Susan Marie Daniels, 1948 - 2011

GAATES mourns the loss of one of their founding members, Susan Marie Daniels who died on October 20, 2011.

Susan was a GAATES Founder and helped the organization navigate through the birthing process. As GAATES grew and evolved, she brought a finely honed perspective and judgment to all GAATES decisions and challenges. As a member of the Executive, Susan provided carefully considered advice based on her experience and extraordinary insight. She was a bright star and all who met her remembered her intelligence, wit and sense of humour.

She made a huge effort to attend our GAATES Annual Meeting in New York on September 8, 2011. She was very proud of GAATES' success as she congratulated GAATES at the Annual Meeting in New York for our amazing growth and success. We couldn't have had a greater cheer leader!

Susan had a stellar International career. She worked as Deputy Commissioner for the Social Security Administration, responsible for disability programs during the Clinton era and continued to work as a consultant promoting employment of persons with disabilities. The GAATES family will miss her greatly.

If you would like to make a donation to the GAATES Scholarship fund in memory of Susan, please e-mail GAATES Past President Betty Dion

For further information please visit Honoring the Legacy of Susan Marie Daniels

Bridging the Knowledge Gap: The Global Disability Rights Library

How much of your valuable time do you spend thinking about how to find answers to your questions? If you have easy Internet access, you probably just fire up your laptop or grab your smart phone and Google it without a second thought. How often have you been blocked from accessing information that you know could benefit hundreds, or even thousands, of people with disabilities? That's the dilemma confronting disability rights advocates and policy makers in developing countries who don't have Internet access or have access that is too slow, expensive, or unreliable. GAATES is doing its part to support an initiative-the Global Disability Rights Library (GDRL) project-that is working to close the knowledge gap.

The GDRL project is a joint initiative of the United States International Council on Disabilities and the WiderNet Project at the University of Iowa with funding from USAID. The GDRL is part of a massive digital library called an eGranary. The eGranary has an interface that allows users to access websites, documents, videos and more without requiring Internet connectivity. GAATES is proud to help the GDRL become a more valuable resource for organizations and policy makers fighting for the human rights of people with disabilities by allowing the use of its website in the off-line digital library.

In addition to the off-line version of the library, on-line users can visit the GDRL to explore its rich collection of resources. Both the off-line e-Granary Digital Library and the on-line version of the library have been designed to be accessible to users with disabilities.

If you would like to learn more about this innovative project that has the potential to change the lives of thousands of people with disabilities in developing countries.

If you would like to be aware of future opportunities to apply for a free, off-line digital copy of the GDRL for organizations in developing countries, then sign up to be notified

Please feel free to email us at The Global Disability Rights Library with questions and suggestions with information to include in the GDRL, or to learn more about how you can be involved.

GAATES Side Event

Several GAATES members recently attended meetings and side events at the UN Conference of States Parties on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) that took place at the United Nations, September 7-9, 2011.

In addition, GAATES successfully hosted a side event titled Accessible Information & Communication Technologies (ICTs) And Current Initiatives. GAATES presenters were Cynthia Waddell, (who also moderated the event), Chuck Letourneu, and Bob Topping. Additional participants included special guests Gary Fowlie, Head - International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Liaison Office to the United Nations and Hani Abu Huwaij who was sponsored by the Higher Council for Affairs of Persons with Disabilities, Jordan.

Hani Huwaij's participation included a brief presentation ceremony where he received the Imagine Cup Award 2011: An Innovation for Persons with Quadriplegia from the Higher Council for Affairs of Persons with Disabilities, Jordan.

The meeting was accessible to all participants and included real time captioning and sign language interpretation.

GAATES Award of Recognition

During the UN Conference of States Parties on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), GAATES President Mukhtar Al Shibani presented a GAATES Award of Recognition to the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA). The award was presented in recognition of DESA's distinguished global support for the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and the department's leadership, vision, and contribution in an area that will impact the lives of over a billion people with disabilities around the world.

Akiko Ito, Chief of the Secretariat for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities at UN DESA accepted the award on behalf of Mr. Sha Zukang, the Under Secretary-General of UN DESA.

GAATES Annual General Meeting

The Global Alliance on Accessible Technologies and Environments (GAATES) held their Annual General Meeting (AGM) in New York City on September 8, 2011.

The AGM was well attended with members attending from Canada, USA, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Uganda. Additional members from South Africa, Brazil, Argentina, Austria and Denmark participated electronically via Skype.

Participants received committee reports of activities from the past year, and discussed projects and opportunities moving forward. Special thanks to all who were able to participate.

The meeting was captioned to ensure that it was accessible to all participants.

GAATES Announces Roll Out of
the Global Accessibility News

Delivering the World's Accessibility News

The Global Alliance on Accessible Technologies and Environments (GAATES) proudly announces the worldwide launch of the international accessibility news service the Global Accessibility News.

The Global Accessibility News international news service provides a compilation of stories and articles from around the world related to accessibility of the built, social and virtual environments; including architectural and infrastructural design, transportation systems, habitat, electronic information, web and communication technologies.

The information is gathered daily from news sources around the world, and presented as Headline News, categorized by Geographical Regions: Africa, Americas, Asia-Pacific, Europe and the Middle East.

For people who wish to receive the Global Accessibility News via e-mail, the News is distributed 2 to 3 times a month. In addition, the Headline News stories are always available on the Global Accessibility News website, with stories archived by month and year.

If you would like to subscribe to this news service and receive the Global Accessibility News directly in your email inbox, please send us an email with the words SUBSCRIBE to GAN in the subject line.

The service is brought to you by the Global Alliance on Accessible Technologies and Environments, the leading international organization dedicated to promoting the understanding and implementation of accessibility of the sustainable built, social and virtual environments, including architectural, infrastructural design, transportation systems, habitat, and electronic information and communication technologies. GAATES is dedicated to promoting the Guiding Principles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, adopted in December 2006.