Accessibility discussed for first time by Latin American Congress Organizers
By Luis Fernando Astorga Gatjens, Costa Rica
April 23 - 25 2002, the Costa Rican capital of San José hosted the XVIII International Seminar and XIX Latin American Congress of Congress Organizers, and it was the first time that the importance of accessibility of meetings and events was considered in depth by this important group of professionals.
Summoned by the Confederación de Entidades Organizadoras de Congresos y Afines de América Latina (Confederation of Congress Organizers and Similar Activities of Latin America, COCAL), delegates from the countries of the region, United States, and Europe, participated in the Seminar and the Congress where ideas regarding the organizations of congresses were presented and discussed.
Among the rich and diverse topics reviewed, there was the exposition on accessibility by the Costa Rican consultant, Luis Fernando Astorga, who expressed the opinions of persons with disabilities to a large crowd.
Astorga was invited by COCAL and by the la Asociación Costarricense de Organizaciones de Congresos, Convenciones y Afines (Costa Rican Association of Congress Organizers and Similar Events), co-organizers of this event.
Ensure accessibility
For any person or entity organizing congresses, it is very important to ensure the best development and culmination of an activity. Therefore, they all need to foresee every possible situation. It then became clear for the participants of this Seminar and Congress that the participation of persons with disabilities is not only a right but an increasing reality.
This obliges congress organizers to seriously consider the topic of accessibility in its different dimensions (physical, architectural, and ergonomic, informative, and communication), to enable and ensure the participation of persons with disabilities, either as expositors, delegates or as part of the public. Otherwise, discriminatory conditions would be created, representing serious obstacles to the participation of persons with disabilities and affecting the development of the events.
The lecture of Luis Fernando Astorga, who uses a wheelchair, was very much appreciated by the organizers and participants of the Seminar and the Congress. Flor Solano, Academic Activities Coordinator and Leader of the Association, manifested that the exposition had a positive impact for the audience.
The best road...
When recommending that the best way to manage accessibility issues is permanent concern, Astorga added: "When following this road, we will be joining persons and organizations who respect diversity and we will be promoting inclusion processes, this is, we will add our efforts to the perennial dream of humanity of building a better world for all."
Finally, it is worth mentioning that this presentation prompted numerous questions and concerns among participants, stimulating a welcome degree of interest on the part of the professionals in the audience.
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