Ms Eliona Gjecaj:

I want add to Nem's point on that. I definitely agree with having an accessibility officer, but I would add that that is not the only answer. By that, I mean we should not just establish a disability officer and forget about the other types of consultation. For me, the word would be "flexibility" and multi-platforms for consultation for participation for self-advocacy. As Nem said, if we could highlight one good outcome of the pandemic, it would be the remote participation. It might suit some people to attend consultation, self-advocacy meetings etc. We need to have multiple options. No one size fits all. No one solution fits all. We need to keep multiple aspects, multiple choice and multiple platforms.

On the last point, I will explain that the term "reasonable accommodation" means individually suited measures or tailored measures to the needs of the individual. It is a complex term also.

My last point is with regard to the guidelines of consultation on awareness raising, which links to Article 8 of the convention and talks not only about the state but local and national governments, NGOs, disabled persons organisations, DPOs, etc. We all have to combine forces to raise awareness and address ableism and prejudice towards disabled people and towards disabled women and in terms of accessible information and freedom of speech, which relates to Article 21 of the convention.

To add to Una's point, we need to have every type of information in as many accessible formats. For example, for people such as me, who have vision impairment, that has to be electronically accessible, but not only a scanned version of a piece of paper. That scanned version needs to be converted into an accessible portable document format, PDF, or Word version that is accessible to screen readers because it is not only people with visual impairment who use screen readers. There are people with other disabilities who use those. We need to keep in mind that easy-to-read, sign language etc. I just wanted to highlight that.