PRESS CONFERENCE FOR PRESENTATION OF BRAILLE PRINTER TO AD HOC COMMITTEE

PRESS CONFERENCE FOR PRESENTATION OF BRAILLE PRINTER TO AD HOC COMMITTEE

The non-profit organization Services for the Visually Impaired presented a Braille printer at Headquarters this morning to the General Assembly Ad Hoc Committee on a Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities.

Presenting the machine, Harold Snider, Executive Director of Services for the Visually Impaired, said the high-speed, heavy-duty embosser would provide the United Nations with Braille production capacity in all six of the Organization’s official languages.  Don MacKay, Permanent Representative of New Zealand to the United Nations and Chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee, received the donation.

He said that, since the beginning of negotiations in 1989, the World Blind Union had been encouraging the Department of Economic and Social Affairs to produce documents concerning the convention in Braille.  Blind representatives from developed countries had portable computers with Braille output, which enabled them to read documents posted on web sites.  However, those from developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America had no such equipment and consequently no access.  The need for Braille production on paper for all blind representatives was self-evident and clear-cut.

Mr. MacKay said the printer would make a huge difference to those with visual impairments who were participating in the negotiations, which were now proceeding on the basis of a consolidated text reflecting the discussion that had taken place in the Ad Hoc Committee over recent years.  One of the distinguishing aspects of the negotiations was the involvement of members of civil society, including the extensive involvement of those from disability organizations.

Among the board members of Services for the Visually Impaired who attended the press conference were Stanley Berman, its President, and Susan Spungin, Treasurer of the World Blind Union.  Also present were Donald Breda of Duxbury Systems, which provided the software and David Pilisher whose company, Sighted Electronics, will maintain and repair the embosser.

The Ad Hoc Committee, which is drafting the first-ever convention on the rights of persons with disabilities, will meet at Headquarters (Conference Room 4) from 16 January to 3 February to start a second full reading of the draft treaty.  Meeting for its seventh session, it will review the entire draft, based on the 34-article text proposed by the Chair (document A/AC.265/2006/1, available at www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/rights/ahcchairletter7oct.htm).

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For information media • not an official record