The purpose is to ensure that persons with disabilities as members of their societies have the same rights and obligations as others. The objective is the implementation of the Standard Rules by training and communicating with others who are also advocates for human rights of persons with disabilities.

Persons with all kinds of cross-disabilities interested in learning about the Standard Rules to be able to advocate for them successfully and professionals in the private sector who are willing to participate in and to know about disability issues.

Why do you think they will be interested? Because we like to be out own decision-makers in our own issues.

Why are you interested in them? I am a disabled person, I know the issues and I can help them understand the Standard Rules.

First, they need to know the content of the Standard Rules and their practical meaning. Then they need to know how to apply the Standard Rules to their different needs. Third, they need to know techniques of advocacy to be able to convince their governments to make use of them in their own countries.

The Internet has to be accessible for persons with all kinds of disabilities. The limitations include a need for text only for blind persons, deaf and mobility impaired will have less problems, but will need to be kept in mind. People in developing countries have much less bandwidth and more expensive connections. They may not have the best computers and the software is probably not very well-developed. Software may not be available in local languages. Particular attention has to be paid to the needs of blind persons which limits the extent that graphics can be used.

As a disabled person who has participated in many issues of concern to the disabled community, I understand our needs. In addition, I was one of the persons who participated in the negotiation of the Standard Rules in 1991.

The text of the Standard Rules, questions and answers about them, updated information on national experience provided by correspondents, by the United Nations or in the world press. It would provide a portal to other disability-related sites.

The persons who use the web page will be able to network more effectively. They will have up-to-date information about the Rules and their implementation in other places. They should be more effective advocates as a result and stronger as a result of the mutual support that will be stimulated.

At least once a week updating the site, but also responding immediately to questions posed by e-mail.

It should be a text-based site with few graphics, but could have a PowerPoint presentation with notes to put the training material on the Standard Rules on-line. People who access the sites should be able to send me e-mail from the site itself. For news and national experience, it should have a separate page for each major part of the Rules.

I will ask the various organizations of persons with disabilities, the United Nations disability unit, governments (the ministry responsible for disability issues) to announce the site and to provide hot links to it. In the private sector, I will ask any company that is concerned with disability issues to publicize and link to it from their sites. I will also try to get one or more major news source (e.g. CNN, Wired News, or the New York Times) to write about the site.

I will monitor the site through e-mails received and chats. I will put a hit counter on the site. I will ask e-mail correspondents daily to react to material. I will organize larger groups in chats to discuss documents that have been posted as well as drafts that are being prepared for conferences and meetings.

To obtain evaluation, I will do interviews through questionnaires posted on the web site.