Access For All

UNESCO promotes the concept of knowledge societies that are inclusive, pluralistic, equitable, open and participatory. It furthermore promotes better understanding of issues related to disability and mobilises support for the recognition of the dignity, rights and well-being of the disabled, and of the benefits of their integration in society.
This publication outlines how ICTs improve the quality of life of persons with disabilities – for example, in accessing education and healthcare – by providing access to information and knowledge, new employment and socialisation opportunities. The empowerment of those persons, particularly through the effective use of ICTs, is the fulfilment of fundamental human rights.
ICTs provide opportunities for flexible learning, for sharing information and for networking with disability advocates in other countries, for facilitating employment and self-sufficiency and, most importantly, for increasing independence. ICTs are particularly effective tools in the outreach to marginalised communities both in terms of accessing information and knowledge and of encouraging the participation in the development of ICT content and applications for the disabled. Even in the absence of a well-coordinated and well-planned infrastructure, ICTs can offer to people with disabilities new opportunities to compensate for physical and functional limitations, access to knowledge by adapting media to their impairment, and furthermore enhance their social and economic integration.
Source: ePractice

In the EU27, 65% of households 1 had access to the internet during the first quarter of 2009, compared with 60% during the first quarter of 2008, and 56% had a broadband internet connection in 2009, compared with 49% in 2008.
These data 2 published by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, represent only a small part of the results of a survey on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) usage in households and by individuals in the EU27 Member States, the candidate countries, Norway, Iceland and Serbia . As well as internet use and broadband connections, the survey also covers other indicators such as e-shopping, e-government and advanced communication and content related services.
Household internet access ranges from 30% in Bulgaria to 90% in the Netherlands.
In 2009, the proportion of households with internet access was three quarters or more in the Netherlands (90%), Luxembourg (87%), Sweden (86%), Denmark (83%), Germany (79%), Finland (78%) and the United Kingdom (77%). The lowest shares were registered in Bulgaria (30%), Greece and Romania (both 38%).
The proportion of households with a broadband connection in 2009 was highest in Sweden (80%), the Netherlands (77%) and Denmark (76%).
Almost 40% of individuals shop online.
Nearly three quarters of those aged 16-24 in the EU27 used the internet on average daily or almost daily in the first quarter of 2009, compared with nearly half of all individuals aged 16-74. The highest shares for those aged 16-24 were found in the Netherlands (90%), Denmark and Estonia (both 88%), Finland and Sweden (both 87%), and the lowest in Romania (41%), Greece (57%) and Ireland (58%).
In 2009, 37% of individuals aged 16-74 in the EU27 had bought or ordered goods or services over the internet in the last 12 months. This share varied considerably between Member States, ranging from 2% in Romania , 5% in Bulgaria and 8% in Lithuania to 66% in the United Kingdom , 64% in Denmark and 63% in the Netherlands and Sweden . In the EU27 , 40% of men had ordered goods or services over the internet, compared with 34% of women. The share for men was higher than for women in almost all Member States.
Download the full press release and the Internet usage in 2009 – Households and Individuals – Issue number 46/2009 survey.

This report (Study report: Web accessibility in European countries: level of compliance with latest international accessibility specifications, notably WCAG 2.0, and approaches or plans to implement those specifications) presents the results of a study to provide data and analysis to support the European Commission in the identification of EU-level measures that can help to progress the achievement of greater levels of web accessibility across the Member States. The aim was to provide evidence and analysis to help understand and compare the approaches followed by the European countries, with a view to identifying issues and challenges, good practices and future priorities in the web accessibility field.
A core focus of the report is on the issue of transitioning to WCAG 2.0 guidelines against the current background where Member States have, in the main, being targeting their efforts towards the earlier WCAG 1.0 guidelines.
Download the report and its annexes

A relevant project in this area is ACCESSIBLE which will soon provide access to free accessibility assessment and simulation tools, applicable for websites, webservices and mobile services.

University of Surrey is carrying a research project regarding “User Requirements and Technology Acceptance of an Information Tourism System: The Disability Case”. The overall aim of the project is to investigate the content and usability needs of people with disabilities when searching information about the accessibility of tourist destinations on-line. The research will be kept on-line until end of December 2009. If you are interested in contributing, the questionnaire is completely anonymous.

Technosite is carrying out the European Commission Service Contract SMART 2008/0069 “Accessibbility of European Commission websites. Analysis of current status and recommendations for improvement by reference to relevant specifications, notably WCAG 2.0” which includes an open online survey that you can find in the next link.

The Commission is inviting citizens (with or without disabilities) to use this questionnaire to express their degree of satisfaction about the accessibility and user experience with European Commission websites they have used. The deadline is 6th of September 2009.

ACCESSIBLE (an EU FP7 project spanning over 36 months) will keep its survey online that aims at identifying the user needs of Developers, Accessibility Assessors, Elderly and Disabled People, Public Bodies, and Service Providers in the field of accessible software implementations.
If you are interested in contributing, these questionnaires (accessible via http://www.accessible-project.eu/index.php/questionnaire.html) are completely anonymous, and are available in German, Greek, Portuguese, Italian, English, and Bulgarian.