The Zero Project Conference 2024 took place in Vienna, Austria, on 21–23 February. The annual conference brings together stakeholders from around the world to discuss topics related to disability inclusion. It is organised by the Zero Project, a non-profit organisation that supports the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
The focus of the 2024 conference was ‘Inclusive Education and ICT’. It included keynote speeches, panel discussions, presentations and interactive sessions from people and organisations working to improve inclusive education and technology for people with disabilities. Many of the sessions provided opportunities for sharing examples of good practice and exchanging updates on innovative solutions to inclusive education challenges.
The Agency participated in a policy-maker forum session entitled ‘Good policies from Europe on inclusive education’. The forum aimed to highlight good examples of public policy from across Europe, with a focus on how these could be replicated in other countries. In an introduction to the session, Agency Activity Manager Margarita Bilgeri described the Agency’s position on inclusive education systems. She also gave an overview of the Agency’s key principles for developing and implementing inclusive education policy. Policy-makers and stakeholders from inclusion and disability organisations, including three Agency Representative Board members, provided examples and shared information on their countries’ policies for and approaches to inclusive education.
Details of the 2024 conference sessions are available on the Zero Project Conference website, which includes links to videos of the conference sessions.