eAccessibilityin Inclusive Society
eAccessibility is ensuring that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) products and services are designed and provided in a way that allows use by people with disabilities and by older people with age-related changes in functional capacities. For people with visual impairments, hearing impairments and other disabilities, eAccessibility is a sine qua non as electronic devices and services become essential ingredients of everyday social and economic life. This will become even more pronounced as the population ages. Today, digital exclusion is widespread and many people relying on the availability of accessible digital content, services and gadgets tend to be excluded from activities that have become common practice to large parts of the population. In Europe and elsewhere, eAccessibility has acquired a prominent place in policy debates concerning ICT-related developments. Dedicated policies have started to emerge directed towards removing the technical, legal and other barriers that some people encounter when using ICT devices and services.
For more than ten years we have supported evidence-based policy development and strategy building in this field. Here, we offer extensive research expertise which is constantly updated to reflect the latest developments. This concerns the conceptualisation and implementation of eAccessibility-related monitoring and benchmarking approaches as well as evidence-based impact assessment of related policies. We possess a well-proven set of research methods and instruments for gathering high quality evidence on a global scale. This is supported by an international network of experts spanning 40 countries. Furthermore, we help ICT service providers in ensuring that the new services they develop comply with the latest eAccessibility standards.