Barriers to International Conversations: My Experience at CSW67 as an ICN Youth Delegate

Written By Amanda Hendrie

“Barriers to international Conversations: My Experience at CSW67 as an ICN Youth Delegate” on a blue background. On the left is an image of Amanda who is standing in front of a display of flags around the word on a wooden tree structure located at the United Nations.

I checked something off my bucket list that I never thought I would do. I went to the United Nations Headquarters in New York City to attend the 67th Session on the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW67) as a youth delegate. I was so kindly nominated by the Atlantic Council for International Cooperation and was peer-selected to represent them as part of the Inter-Council Network’s Youth Delegation. I am honored that I had the opportunity when it is not available to everyone.

With this opportunity came a downside, in order to meaningfully participate, I need accessibility accommodations. Being in the international cooperation sector for almost two years, I was fully aware of how complicated it is to interact with a complex system like the United Nations. I was also aware that it is not fully accessible to someone who cannot hear, especially when the majority of the conversations are verbal.

Accessibility is an Issue?

You may be thinking, it is the United Nations, they must have accessibility in consideration for their discussions. You are not alone with this thought, my family and friends recited that same thought to me when I told them about my experience. An entity that is based on improving international relations and our living experiences should be making these conversations accessible, right?

Should is the word that provides the explanation. It does not mean that they do consider it in their process and that they do it well. It is an expectation that we set based on where we live, our societal expectations, and how we view the United Nations.

From my perspective, I worked in the international cooperation sector so I was and am aware of the gaps of the United Nations. I also have been deaf my entire life. If access is an issue I experience every day as someone living in Nova Scotia, Canada, how can I expect a complex system to be accessible or provide adequate accommodations when I sometimes cannot get that locally.

I brought up this concern as soon as I was told about the nomination. I was hesitant to continue with the nomination because I knew it was going to be difficult. However, one thing did stick out to me about the opportunity, the theme of CSW67.

It Connected With my Passion

It spoke to me. The theme, “Innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls,” made my policy heart shine. Innovation and technological change is a topic that I would personally explore on my own during my Public Policy Studies degree. It tied in my interests of employment, education, and accessibility with what I was learning and experiencing throughout my time at Mount Saint Vincent University. This moment is what solidified my decision to accept the nomination and apply to be selected.

When I got the email that I was one of eight selected to be part of ICN Youth Delegation, I was shocked. I was delighted. I was excited. I was scared. ICN started the process of emailing about accessibility right away taking in the feedback I provided when I was informed about the nomination. This process is not easy, we needed as much time as possible to confirm that I can access it.

I do not want to count how many emails were sent from December to March about the accessibility of CSW67. I know it was a lot. From attempting to figure out who we were actually supposed to contact, making the request for accommodations, waiting for updates, figuring out the logistics, to hoping for some confirmation. We really needed those full three months.

So, How Did it Go?

After many emails, here is what I got.

  • International Sign (the United Nations will call it International Sign Language (ISL)) and CART (captioning) are available in plenary meetings.

    • Not quite helpful as a youth delegate from a non-governmental organization, in case you were wondering

  • I will need an 3.5mm audio plug adapter for my FM system so audio can be bluetooth to my devices.

That is it. I was trying to get some access of International Sign and CART to other events but I did not receive any additional information after the audio situation. Not even updates on how I could access International Sign or CART. I love the communication.

I did go to New York City to attend CSW67. Even with the knowledge that I will probably not get the information reliably in the way that I can understand it. I was prepared to gain nothing from this experience other than, I cannot access it, even when I can get into the building and physically be with people who can access it.

Hoping for the Best, Preparing for the Worst

Well, I gained something. So I consider that a success. It is not because it was accessible. It was because I brought a friend! My friend’s name is Roger Pen. It is a FM system, a personal assistive device that acts like a microphone which sends the audio directly to my devices. I took it everywhere.

Did it provide me full access? No.

Did it provide me some so that my time was not wasted? Yeah…

My Roger Pen was working hard. Many hours a day trying to find the audio to give to me with my assistance of pointing it at speakers, directly at the person, or honestly, in the air. In our free time, the group of youth delegates that I was with would use my FM System to communicate with me in the noisy city. I am grateful to have a group of amazing people to not only learn from, but have their kindness and respect to meaningfully communicate with me so that I could participate in our free time. While the group was awesome, it does not discredit my experience of not being able to understand and be part of international conversations.

Why was it so hard?

The Complex System of International Conversations

For starters, you need to understand the system and how all the moving parts interact with each other. Considering that there are hundreds of events, the logistics would have to be insane. Here are the key points I learned about the United Nations.

  • Their Accessibility Centre is more for equipment and assistive devices. If you need services like sign language and CART, the responsibility is through the entity that is coordinating the event forum

    • It is great when you do not have access to assistive technologies due to cost and location. However, if you already have assistive technologies and it is specialized, you will encounter difficulties. For example, many assistive devices are designed with hearing aids in mind, but cochlear implants are quite specialized and may not fit with the tools for hearing aids. Since I rely on my cochlear implant (the hearing aid is connected nicely with the cochlear implant), we ended up having to go to UN Women.

  • Plenary meetings are not easy to get into. While they are considered and prioritized for accessibility to include International Sign interpreters and CART, not everyone has access. Even if you can get in, if you are a delegate, the screen is quite far so it is difficult to even see the captioning that does come up.

    • For those who rely on signs, they are not consistent either. For that one UN Women session I attended which had ISL Interpreters, each interpreter had a different sign for “women.” The only reason I figured that out is because the language used in political sessions is “Women and girls,” and girls were signed the same. Second reason was that the placement was the same, the hand shape was not. I was confused for an hour trying to figure out what they were signing.

  • Under the CSW67 banner, there are parallel events happening. For CSW67, there are official events hosted under UN Women and parallel events hosted under NGO Forum. This means that accessibility requests actually have to go through two entities, not just UN Women. I found this out a little too late.

The logistics for these events are complex. Unless you are considering accessibility from the start of the design process, the gaps and difficulties are inevitable. I gave you insight on what it was like to request to UN Women, let me explain how the process was for me from NGO Forum.

Realizing There Are Two Entities to Consider

The way the conversations unfold on how CSW works implies that if accessibility requests can be sent to UN Women, I should be fine. However, no one really told me the difference between the events at UN Women and the events from NGO Forum. While they are discussing within the conversations of CSW67, who is responsible for the accessibility of the events is drastically different then what I was told.

Once I found out that they were two different entities, I could not figure out how to request it. I did not have sufficient time either because it was not clear to me that they were two different entities. Regardless of time restraint, the inability to figure out how to ask or even if they even considered it was concerning. There were more about considering the safety of participants and how to report (which is extremely important) than there were about accessibility and accessing the events as a person with disabilities.

I gave up on trying to figure out how to ask and request for the NGO Forum. From being on the ground, here are my assumptions on why it was not mentioned or considered.

  • Hundreds of events that are submitted, planned, and facilitated by organizations. The people at NGO Forum was being the organizer and providing the platform

  • It seems to be implied that you would have to request directly to the organizer of the specific event you would like to attend.

    • There were no clear indication of a process to request

    • Each event organizer were responsible for their event, including accessibility even if the NGO Forum did not explicitly state that

      • This is concerning because without clearly stating that, the responsibility is actually the NGO Forum, it is always the NGO Forum. It is funny to me because CSW67 is in the United States which has the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) that everyone considers THE legislation for accessibility and disability inclusion (whether it actually the best is a much longer conversation). If the NGO Forum provided a platform for events, NGO Forum is actually responsible for making sure it is accessible. Watch this video of Youtuber Rikki Poynter questioning who is responsible for making events accessible with the example of the Sundance Film Festival which had a controversy in January surrounding inadequate accessibility.

    • Event organizers even feel like it is not in their role due to the platform not expecting it, continuing the conversation that United Nation events are inaccessible.

The lack of information and communication left me with no accommodations except for events that already secured them and my friend, Roger Pen who provided some access. I was lucky there were two events that were fully accessible, because they were disability events. It begs the question, am I only welcome in disability conversations?

Being Limited to Events That Considered Access

I know that is not the case, but it feels like it. If I can only fully access disability conversations because they designed accessibility and disability inclusion from the start. Can I really meaningfully participate in partial or inaccessible conversations?

The biggest reason why I partially got information at CSW67 is because I studied these topics. I learned about the systems during my degree. I know the nuances of the political conversations that exist because I was constantly challenged by them while learning about policy. I love it, but I could not access it while I was on the ground, in the mess and chaos of international conversations.

So, How Can we Change?

No solution is going to be a one-size-fit-all for making events accessible within a complex system. There are many stakeholders, languages, and logistics that determine the decisions made during this process. All of which, take small changes to reach the goal of providing an inclusive and equitable experience for everyone.

It does not mean that there are not steps we all can take to achieve that goal in all spaces, including international spaces. The biggest step is recognizing the roles and responsibilities of stakeholders in events. Here are the five main stakeholders that exist to facilitate these international conversations and how their role should be in ensuring accessibility and disability inclusion in their events.

Event Forum Organizers

  • These are entities like UN Women and NGO Forum where they provide the space to host these conversations and coordinate to ensure that these events can happen.

    • They are responsible for setting the expectation that the events should be accessible

    • They are responsible for making sure there is a process for accommodations and accessibility requests

      • This includes making sure all stakeholders are aware of the process and that communications are maintained to work of fulfilling accommodations requests

    • There are opportunities to provide support and logistics to event organizers, especially when the event forum organizers makes decisions on locations of the event

      • Resources on how to make an event accessible, how to find and obtain services, costs, and information about the space the event will be held are some of the ways event forum organizers can provide support

Event Organizers

  • These are people who are actually hosting the event. They submitted their event to the event forum organizer and did the planning and facilitation of their event.

    • They are responsible for making their event accessible

      • However, without the expectation and guidance from the event forum organizers, this responsibility becomes a choice. It is difficult when the logistics are from the event forum organizers. Without having the platform or instructions to obtain accommodations requests, people would not be able to provide the request easily and event organizers may not have the information to fulfill the request, providing a barrier to entry.

    • Make the event as accessible as possible with the knowledge and resources

      • With the numerous events that can be happening at the same time, it is difficult to determine what is worth the time and capacity for.

        • If the forum does not have a process, include a request process for your event in the description so that people who are interested can request if needed

        • If you are concerned about being able to secure services like International Sign interpreters and CART where at least 2 weeks are needed to obtain them (if not in high demand), if you have the resources, book them and advertise that you have those options available

          • I will go to any event, regardless of topic of interest if you have sign language interpreters and CART already secured. You made my life easier, I will support you. Most of us in the disability community will have the same feeling because we love when we can be like everyone else and show up.

        • Bring up these concerns to the event forum organizers so that there can be changes made for future events, feedback from all levels to move towards change.

Representatives

  • These are the organizations and entities that send people to these events to represent them and bring back their learnings.

    • They are responsible for providing the space to express accessibility needs and concerns

    • They are also responsible for informing the logistics and challenges that may occur in requesting and attending these events

    • The representatives should be the advocate for accommodations requests and the encouragement of providing access.

      • If the representative would like to provide the space and opportunity for people with disabilities to share their experience and learnings, the pressure to figure out how to put in requests in a complex system should not be on the person with disabilities.

Participants

There are the people that attend the events and bring back their learnings. There are two groups to consider, participants who have accessibility needs and participants who do not.

Participants who have accessibility needs

  • They are responsible for expressing their accessibility needs to their representative to start the request process

  • They are responsible for providing the necessary information to check in with logistics and limitation of technology and venues

    • Advice: Set boundaries if possible. If you are being represented by an organization or entity, it is really not your responsibility to find out about the accessibility of the events. In international spaces, it is a complex system with an hierarchical structure. Lean on the people who may have more power in this situation.

Participants who do not have accessibility needs

  • Advocate for more accessibility in these spaces. Help those who may not be able to access the space or information because of how it is designed and the lack of expectations for accessibility.

  • Do not assume that events are accessible for everyone. Whether it is the ability to attend, the ability to get into the building, and/or the ability to obtain the information and meaningfully participate, there are many layers that are not fully considered in the process.

We may have not reached the point where these responsibilities are implemented and working to improve access in these spaces but, there are glimmers of hope.

My Hope in Youth Spaces

The youth spaces are amazing! Did the youth events I attended were fully accessible? No. However, even with the inaccessibility, the adaptability and flexibility that are the driving points of youth give access in a way that does not exist in other events. The youth networking event I went to used the Roger Pen without hesitancy and included it as part of their event like a microphone. The second youth event, everyone remembered Roger Pen! However, Roger Pen needed some rest after working so hard for 5 days straight, so, they adapted the situation so that I can still participate.

The youth are my hope. The fact that they are our next leaders, there can be opportunity for change and cultural shift on how we view certain issues. My peers were already inspirational to my advocacy journey, they are more of the reason to be my motivation for social change. While I will always dream and work towards a fully accessible and inclusive society, I know that small steps and implementations are going to be the approach to achieving that dream and goal. I hope my experience and learnings about the complex system in international cooperation can guide your approach to improving and supporting a more accessible experience to international conversations.

Resources To Learn More

There are always improvements that can be made. From a small, one-time event to a multiple days conference full of meetings and discussions on crucial topics to improve our societies. Check out some resource below to add to your process and advocacy for accessibility and disability inclusion.

Accessibility Checklists

United Nations’ Work towards Disability Inclusion

While my experience shown how accessibility still needs improvement as a deaf person at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City, the United Nations has the commitment to improve the accessibility of the space. The United Nations Office in Geneva are further ahead setting the standards for accessibility and disability inclusion.

Amanda
Amanda Hendrie
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