GAATES Resources
Built Environment
GAATES is the leading civil society organization providing services in Universal Design and accessibility of the built environment. An environment built on the principles of Universal Design enables all users, including persons with disabilities to safely enter, use and exit the built and landscape environment. The following resources and publications have been developed by GAATES.
ICT
Each time a technological innovation has been introduced to the global marketplace there has been a subsequent impact on the potential participation of and usability by persons with disabilities. GAATES is working to ensure that information and communication technologies used to communicate, develop, disseminate and manage information are accessible to everyone. Several of the following resources and publications have been developed by GAATES.
- PAVE Accessible PDF Corrector
- Outsourcing Web Development: A Guide for Hiring Contractors to Develop Accessible Websites and Web Content
- WCAG 2.0 – Web Content Accessibility Guidelines: An Introductory Guide for Web Developers
- Developing accessibility policies and a multi-year accessibility plan: A guide for organizations with 50 or more employees
- A guide to developing an accessibility policy: for organizations with 1-49 employees
- Providing accessible information to people with disabilities Download
- Making Emergency and Public Safety Information Accessible to the Public
- Providing individualized workplace emergency response information to employees who have a disability
- Procuring or Acquiring Accessible Goods, Services or Facilities
- Creating Accessible Electronic Documents
- Creating Accessible Print Documents
- Creating Accessible Signs
- Creating Accessible Presentations
- UNESCO Global Report, Opening New Avenues for Empowerment: ICTs to Access Information and Knowledge for Persons with Disabilities external
- ICT Vendors Database
Transportation
- Benchmarking Accessibility in Cities: Measuring the impact of Proximity and Transport Performance
- Bridging the Gap: Your role in transporting children with disabilities to school in developing countries
- Paratransit for mobility impaired persons in developing regions: Starting up and scaling up
- A Review of International Best Practice in Accessible Public Transportation for Persons with Disabilities
- Accessible Transportation Information – Small Buses and Tie-Downs
- 2013 Survey of Local Transport Needs and Priorities: Analysis of Results
Tourism
Accessible tourism is about all people having the opportunity to travel regardless of factors such as disability or age. Barriers to tourism can take many forms from physical barriers to attitudinal ones. Accessible tourism looks to remove these existing barriers and avoid creating new ones. It is not just about accessible destinations, it is about accessibility throughout the whole experience. This begins with marketing, information, booking processes through to transportation and then facilities and attractions. Each of these are also influenced by the accessibility of their customer service.
- Best Practice in Accessible Tourism Inclusion, Disability, Ageing Population and Tourism Authors : Dimitrios Buhalis, Simon Darcy, Ivor Ambrose Available for purchase at accessibletourismresearch.blogspot.ca
- Accessible Tourism Concepts and Issues Authors : Dimitrios Buhalis, Simon Darcy Available for purchase at accessibletourismresearch.blogspot.ca
- Accessible Tourism from World Tourism Organization, UNWTO
- Accessible Tourism: Unlocking the Potential
- Accessible Tourism, It’s Your Business
Disaster
- Guideline on Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction: Early Warning and Accessible Broadcasting
- Guideline on Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction : Disabilities and Disasters
- Emergency Planning and Preparedness for People with Disabilities in Canada’s North
- Emergency Planning: Addressing the Needs of Students with Disabilities in NWT School
- On Thin Ice: Suggested Best Practices for Northern Emergency Planning
United Nation’s Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD)
Access is seen as the route to freedom from discrimination for persons with disabilities. Entering into force on the 3 May 2008, the UN CRPD and its Optional Protocol require that states promote, protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms of persons with disabilities, and promote respect for their inherent dignity. GAATES mission and Strategic Plan were developed to mirror the UN CRPD and to promote the adoption and implementation of this guiding document.