Inequalities in Education for People with Disabilities

Abstract

We live in the historic period when knowledge has turned out to be the most important basic resource. Rapid progress in knowledge and easy access to information are becoming a driving force of economic and social development. The Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan has defined the value of information technologies as follows:1 The new information and communications technologies are among the driving forces of globalization. They are bringing people together, and bringing decision-makers unprecedented new tools for development. At the same time, however, the gap between information ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ is widening, and there is a real danger that the world's poor will be excluded from the emerging knowledge-based global economy. Fast development of such modern sectors as telecommunications, media, and information technologies affects both the alterations in the technological sphere and the globalization of the economy, as well as transforms social relations, culture, and education. In the field of education, broad introduction of new digital technology presents great possibilities and initiates new pedagogical approaches apt to meet the overgrowing demands of modern society. Information Society must be created on the principles of social engagement, i.e. involvement of all citizens, regardless of their abilities, background, social status, ethnicity, etc. The common grounds of this approach were expressed in Declaration of Principles of World Summit on Information Society in the intention “to build a people-centred, inclusive and development-oriented Information Society, where everyone can create, access, utilize and share information and knowledge, enabling individuals, communities and peoples to achieve their full potential in promoting their sustainable development and improving their quality of life, premised on the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and respecting fully and upholding the Universal Declaration of Human Rights”