatively small number of places – it is estimated that only 1.5% of the world’s land is home to about half of global production. Such economic concentration is a built-in feature of human settlement… Continue Reading »

JAPAN: From April 23–27, 2018, representatives from 16 cities in 13 countries visited Japan for a Technical Deep Dive on Safe, Inclusive, and Resilient Cities to learn from one another about improving urban safety, inclusion and resilience. In this video, Jefferson Koije (Mayor of Monrovia, Liberia), Ellen Hamilton (World Bank… Continue Reading »

ISRAEL: Yit, which develops and maintains over 50 websites including Ynet, Calcalist, Bigdeal, Blazer, and Winwin among others, have made their clients’ websites accessible to all people with disabilities through a dedicated widget developed by Equalweb. Every day most of the people in the world surf the Internet without thinking of accessibility,… Continue Reading »

AUCKLAND, NZ: Expressions of interest for the upcoming Universal Design Conference is closing on the 31st May. The conference committee welcomes you to submit expressions of interest in oral, workshop or poster presentations at the Te Ao Tangata Universal Design Conference 2018. Universal Design Conference 6 – 7 September 2018  Victory Convention… Continue Reading »

WASHINGTON, USA: 2nd annual Blackboard webinar series will convene experts from around the globe to share insights on creating inclusive learning experiences for all. In recognition of the seventh annual Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), Blackboard will host a series of no cost, informative webinars covering hot topics related to digital access in… Continue Reading »

CAMEROON, AFRICA: Cameroon resident Richard Tambe has a dream to make Cameroon more accessible to it’s citizens and visitors.   To realize that dream, he registered with GAATES and successfully completed his certification as an expert in accessibility of the built environment. Richard was highly motivated to achieve his certification to… Continue Reading »

INTERNATIONAL: The UN Environment Programme (UN Environment, or UNEP) Share the Road Programme has launched its annual report titled, ‘Investing in people who walk and cycle,’ which highlights progress made to ensure that more pedestrians and cyclists can safely travel to work and school. The Share the Road Programme aims… Continue Reading »

INTERNATIONAL: The UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) has launched a resource guide on municipal finance, highlighting the importance for implementation of the New Urban Agenda (NUA) and the SDGs, particularly SDG 11 (sustainable cities and communities). The handbook provides city leaders with a range of financing solutions that emphasize sustainability,… Continue Reading »

INTERNATIONAL: Receive recognition as an internationally certified accessibility consultant!   In it’s first quarter of operations, ICAC-BE program candidates’ submitted credentials in January 2018 for review and evaluation by GAATES’ Expert Panel. GAATES is pleased to announce the first round of successful program applicants are: Level 3 Expert Accessibility Consultant… Continue Reading »

MEXICO: Everything that happens, happens somewhere. From deforestation, to urbanization, to gender inequalities, our social situations are conditioned or even determined by geographical circumstances. Satellites, big data analysis and other new technologies allow us to pinpoint statistical data on the map, painting for us an entirely new picture of our… Continue Reading »