The experience of persons with disabilities

There are 80 million persons with disabilities in the EU (15% of the total population). When technologies are available, affordable and accessible, persons with disabilities use ICTs to a greater extent than their peers to overcome some of the barriers they find in the offline world. Thus, accessible technologies can enable access to the labour market, an independent life, and participation in all aspects of society.

Furthermore, as State Party, the EU must comply with binding obligations set out in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD), the first human rights treaty to address access to ICTs, which explicitly requires accessibility for information and communication technologies and systems in article 9.

For those who are not familiar with accessibility, it is proven that an enhanced access to ICT is best achieved and most cost effective when incorporated from the outset, and due to its benefits of extending the range of potential users it also represents a potential business opportunity. The way to achieve this is by using the guidelines and standards that are already in place, such as the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 for web accessibility or the European standard on accessibility requirements for ICT products and services EN 301549.

Despite all this, one in three persons with disabilities has never used the internet, which represents 54% of those who have never been online, and the last data available assessing the levels of e-accessibility in the EU show that there is still much room for improvement with regards to accessibility of websites (less than a third are accessible), equal access and choice in telecommunications products and services (huge variations across the EU), and in the accessibility of audiovisual content.

Our ideas

Accessibility must be understood and addressed as other key characteristics of the digital environment, such as privacy, security or data protection. Therefore, the aim of the DSM should be to ensure that an appropriate level of accessibility is enforced in all legislation linked to the DSM. Requiring interoperability with assistive technologies should also be highlighted in the strategy in order to give access to the ICTs to people that use technologies such as screen-readers or screen magnification software, hearing aids, etc.

If the DSM strategy lacks a universal design approach that ensures accessibility, it will prevent a broad range of consumers from “going digital”, as well as many European companies from competing with innovative and accessible services and products across Europe. In line with the General Comment Nº 2 of the UN CRPD Committee, the future DSM must ensure full, equal and unrestricted access for all potential consumers, including persons with disabilities and older people, taking full account of their needs, dignity and diversity. To achieve this goal it is necessary to consult and actively involve them and their representative organisations in the policy making and standards development alike.

This post has been drafted based on a joint position of the European Disability Forum, the umbrella organisation representing persons with disabilities in Europe, and AGE Platform Europe, the representative organisation of older people. The document is available on this link (direct download) and it contains more references to data, as well as specific recommendations to ensure that the Digital Single Market leaves nobody behind. At EDF and AGE Platform we understand access to the DSM as fundamental right that everybody should enjoy.