18th China Information Accessibility Forum held in Beijing

The 18th China Information Accessibility Forum, themed on implementing the law on barrier-free environment construction and promoting equality, integration, and sharing for people with disabilities, was held on Dec 27, 2023, at Peking University, Beijing.

Li Dongmei, vice-chairperson of the Board of Executive Directors of the China Disabled Persons' Federation (CDPF), Jiang Guohua, deputy Party secretary of Peking University, and Cui Yong, executive vice-president of the China Construction Bank Corporation, attended and addressed the opening ceremony.

Li reviewed China's development and achievements in the construction of a barrier-free environment in her address and emphasized the significant progress the CDPF has made in promoting barrier-free environment construction, highlighting its cooperation with the Social Development Affairs Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) and the Legislative Affairs Commission of the NPC Standing Committee to advance the legislation on building a barrier-free environment. Since the law took effect, the CDPF has adopted various measures to raise public awareness, such as compiling legal interpretations and organizing conferences on the law-based governance of disability-related affairs, thus creating a favorable social environment for enforcing the law, according to Li.

Looking ahead, the CDPF will actively fulfill its statutory duties, improve relevant policies and standards, promote local legislation in coordination with functional departments, and assist in establishing a sustained working mechanism for building a barrier-free environment, Li said. She shared her expectation for further efforts from all sectors of society to fully implement the law and accelerate the construction of a barrier-free environment with fully functional facilities, easy information accessibility and friendly experience. Furthermore, more efforts should be made to eliminate visible and invisible barriers for and discrimination against people with disabilities, and to foster an environment that is characterized by understanding, respect, care and assistance, so as to create a happier and better life for disabled people on the Chinese path to modernization, she added.

Participants from related ministries, universities, research institutions, enterprises and social organizations and representatives of disabled people took part in discussions on the concrete measures for the implementation of the law. Two parallel forums on information accessibility and experts' opinions on the implementation of the barrier-free environment construction law were held during the event, and the remarkable achievements of China's barrier-free environment construction over the past two years were also showcased.

The forum was jointly organized by the Office of Barrier-free Environment Construction of the CDPF, China Braille Press, China Braille Library, the Institute of Population Research at Peking University, and the China Association of Volunteers for Persons with Disabilities.