Traction in the European Parliament Born Accessible Day

One of the future policy priorities for the Union is a Fair Europe, which centers on social inclusion, health, rule of law and fundamental rights. Accessibility is a core component of social inclusion to secure full democratic participation of all people living in Europe. The European Parliament (EP) is very committed to initiating legislations to protect the rights of persons with disabilities. Within the past few years, three directives and an act were adopted: the Audiovisual Media Services Directive, the Procurement Directive, the Web Accessibility Directive and the European Accessibility Act. However, both public and private actors need tools, technology and knowledge to be able to fully comply with the legislation and meet established deadlines. The European Commission invested over 20 million euros in accessibility projects in the period 2014-2020 – some of them initiated by the European Parliament as pilot projects supporting the legislative work.

This interactive workshop organized by two of Europe’s thought leaders in web- and media accessibility with the support of Adam Kosa, co-chair of the European Parliament’s Disability Intergroup, aim to showcase some concrete results from these projects. During the workshop Mikel Zorrilla from VICOMTECH will present the Project TRACTION and explain how other social groups like migrants can benefit from born accessible policies.

Moderator: Catherine Naughton, European Disability Forum

10:00 Welcome – Adam Kosa, Member of Parliament, European Parliament

10:15 Presentations and discussions

• Media interaction

How to pave the way towards an accessible European Parliament.

All the demonstrated services will be explained, looking at both media accessibility and linguistic accessibility, i.e. translation.

Roberto Rabbachin (EC), Michaela Nachtrab, SwissTxt

• The legal framework and standards

The European directives on accessibility point to the harmonised EN301549 standard, for technical requirements. This means we now have a common understanding of user needs and solutions. The presentation shows how the EN-standard can be used as an efficient and practical tool to achieve increased accessibility.

Susanna Laurin, Funka

• How can public procurement support accessibility?

 

The public sector has an enormous purchasing power and can thereby not only influence the services they offer, but also the market in general. Good examples and ideas for future development. Ref. EN 301549.

Erik Börjesson, Funka

• New initiatives

The session is exploring what some of the new initiatives have to offer to the audience and how to participate in them. Examples:

1. • the Accessibility Services Cluster: an open organisation promoting accessibility technology and training;
   • the Media Accessibility Platform (MAP): a free access repository for all media accessibility related documents from National Directive transpositions to research.

Pilar Orero (UAB) and Anna Matamala, MAP

• Broadening the scope – the next frontier?

Accessibility is often seen as “for persons with disabilities”. But it is obvious from research that many other groups also benefit from. Social exclusion, challenges connected to ageing, migration, non-native speakers and the issue of minority languages. Interesting research is presented.

 

Josu Amezaga (UPV-EHU), Mikel Zorrilla (VICOMTECH)

12:20 Wrap-up and closing – Adam Kosa, Member of Parliament, European Parliament

12:30 Lunch with demo (empathy exercises using 360° video and VR experiences)

14.00 End of event